Star Firestar Plus Help

[Endall]

I have run this S&B through my full size 9mm's and it is hotter than the WWB, Federal Champion, and Speer Gold Dot (not +P). Feels hotter than the Winchester Nato loads also. But back to the Plus.
I looked it over to see why it is a little loose shooting, and consistently low. The locking lugs on the barrel appear to be the culprit. They are tapered on both sides. The lugs in the slide are square shouldered. The barrel seems to be made this way. It has less than 500 rounds through it. There is no lip, ridge, or damage that can be felt. The fact that both sides of the three lugs have the taper should rule out lug peening.
Does anyone else have a barrel with lugs cut like this? I may look for another barrel, but finding one may be impossible. Parts, even original mags are scarce. Every other locking system. I have seen has square shouldered lugs on both the slide and barrel.

George

 

[Walt Sherrill]

It's been several years since I last had or examined a Firestar Plus, so I can't speak to your question about the shape of the barrel lugs. What you describe, however, wouldn't necessarily cause the gun to shoot low -- and really sounds like a design feature. Particularly given there seems to be no wear. (You'd typically have to put a lot of rounds to get that sort of change.)

Heavier rounds -- like 124 gr might cause the point of impact to move up, as would doing something to the bottom of the barrel bushing to raise it up a bit. (Dinging it with a center punch would dent the center of the point of impact on the bushing, but raise the surrounding area. I've seen that done on a Witness to raise the point of impact.)

Your term "loose shooting" doesn't have any particular meaning for me - what are you describing? (Inaccuracy, patterns rather than groups, or looseness in the slide/barrel fit when the slide is closed?)

RE: S&B ammo. Several years back, Sellier & Bellot ammo ran afoul of some IDPA match administrators -- they chronographed it and found it didn't quite meet their minimum power standards.

 

[Endall]

Thanks

Walt,
Thanks for all the good ideas. The shape of the lugs looks like a factory design. Not sure why, maybe to help go back into and up of battery.
The barrel has a little fore and aft movement when the slide is off. And can be pushed up a little. I need to put a set of calipers to see if the botton lugs are locking the barrel against the slide, or if it needs to be built up.
I may get a "smith to look at it. Just dimpling the barrel cause more issues, the steel barrel riding on the alloy frame.
The wear pattern on the barrel is wider on the bottom than on the top. This is a shiny circle all around the bull barrel. It is about twice as wide on the bottom, I think this indicates the barrel is riding low when not supported by the slide. The loose upper lugs may be allowing the recoil spring to cock it a little.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

The ONLY time you should really be concerned about barrel movement is when the slide is in battery: slide closed and the gun is ready to fire. Movement at other times is generally normal (and necessary).

The wear pattern on the barrel doesn't tell you much -- as the barrel must tilt as the slide moves to the rear, and in doing so rubs against the recoil spring as the barrel moves back and down. That rearward movement and tilting is not symmetrical and there's no reason to expect the wear pattern on the barrel to be symmetrical or uniform. (If you are talking about a different type of wear pattern, you'll have to explain.)

Unless you're planning to shoot tens of thousands of rounds through the gun over a relatively short period of time, I would only be concerned about the "shooting low" issue. That said, does it shoot low when you're shooting from a rest, or when another shooter uses it?

(By "rest," I mean firing very slowly from sand bags [or a large bag of rice, etc.] so that any shooter issues are minimized. Use both hands, and rest your hands holding the gun on the bags, not the gun on the bags. And squeeze the trigger very slowly. If you're using the trigger properly, the results you see will help you determine the gun's capabilities.)

If it does STILL shoot low, a gunsmith can make adjustments to raise the point of impact (by adjustments to the barrel bushing area, or by tweaking [lowering] or replacing the front sight.) If it doesn't shoot low when shooting from a rest, then you can improve things by working on your technique.

 

[Endall]

Shooting Low

Yes, even from a rest it shoots 6" low and 10 yards. So the 7 yard would be about 4". The front sight is not tall enough to correct, it is a low profile to begin with.
I like carring in the car when travleing. That is what it was purchased for back when new. A trip to a smith is in order to see what can be done to slick up th trigger and raise the point of aim.