XavierBreath
Member
Initial Inspection:
I ordered a Star Modelo B from SOG on January 13,2004. The pistol was listed in the advertisement as good to very good condition. In the photo was a Star Modelo B with wooden grips and a lanyard loop. My pistol arrived on January 16, three days later, in a plain grey cardboard box with a metal cleaning rod rattling around with it.
My initial inspection was rather disappointing. The pistol had cheap plastic grips and no lanyard loop. The blueing was 90%, which was very nice, but it had pitting around the grips and on the muzzle end of the slide. The magazine was packed with cosmoline. The rifling was this pistol's saving grace. The rifling was like new, bright, shiny and sharp. The barrel was marked Cal.08 with a P inside a bomb proofmark on the chamber. The barrel and slide lugs were sharp, with no wear. In fact, the frame rails still had blueing all the way down them! My new pistol had a CAI import mark approximately 1mm high under the slide stop hole on the right side of the frame. While I was somewhat disappointed with the pitting on this pistol, as well as the lack of wooden grips or a lanyard loop, I accepted it with a knowlege that I would likely not be as lucky on a replacement pistol's rifling. For $139 you can expect a pretty piece of crap, or a ugly workhorse, but not a pretty workhorse right? I took it home.
The Star Model B is not a 1911A1 despite it's superficial resemblence to one. The trigger pivots at the top, and has a trigger bar that actuates the sear. The thumb safety works on the hammer, not the sear, and can be engaged with the hammer cocked or down. There is no grip safety. The action of the pistol is closer to a Beretta 1934 than a 1911. I noted that the firing pin protuded through it's hole with the hammer down, and would be resting on a cartridge's primer. Condition 2 is not an option with this pistol. I cleaned and lubed it, and put it in the range bag with a couple of Value Packs of 9mm Winchester White Box.
Initial range Report:
The next day I arrived at the range. I went through my usual procedure of checking out an unknown pistol. The pistol was accurate, and reasonably easy to aim with the smallish sights. Trigger pull was consistent at approximately 4 pounds, with the slightest bit of creep after take-up. The pistol was shooting one inch groups at 25 feet. It had no hammer bite.
The first problem I encountered was the slide stop would stop the slide in the middle of a magazine. On examination of the slide stop, I discovered that it's detent ball was rusty, and failing to keep the slide stop down. I placed my thumb on it and continued shooting. The pistol started showing problems with nose diving rounds around round 50. I determined that this was a magazine problem, but unfortunately I only had the one magazine. SOG did not sell extra magazines with this pistol. I fought the misfeeds for another fifty rounds, and saw that when this pistol did feed, it never failed to shoot. It also never failed to group under an inch as long as I did my part. I started to see it as a viable alternative to a 1911 to help my daughter make the transition from .22 pistol to .45 somewhere down the road. Also, with the pitting it already has, I saw it as a decent beater gun, if I could just get it to feed.
Once I got back home, I got online. A quick check of Numrich's website revealed smooth wooden grips as well as magazines. I placed an order. I took off the slide stop and placed it in a cup of Kroil to soak. I figured $32 was a bit much for a magazine for an old gun, and a gun show is coming up next weekend anyway. I'm still trying to figure out how to disassemble the magazine that came with this pistol, so I placed it in the parts washer overnight to clean it out.
January 23 Update:
I received my grips from Numrich today and was shocked to discover they were unfinished and pretty rough. I almost sent them back. Instead I smoothed them out with some 400 grit sandpaper and finished them myself. I had to wallow out one screw hole to fit them. They are preferable to the cheap plastic grips, but they definitely have a third world flavor.
The detent ball in the slide stop never did loosen, after a week of soaking. I looked for a slide stop, magazine, and grips at a gunshow this weekend to no avail.
Right now, I would have to say that this is not a pistol to buy sight unseen as I did. Parts are scarce, the Star Modelo B apparently came in several configurations (ie. wooden grips, lanyard loop) and you might not get what you are expecting. On the plus side, it is a cheap 9mm in a 1911 type format and size for cheap shooting. My pistol was a good shooter. If I could just find the parts to make it 100% functionally, it might see a lot of range time. Until that time I will carry a list of parts needed in my head, and the pistol will wait in the safe.
I ordered a Star Modelo B from SOG on January 13,2004. The pistol was listed in the advertisement as good to very good condition. In the photo was a Star Modelo B with wooden grips and a lanyard loop. My pistol arrived on January 16, three days later, in a plain grey cardboard box with a metal cleaning rod rattling around with it.
My initial inspection was rather disappointing. The pistol had cheap plastic grips and no lanyard loop. The blueing was 90%, which was very nice, but it had pitting around the grips and on the muzzle end of the slide. The magazine was packed with cosmoline. The rifling was this pistol's saving grace. The rifling was like new, bright, shiny and sharp. The barrel was marked Cal.08 with a P inside a bomb proofmark on the chamber. The barrel and slide lugs were sharp, with no wear. In fact, the frame rails still had blueing all the way down them! My new pistol had a CAI import mark approximately 1mm high under the slide stop hole on the right side of the frame. While I was somewhat disappointed with the pitting on this pistol, as well as the lack of wooden grips or a lanyard loop, I accepted it with a knowlege that I would likely not be as lucky on a replacement pistol's rifling. For $139 you can expect a pretty piece of crap, or a ugly workhorse, but not a pretty workhorse right? I took it home.
The Star Model B is not a 1911A1 despite it's superficial resemblence to one. The trigger pivots at the top, and has a trigger bar that actuates the sear. The thumb safety works on the hammer, not the sear, and can be engaged with the hammer cocked or down. There is no grip safety. The action of the pistol is closer to a Beretta 1934 than a 1911. I noted that the firing pin protuded through it's hole with the hammer down, and would be resting on a cartridge's primer. Condition 2 is not an option with this pistol. I cleaned and lubed it, and put it in the range bag with a couple of Value Packs of 9mm Winchester White Box.
Initial range Report:
The next day I arrived at the range. I went through my usual procedure of checking out an unknown pistol. The pistol was accurate, and reasonably easy to aim with the smallish sights. Trigger pull was consistent at approximately 4 pounds, with the slightest bit of creep after take-up. The pistol was shooting one inch groups at 25 feet. It had no hammer bite.
The first problem I encountered was the slide stop would stop the slide in the middle of a magazine. On examination of the slide stop, I discovered that it's detent ball was rusty, and failing to keep the slide stop down. I placed my thumb on it and continued shooting. The pistol started showing problems with nose diving rounds around round 50. I determined that this was a magazine problem, but unfortunately I only had the one magazine. SOG did not sell extra magazines with this pistol. I fought the misfeeds for another fifty rounds, and saw that when this pistol did feed, it never failed to shoot. It also never failed to group under an inch as long as I did my part. I started to see it as a viable alternative to a 1911 to help my daughter make the transition from .22 pistol to .45 somewhere down the road. Also, with the pitting it already has, I saw it as a decent beater gun, if I could just get it to feed.
Once I got back home, I got online. A quick check of Numrich's website revealed smooth wooden grips as well as magazines. I placed an order. I took off the slide stop and placed it in a cup of Kroil to soak. I figured $32 was a bit much for a magazine for an old gun, and a gun show is coming up next weekend anyway. I'm still trying to figure out how to disassemble the magazine that came with this pistol, so I placed it in the parts washer overnight to clean it out.
January 23 Update:
I received my grips from Numrich today and was shocked to discover they were unfinished and pretty rough. I almost sent them back. Instead I smoothed them out with some 400 grit sandpaper and finished them myself. I had to wallow out one screw hole to fit them. They are preferable to the cheap plastic grips, but they definitely have a third world flavor.
The detent ball in the slide stop never did loosen, after a week of soaking. I looked for a slide stop, magazine, and grips at a gunshow this weekend to no avail.
Right now, I would have to say that this is not a pistol to buy sight unseen as I did. Parts are scarce, the Star Modelo B apparently came in several configurations (ie. wooden grips, lanyard loop) and you might not get what you are expecting. On the plus side, it is a cheap 9mm in a 1911 type format and size for cheap shooting. My pistol was a good shooter. If I could just find the parts to make it 100% functionally, it might see a lot of range time. Until that time I will carry a list of parts needed in my head, and the pistol will wait in the safe.
