Star Pistol Serial Numbers code#

Heck, I’d even rank it above my old Springfield 1911A1. In fact, it beats the pants off many of the triggers I’ve played with on modern guns. Speaking of the trigger, despite the different design, the Model B’s trigger is very good. There’s a detent on the slide stop which appears to keep the slide from locking back without the proper application of force and there’s no easily removable mainspring as in the 1911A1. Unlike the 1911A1’s trigger (which moves straight back and trips the sear), the Model B has a trigger that pivots on a roll pin.

One major difference between the two is that the Star Model B lacks a grip safety, instead relying solely on the thumb safety. The second generation Model B closely resembles the 1911A1, and that design certainly shines through.Īll of the exterior lines follow JMB’s gun and the pistol takes down exactly like an original 1911A1. If you’ve ever held and fired a 1911 before, everything about the Star Model B will feel more or less the same. Let’s put the history on pause for a second to talk about the gun itself.

In other words, these handguns have the highest probability of any former Nazi firearm of never being fired at another human being. The Star Model B was a cheap import and used the same ammunition as the rest of the German handguns, so it fit right into the supply chain for those lower priority troops and civilians. While the Third Reich made their own handguns and in enough numbers to supply front-line troops, they still needed to arm their civilian police force and other rear echelon units.

Star Pistol Serial Numbers code#

They do, however, have a code N, Ñ or O stamped on them which denotes a manufacture between 19 and implies (along with some other things which we’ll get to shortly) that they were indeed used by Germany at some point. And one of their exports was case after case of Star Model B (second generation) handguns.īeing made in a neutral country, the German High Command didn’t see the need to have the typical Waffenmark stamped on the guns when they entered service and so these handguns are one of the only examples of a Nazi firearm that doesn’t bear that mark. Spain provided material support to the Axis powers, specifically Nazi Germany. Neutral in terms of actually firing bullets, but not making them. Star would go through two more permutations before finally resting on the second generation Star Model B in 1931, which we see today and has recently become widely available on the market.ĭuring the Second World War, Spain was officially neutral. It incorporated most of the features of JMB’s masterpiece, but the Spanish design made it handle differently. (one of the major Spanish arms makers) came out with their Model 1922 handgun.

The Spanish were also keen to copy the design, and in 1922 Star Bonifacio Echeverria, S.A. It’s now one of the most widely available handgun designs ever produced (mainly because of the sheer numbers in which they were cranked out in manufacturing plants in the Soviet workers’ paradise). The Soviets adopted Fedor Tokarev’s slimmed down design and dubbed it the “TT”. First, a little history lesson:Īfter John Moses Browning delivered his One True Design for handguns unto the world, a number of manufacturers decided to incorporate many of those same design elements in their own handguns. I know, it looks like a 1911, but it’s not.