Star Megastar

Characteristics

Type: Double Action 
Chamber: 10mm Auto or .45ACP 
Weight unloaded: 1400 g 
Length: 212 mm 
Barrel length: 116 mm 
Capacity: 14 (10mm) or 12 (.45) rounds 

The Megastar pistol is a heavy, powerful pistol, which appeared on the markets in 1993. It was designed and manufactured by the Spanish company Star Bonifacio Echeverria SA, and its design is based on the previous guns by the same manufacturer, such as Star 30M. Production of the Megastar was completed in the late 1990s.

Megastar is a recoil operated, locked breech semi-automatic pistol. It uses a Browning High-Power type locking system with tilting barrel. Megastar is a hammer fired pistol, with double action trigger and ambidextrous, slide mounted safety-decocker lever. The safety lever has three positions: upper one for "fire" mode, red dot is shown; medium one for "safe" mode, this withdraws and locks the firing pin; and the lower one for safe decocking (after decocking safety lever springs back to the "safe" position). Megastar also features a magazine disconnect safety which does not allow to fire the gun withouth magazine in the place. Megastar slide and frame are made from the steel, and like other latest Star pistols, Megastar has internal slide rails, instead of more usual external rails. This pistol features non-ajustable sights. Magazine capacity is quite impressive, especially when speaking about the period of the early 1990s, and is 12 rounds of .45ACP or 14 rounds of 10mm Auto.

Overall, Megastar represents one of the strongest designs in auto-pistols, heavy but powerful and built to last forewer. Heavy weight also helps to control the recoil of the powerful cartridges used.

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Star Firestar

Star Firestar M-43, 9mm.

Star Firestar M-40, .40S&W.

Star Firestar M-45, .45ACP.

Characteristics

Type: Single Action (M-43); Double Action (M-40 and M-45)
Chamber: 9x19 mm Parabellum (M-43); .40 S&W (M-40); .45 ACP (M-45) 
Weight unloaded: 855 g (M-43 and M-40); 1025 g (M-45)
Length: 165 mm (M-43 and M-40); 170 mm (M-45)
Barrel length: 86 mm (M-43 and M-40); 97 mm (M-45) 
Capacity: 7 rounds (M-43); 6 rounds (M-40 and M-45) 

The Firestar pistols, also known as models M-43, M40 and M-45, were designed and are still being manufactured by the Spanish company Star Bonifacio Echeverria SA. These pistols were announced early in 1990s and are sold worldwide for civilian market.

All Firestars are compact, steel-framed semi-automatic pistols. Firestar pistols are recoil operated, with Browning cam locking and short barrel recoil. Barrel muzzle is externally cone-shaped to achieve the best fit into the slide for improved accuracy. 9mm Firestar M-43 is a hammer fired, single action pistol with frame mounted, ambidextrous safety lever. .40sw M-40 and .45acp M-45, unlike their 9mm brother, are double action pistols with similar frame mounted ambidextrous safety that allows for "cocked and locked" carry (hammer is cocked and safey is applied). All Firestars featured automated firing pin safey and magazine disconnect safety. Single column magazine holds 7 rounds in 9mm M-43 pistols or 6 rounds in .40sw M-40 and .45acp M-45 pistols. Also, extended 8 rounds capacity magazines available for 9mm M-43 guns.

Firestar pistols are claimed to be ones of the smallest guns in their respective calibers, but, obviously not the lightest ones. The solid steel construction makes these guns extremely sturdy and reliable, and additional weight greatly improves recoil control and makes the shooting quite comfortable, despite the powerful ammunition and small size of the guns.

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Star Ultrastar

 

Characteristics

Type: Double Action
Chamber: 9x19 mm Parabellum
Weight unloaded: 775 g
Length: 175 mm
Barrel length: 84 mm
Capacity: 9 rounds

The Ultrastar pistol, also known as a Star model M-205, was designed and is still being manufactured by the Spanish company Star Bonifacio Echeverria SA.

Ultrastar is a compact, polymer-framed semi-automatic pistol. It is recoil operated, with Browning cam locking and short barrel recoil. Ultrastar is a hammer fired, double action pistol with slide mounted, ambidextrous decocker/safety lever and additional automated firing pin safety. Single column magazine holds 9 rounds plus one in the chamber

Ultrastar is a compact and relatively lightweight, and is quite popular as a concealed carry, self-defence pistol due to its slim profile. It has all of the usual Star quality and reliability.

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Star 30M

Characteristics

Type: Double Action
Chamber: 9x19mm Luger/Parabellum
Weight unloaded: 1140 g
Length: 205 mm
Barrel length: 119 mm
Capacity: 15 rounds

This pistol had been developed and manufactured in Spain by Star Bonifacio Echeverria SA company. The Star 30M appeared in 1990 and had been adopted as a service pistol by the Spanish army and police, as well as by Peruvian police.

Technically, the Star 30M is an updated version of the earlier Star 28M pistol. Star 30M is a recoil operated, locked breech pistol, that uses Browning-designed, linkless locking (High Power-type), with two lugs on the barrel and shaped cam under the chamber that interacts with slide stop axis iside the frame.
Star 30M features double action trigger with slide mounted ambidextrous safety that locks firing ping only, leaving trigger and hammer unaffected in "safety on" position, thus allowing the gun to be "dry fired" (however, this is unsafe and is not recommended). Star 30M also features magazine safety, that disables firing when magazine in not in position. Another safety feature is a loaded chamber indicator. Star 30M features internal slide rails (like the SIG P-210 or CZ-75). The frame and slide are made from steel (the aluminium-alloy frame version of the Star 30M is called Star 30PK and is somewhat lighter, as one can expect). The front sight is fixed, the rear sight is dovetailed and thus can be ajusted for windage.

Star 30M is a reliable, accurate service pistol.

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Star mod. A, A Super, B, B Super and P

Star model B (models A, A Super and B Super looks exactly the same).

Star model P.

Star model BM (compact).

Star model P disasembled into main parts.

Star model B Super disasembled into main parts.

Characteristics - Data for Star mod. B Super (others in parentehesises)

Type: Single Action
Chamber: 9x23mm Largo (mod. A and A Super); 9x19mm Luger/Parabellum (models B, BM and B Super) or .45ACP (mod. P)
Weight unloaded: 1085 g
Length: 215 mm (193 mm for mod. BM)
Barrel length: 122 mm (102 mm for mod. BM)
Capacity: 9 rounds (7 rounds for mod. P)

The whole family of the "Star" pistol was (and stil is) manufactured by the Spain-based company Bonifacio Echeverria, SA. Back in the 1920s the company began to develop semi-automatic pistols, based on Browning-designed Colt M1911 design. These pistols were more or less similar to the original M1911, but usually chambered for 9x19mm Luger or 9x23mm Largo (Bergmann-Bayard) rounds.
The Star mod. A was chambered for 9mm Largo ammunition and mostly used in the Spain. The mod. B was chambered for 9x19mm Luger and had been widely exported into many countries, including Hitlers' Germany, and had been used during World War 2. The Star model P had been chambered for .45ACP cartridge and mostly intended for American market. The model BM was a compact version of the mod. B with shorter barrel and slide.

The Model B Super replaced the Mod. B in the production and in the Spain Army arsenals, and had been in production in 1946 - 1965, and had been in use by Spanish military until early 1990s, when new Star M30 had been adopted as a new service sidearm.

The Star pistols, mod. A, B and P were similar in design and differed mostly in caliber. All these pistols were recoil operated, locked breech, single action pistols that used Browning-deigned, linked barrel locking principle. The models A Super and B Super differed from mod. A and B, respectively, only in that the Super model utilised linkless locking scheme, similar to that used in Browning High Power pistols.

Being very similar in appearance to the Colt m1911A1 pistols, the Star pistols had some differences.
First, these pistols had no automated grip safety, and no detachable backstrap/mainspring housing
Second, Star pistols had simplified trigger/sear design with single trigger link, and pivoting trigger
Third, external safety swiths locked the hammer, not the sear
Fourth, Star pistols featured exetrnal extractors
Fifth, as noted above, Star A Super and B Super also had different barrel locking/unlocking

In general, all these pistols were of high quality, and offered good performance

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Llama M-82

Characteristics

Type: Double Action
Chamber: 9x19mm Luger/Parabellum
Weight unloaded: 1110 g
Length: 209 mm
Barrel length: 114 mm
Capacity: 15 rounds

This pistol was developed by Spanish company Llama Gabilondo y Cia SA in 1986 and was adopted by Spanish military in 1988.

Llama M82 is a recoil operated, locked breech semiautomatic pistol. It uses short recoiling barrel with tilting block barrel-to-slide locking, much like the Walther P38 or Beretta 92. The Llama M82 is hammer fired, double action pistol. Safety is mounted on the slide and when activated, it moves the firing pin out of the reach of the hammer and locks it, and then decocks hammer and also disconnects the trigger bar. safety does not affect slide, so slide can be cycled and cartridge chamvered with the safety "on", but hammer will not stay in the cocked position. After that, when safety will be disengaged ("off"), gun will be ready to fire first shot in Double Action. All consequent shots will be fired in Single Action Mode. If one desires, he also can manually cock the hammer for the first shot, to improve accuracy. Frame and slide of the M82 is made from steel, so gun is relatively heavy, but strong. Triggerguard is shaped for better two-hands hold, and sights are fixed. Double stack magazine hold 15 rounds plus one in the chamber.

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Astra A-80 A-90 A-100

Astra A-80 in .45ACP.

Astra A-90.

Astra A-100.

Astra A-100 (right side view).

Characteristics

	A-80	A-90	A-100
Type:	Double Action	Double Action	Double Action
Chamber:	9x19 Luger/Parabellum; 9x23mm Largo; .38 Super; .45ACP	9x19 mm Luger/Parabellum or .45ACP	9x19 mm Luger/Parabellum, .40SW or .45ACP
Weight unloaded:	985 g	985 g	985 g
Length:	180 mm	180 mm	180 mm
Barrel length:	95 mm	95 mm	95 mm
Capacity:	15 rounds (9 mm)	17 rounds (9 mm) or 9 rounds (.45)	15 rounds (9 mm), 13 rounds (.40) or 9 rounds (.45)

The Astra A-80, A-90 and A-100 pistols were developed by Spanish company Astra-Unceta y Cia SA, in 1982, 1985 and 1990, respectively, and are very similar in appearance and general design, differing mostly in safety features.

The Astra A-80 had been patterned after famous Swiss-Germany designed pistol SIG-Sauer P-220. A-80 features wery similar frame and slide shape, similar recoil-operated, locked breech design with improved Browning-style linkless locking and one large lug that locks into the ejection port in the slide. The double action trigger with frame mounted decocker on the left side of the grip is also patterned after the P-220. The A-80 also features firing pin safety, that locks the firing pin away from the cartridge primer untill the trigger is pressed. Another feature that is different from the SIG-Sauer P220 is that A-80 had double stack, high capacity magazines.

The Astra A-90 pistol appeared in 1985 as an improvement over the A-80 in terms of safety. Being very similar to A-80 in all other aspects, the A-90 featured two-piece firing pin with firing pin safety that locks frontal part of the pin, plus ambidextrous, slide mounted manual safety, that, when engaged, removed the rear part of the firing pin from the hammer path, regardless the position of the hammer. Accompanied with the frame mounted decocker, inherited from A-80, this resulted in very safe, but also very complicated design.

The Astra A-100 (first appeared in 1990) was an attempt to simplify the A-90 design while retaining the high level of operational safety. The manual safety had been removed and the operational procedures are similar to those of the A-80 pistol.

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Astra mod. 400 and 600

Campo-Giro pistol of 1913 - a predescessor to the Astra 400/600.

Astra mod. 400.

Astra mod. 600.

Astra mod.600 exploded view.

Characteristics - Data for mod.400 (data for mod.600 in parenthesises)

Type: Single Action
Chamber: mod.400: 9x23mm (9mm Largo or 9mm Steyr), 9x19mm Luger/Parabellum, 9x20mm Browning long (mod.600 - 9x19mm Luger/Parabellum only)
Weight loaded: 1140 g (1080 g)
Length: 225 mm (205 mm)
Barrel length: 150 mm (135 mm)
Capacity: 8 rounds

The "Astra" trademark belongs to the "Societa Unceta and compania" company (current name Astra-Unceta y Cia) , located in the Guernica, Spain. The Astra mod. 400 pistol first appeared in the early 1920s and had been adopted by the Spain Military in 1921. This pistol was also widely exported to many countries, includint the Hitlers' Germany, that purchased the mod. 400 pistols for its army. During the World War 2 German troops encountered several problems with mod.400 pistols, loaded with 9x19mm ammunition, so Germany requested the company do tevelop dedicated version of the mod.400, chambered in 9x19mm only. In 1943, Astra mod. 600 appeared, being chambered for 9mm Luger cartridge only and also having shorter barrel and slide, than mod.400. This model also had been used by Wehrmacht (German army) and exported across the world. The even more compact version of the mod.400, chambered for 9x17mm Browning short (.380ACP) or 7.65x17mm (.32ACP) cartridges, had been manufactured under the designation mod. 300. The production of the mod.400 had been completed in 1950.

Technically, the mod.400 is a blowback operated, hammer fired, single action semiautomatic pistol. It was chambered primary for 9mm Largo (9x23mm Bergmann-Bayard) cartridge but chamber and magazine dimensions allowed to load and fire other 9mm cartridges, such as 9x23mm Steyr, 9x20mm Browning long, 9x19mm Luger/Parabellum, offering almost unprecendent versatility.

The recoil spring is located around the barrel. The gun featured no manual safeties. One automatic safety is located at the rear of the grip and locks sear when gun does not gripped by the shooter properly; another, internal safety, disconets the trigger bar from the sear when gun is off the battery (slide does not closed completely). The slide stop is located at the left side of the frame.

Thanks to the long barrel and heavy weight, the gun was comfortable to fire and showed good acuuracy despite the fact that the blowback operated action is often assumed as unsuitable for full-powered ammunition such as 9mm Largo or 9mm Luger.

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