Star Model B pistols

B

bearhunter

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Uber Super GunNutz
Rating - 100%
178   0   0
Location
okanogan
I should have known this but it came as a surprise to me.

Star Model B pistols were widely used by the Axis nations, especially Germany during WWII. Spain of course supplied them. They were for rear echelon troops and civilians such as policemen etc.

The Soviets of course captured thousands of them and put them through their famous refurbishment process. The best way to tell if these pistols went from Spain to Germany and later to the Soviet refurb depots is the plum coloring on the harder parts which we see on all other RCs.

I purchased a Star Model B Super last weekend and picked it up today. it was make post war in 1973. Lovely pistol that came with two spare mags. Oddly this pistol has plum colored parts such as the extractor and take down lever/pin.

Even though the Model B Super outwardly resemble the 1911 that's where it ends for the most part. Yes, it still incorporates some of the JMB features but because of operational issues some changes were made to improve the system. The barrel link is not hinged but similar to the Sig and S&W M39 and the trigger rotates on a pin instead of pulling straight back etc. No grip safety either and a five in barrel. The pistol is slimmer than the 1911.

The pistol is polished nicely and in excellent condition inside and out. Looking forward to shooting it. It is obviously one of the Tradex imports and I would say from the faint markings its been refurbed.

The Model B Super pistols being offered by Tradex likely aren't milsurp although they may be police surplus. Nothing on them to indicate where they were used or who they were issued to.

The Model B pistols were unique in that they weren't given any Axis or German acceptance stamps or property marks until the Soviets got ahold of them.

It makes sense for the Axis nations to have utilized these pistols but we certainly haven't heard much about them. In fact there are those out there that turn their noses up at them. The B model pistols were all made during WWII for export to the Axis nations. Thousands of them were issued to Axis troops/police etc. All those milsurps with Axis provenance under our noses all this time and only the most knowledgeable collectors actually knowing anything about them.
 
The B pistols that are WW2 surplus that Lever is selling and the Super B like new guns Tradex is selling are not the same model. They are in the same family and that's about it.

I heard somewhere the NOS ones like you got were made for Rhodesia, but who knows for sure?

The Lever guns are supposedly soviet captures from the Bulgarian Army, which was part of the axis forces.
 
Cool guns, great history, I have a Bulgarian contract from Lever - I figure anyone with a Buglarian M95 needs a Model B to go with it. It's a bit of a jammomatic, the Soviets didn't bother keeping the parts from individual guns together and at least the extractors were apparently hand fitted. No reflection on the build quality though, I have a Star Model 1920 (genuinely rare collectible) and a Model A as well and they're decent guns, in fact the 1920 is beautifully made. I'm a bit of a closet Spanish pistol geek!
 
You have both 1920 and A? I haven't even seen them in person.
I must say that we don't know for sure if Bulgarian Star Bs came from Bulgaria or from ex-USSR arsenals from Ukraine. Bulgarian and Soviet refurb technique is very similar. So hard to tell what kind of refurb it is. Bulgarian contract is most common and very often used to fake Wehrmacht contract. Most of Wehrmacht contract Star Bs never had waffenamts, but some did have. One needs carefully check serial number range.

My Axis: Kriegsmarine contract, Wehrmacht contract, Bulgarian. First two are in original condition, while Bulgarian is refurb.

q8UvRIM.jpg


TITyTOJ.jpg
 
The 1920 was a US import, and the Model A came off of here. From what I've been told online (don't have a copy of the Star book myself) the Model A in an SCW-era gun assembled in a temporary shelter after the factory was damaged when the Nationalists took Eibar - short serial and assembly codes instead of proofs. Doesn't explain why the markings are in English.


 
One of my collection goals is to get the trifecta of Civil Guard "Modelo Militar" Stars - the 1920, 1921 and 1922. Unfortunately you just don't see many classic-era Stars in Canada and between the dollar and my grown-up responsibilities its hard to justify importing guns from the US anymore!
 
Nyles said:
The 1920 was a US import, and the Model A came off of here. From what I've been told online (don't have a copy of the Star book myself) the Model A in an SCW-era gun assembled in a temporary shelter after the factory was damaged when the Nationalists took Eibar - short serial and assembly codes instead of proofs. Doesn't explain why the markings are in English.
Click to expand...

Those pistols are beautiful in their uniqueness. Spanish handguns have this very unique appeal. Too bad many of them fall into prohib category.
 
Not a Star, but possible the most unique Spanish pistol around... the Jo Lo Ar! In rough shape but I couldn't pass it up.

 
Took the Model B Super to the range this afternoon. I wasn't expecting a lot from it but the curiosity was getting to me and I had a couple of other firearms that needed to be checked out and sighted in so why not.

I went to the ammo safe and pulled out a couple of boxes of 1960 dated Radway Green British surplus that I had left over from a crate I bought many years ago and for some reason didn't shoot. White 32 round boxes. 55+ years old and it shot just fine. The pistol came with three mags and I wanted to check all of them for function and feeding.

Not one jam or stovepipe occurred with any of the 64 rounds. At 25 yards, offhand, The Star Super B shot all of the rounds into a three inch group. The sights were easy to acquire and large enough to easily get on target. Just enough light around the front sight to help keep things centered.

The Star shot the RG ammo about 4 inches above point of aim. Nice. A bit to the left but the rear sight can be easily drifted over to compensate for that. Before doing this I will try a couple of other types of ammo and see what it likes.

Anyway, the Super B seems to have the problems associated with the Model B fixed. At least they seem to be in my pistol. The trigger took a bit of getting used to as I am used to the trigger on a 1911. It reminds me of the P35 but not so heavy. It's a nice pistol to shoot and so far seems to be very reliable. Points well and fits my hand nicely.

The mags seem to be interchangeable with the pistols chambered for the 9mm Browning Long. I am going to see if they fit into the mag well of the Destroyer Carbine I have. Even if they did they would likely need modifications to stay in place and feed. Interesting.

If the other Star Super B pistols from Tradex are from the same batch and they work/shoot as well as mine, they are a great deal and if you can afford one it might be a good idea to grab one while they last.

I am still kicking myself for not picking up one of the Lahti pistol/holster/mag combinations they had a few years ago. I was pondering getting completely out of handguns but got bit by the bug again.
 
During the Second World War the German Army received 25,000 Star Model B's. The first batch (inferred serial numbers 215000 to 22500) were marked WaA251 and the second batch (inferred serial numbers 2424000 to 257400) were marked WaAD20. These were delivered to German Army units if France so it is highly unlikely, although not impossible, that any of these pistols saw service on the eastern front. Therefore any claim that a German Army Star Model B is a Russian capture gun should be taken with a big grain of salt. Some information in this post was taken from "Axis Pistols" by Jan C. Still.
 
The Wizard said:
During the Second World War the German Army received 25,000 Star Model B's. The first batch (inferred serial numbers 215000 to 22500) were marked WaA251 and the second batch (inferred serial numbers 2424000 to 257400) were marked WaAD20. These were delivered to German Army units if France so it is highly unlikely, although not impossible, that any of these pistols saw service on the eastern front. Therefore any claim that a German Army Star Model B is a Russian capture gun should be taken with a big grain of salt. Some information in this post was taken from "Axis Pistols" by Jan C. Still.
Click to expand...

I think this is very outdated information about serial numbers. More specific serial ranges were published. First contract for Wehrmacht started with 210951, not with 215000.
As for "RC" - you probably overlooked Bulgarian contract of 15000 pistols delivered in 1943-1944. Bulgaria was an ally to Germany and many of these pistols were captured and brought back to USSR and consequently were refurbished and thus they are so called "RC"s. I suppose some stayed in Bulgaria and also were refurbished, and they are not "RC"s. As I noted above I don't know if Bulgarian contract pistols available in Canada came from Bulgaria or from Ukraine, so I can't say if they are RC or not RC. But RC pistols exist - I saw many of the were deactivated and sold as "souvenirs" in Ukraine, all they came from ex-USSR storage facilities.
 
bearhunter said:
Not one jam or stovepipe occurred with any of the 64 rounds. At 25 yards, offhand, The Star Super B shot all of the rounds into a three inch group.

The Star shot the RG ammo about 4 inches above point of aim. Nice. A bit to the left but the rear sight can be easily drifted over to compensate for that. Before doing this I will try a couple of other types of ammo and see what it likes.

If the other Star Super B pistols from Tradex are from the same batch and they work/shoot as well as mine, they are a great deal and if you can afford one it might be a good idea to grab one while they last.
Click to expand...


You must be a great marksman. All I can achieve at 20 yards with my Star B Modelo Super (from Tradex Canada) is 6-7 inch grouping with 6-7 out of 8 shots when I shoot at a 20 yd timed&rapid fire handgun target. I always have one or two shots outside of a six ring (a 10 inch ring). I do better with my other two 9mm pistols: the Walther P1 and PPX and much, much better with my three 22cal pistols. Fact of the matter is that a trigger pull on my Super Star is very heavy at around 9.5 lbs. It is most likely, a principal cause of lousy accuracy I get. So, not all Star B Modelo Super pistols from Tradex Canada are equal. Otherwise, the pistol is very reliable. Never experienced hiccups of any kind.
By the way, the Star B Modelo Super is technically quite different than the previous Star B. The Super B has nothing to do with the Second World War. The production of the Super B started in 1946.
 
Horilka said:
I think this is very outdated information about serial numbers. More specific serial ranges were published. First contract for Wehrmacht started with 210951, not with 215000.
As for "RC" - you probably overlooked Bulgarian contract of 15000 pistols delivered in 1943-1944. Bulgaria was an ally to Germany and many of these pistols were captured and brought back to USSR and consequently were refurbished and thus they are so called "RC"s. I suppose some stayed in Bulgaria and also were refurbished, and they are not "RC"s. As I noted above I don't know if Bulgarian contract pistols available in Canada came from Bulgaria or from Ukraine, so I can't say if they are RC or not RC. But RC pistols exist - I saw many of the were deactivated and sold as "souvenirs" in Ukraine, all they came from ex-USSR storage facilities.
Click to expand...

You are correct. After doing some more research I did see that my data was incomplete. My statement about Russian capture pistols was limited to GERMAN ARMY Star Model B's. Bulgarian Model B's are a differnet story.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom