Mitty38
Well-Known Member
So it would be a good candidate for the pounds of universal I have.
If I were to go 38 super.
- Thread starter Mitty38
- Start date
CZ93X62
Official forum enigma
Yes it is. It plays well north of the border, too.
Dark admission--I have yet to ever fire a 38 Super. My thoughts have always been that the 9 x 19 Parabellum has always been underloaded in this country to help prop up sales of domestically-produced 38 Supers, but that may be just my cynical nature working for free. The 38 Super has a bit of a ballistic edge on the 9 x 19, though it's not a wide chasm if the 9 x 19 is run at full-potential. I just ran withscissors the 9mm and did without the potential for rim-lock.
Dark admission--I have yet to ever fire a 38 Super. My thoughts have always been that the 9 x 19 Parabellum has always been underloaded in this country to help prop up sales of domestically-produced 38 Supers, but that may be just my cynical nature working for free. The 38 Super has a bit of a ballistic edge on the 9 x 19, though it's not a wide chasm if the 9 x 19 is run at full-potential. I just ran with
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About the time I became old enough to buy hand guns the 5th or 6th pistol I bought was a Colt 1911 in 38 Super. The 1911 was older than I was and didn't run very well for me. Only ever tried factory ammo in this and didn't even know where to begin to try and figure out how to improve it's reliability so after a short bit it was traded off. My Beretta model 92S (second or third pistol) never ever hiccupped no matter what I feed it and it saw some awful gun show reloads and my first reloading attempts so I may have judged the 38 Super a little harshly. The NATO 9mm ammo especially if it's European runs pretty hot. Having a couple of Hi Powers I tend to avoid the NATO stuff.
JonB
Halcyon member
I was allowed to shoot a 1911 38 super "race" gun owned by a fellow competitor back in the 90s, that was sweet, let me tell you, smoothest 1911 I ever shot, I hit everything I was pointing at. Ever since, the idea of that caliber has been rolling around in the back of my head, even though most of the sweetness of the "race" gun was the mods and not necessarily the caliber.
Then, 5 years ago, a friend buys a stainless Taurus 1911 in 38 super for $600 that worked great right out of the box (which is lucky from a Taurus, LOL), it was also a sweet shooter.
So, I started looking harder and finally asked at the LGS, they said they could bring in a RIA in 38 super for less than $600...
well, I took a chance...and you know the rest of the story
Mitty38
Well-Known Member
Yep, like the Taurus revolvers. But Will own nothing with a slide that has a bull on the side. Ben there, done that, twice, not getting bit three times.I was allowed to shoot a 1911 38 super "race" gun owned by a fellow competitor back in the 90s, that was sweet, let me tell you, smoothest 1911 I ever shot, I hit everything I was pointing at. Ever since, the idea of that caliber has been rolling around in the back of my head, even though most of the sweetness of the "race" gun was the mods and not necessarily the caliber.
Then, 5 years ago, a friend buys a stainless Taurus 1911 in 38 super for $600 that worked great right out of the box (which is lucky from a Taurus, LOL), it was also a sweet shooter.
So, I started looking harder and finally asked at the LGS, they said they could bring in a RIA in 38 super for less than $600...
well, I took a chance...and you know the rest of the story
If it is SA and a Taurus but also runs well, better keep it. Rare Bird there.
Mitty38
Well-Known Member
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, I HAVE NEVER SHOT A 1911 OR A SUPER.
9MM,+P, 38SPCL,357MAG, 357 RIFLE LOADS, 357 MAX, 350 bm, 380ACP,357 SIG. Pretty much anything .35ish. But never a Super.
I have never as yet even touched a 1911. Just never had the opportunity.
Did have a Star BM. But they are just "kinda" close.
9MM,+P, 38SPCL,357MAG, 357 RIFLE LOADS, 357 MAX, 350 bm, 380ACP,357 SIG. Pretty much anything .35ish. But never a Super.
I have never as yet even touched a 1911. Just never had the opportunity.
Did have a Star BM. But they are just "kinda" close.
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oscarflytyer
Well-Known Member
off track, but... FWIW - I have a Star BM 9mm - AND I LOVE IT!!!! And IF they were to make that platform in a 38 Super - O H MY!!!! I would prob own one!
RicinYakima
High Steppes of Eastern Washington
Stars must be improving. The one I bought new in about 1975 had the holes in the frame peened oblong and the slide would not stay back, because the metal was so soft, after 100 rounds.
Bruce Drake
Active Member
Star Arms is long out of business. If any one wants a higher quality Star now, then they need to look at the Star pistols made for their Spanish military contracts in the 1950s and 1960's or their commercial sales in the 1970-1980's. In the 1990's Spanish Arms Companies all suffered due to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Asian economy bubble breaking affecting arms sales in the third world where Star, Astra and Llama all made a lot of sales in the past to the non-affiliated nations (non Warsaw Pact/non-NATO) as Warsaw Pact firearms were sold for pennies on the ruble and the US/NATO was dropping free arms into countries as a means to offset the cheap russian imports.
Tag that up with the shift to buying and installing CNC machines and injection molded firearms which ate into their ready reserves of cash when they tried to modernize their lines with polymer and alloy-framed pistols (MegaStar, Firestar, and the polymer Ultrastar 9x19 pistol) caused with Spanish Banks calling in their loans early due to the Asian bank collapses meant that Star was sold to Astra Firearms while Llama firearms had to be restructured as well. But the merge of Astra and Star caused a weakened company to come out of the collapse of both companies. That merged company is called ASTAR and they only make a 1911 45ACP Clone for the European commercial market (tiny market) and there are no American importers linked to the company now.
ASTRA Firearms was recently reactivated in Switzerland as ASTRA Defense but they focus on corporate and international sales of licensed copies of AR15 rifles, FN-MAG and Browning M2 machineguns and M203 Grenade launchers.
Regarding your pistol from the mid-70's, you don't mention the model but they had several alloy-framed pistols at the time as well as steel-framed low-cost versions as well that the metallurgy of thew time was probably not up to heavy defense loads.
oscarflytyer
Well-Known Member
I think mine is older than that. It is built like a tank and shoots great. Not sure how to date it. I do believe it was one of the Spanish Police guns
Mitty38
Well-Known Member
The one I had was a Spanish Police surplus. Was a good gun after I took care of the abuse.