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Help with a Star P series 1911 clone

648 views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  Berto 
#1 ·
Hello,

My friend acquired a Star Automatic Pistol Cal 45. It is marked "P" on the butt with serial 330703.

I am a police armorer for Glock and Colt AR and my friend/coworker asked me to look at it since I am familiar with 1911s and he assumed this was related due to the similarities in appearances.

The safety will not engage on the pistol when the hammer is back. It was rumored to have "happy hammer" by the person he acquired it from, which we took to mean the hammer will fall without a trigger press.

Any idea what we are dealing with, in terms of issues with the hammer?

Thanks a bunch! Pics attached..

Chese




 
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#2 ·
Cochese, some of the Stars have differing degrees of hardness on their internals. I've seen a dozen or more of the large frame 1911 look-alikes with manual safety problems. Early on, they may work perfectly. As they wear in, it may become necessary to hold the hammer further back than the sear will hold it to engage the safety.

In my experience, holding the hammer back while applying the thumb safety has been safe and effective. Lowering the thumb safety will allow the hammer to shift forward, but not with enough force to drop the hammer completely. Most such guns drop the hammer to the point where it is retained by the sear.

Maybe a gunsmith could weld up the hammer and re-cut the sear notch. Or, as I have done, just recognize the idiosyncrasies of the gun and enjoy it anyway.

Once a gun has done this, it becomes no longer reliable for me to use except for fun.
 
#3 ·
Excellent info, thanks!

I discovered the safety will engage and disengage hammer down and at half cock but not fully back.

I'm wary of breaking it down to armorer level and having it grenade so its getting a field strip and good clean for now.
 
#4 ·
I know this may sound stupid, and this is at your own risk but a rubber mallet and a wood dowl to try and bang it up with the hammer back MAY work. And old timer tonight me a lot about the rubber mallet. I did something stupid with an mini-14 and it was binded up. Knowing he owned a gun store I asked for his help.

Whack!

Everything back to normal.

The whack has helped me and friends a few times. Right after the whack clean. Sometimes a little debits in the wrong place stops the show.

BTW I think Star made a good gun.
 
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