I recently saw an ad at AIM for some Star Super B 9mm pistols on sale for $239.95.

Here is what the ad said:

“ECHEVERRIA STAR SUPER B 9MM HANDGUN
ONLY... $239.95
Spanish made Star Super B 9mm caliber Handguns. Awesome "1911 style" 9mm handguns, built with a quality of craftsmanship you just do not see anymore. The "Super" resembles the 1911 in appearance yet incorporates the locking mechanism of the FN Hi Power. They will have checkered synthetic grips and include 2 8rd magazines.”

That sounded like a deal to me, so I ordered one.  I had always been interested in Star pistols but had never owned one.

It came in and looked like this.



It had 2 mags and a cleaning rod, and a nice instruction manual, which unfortunately was completely in Spanish.  That isn’t much help to me as I no hable Spanish.  Oh well, I can at least look at the pictures.



The pistol was bigger than I expected but it was nice and clean and had no rust or pitting.  The front of the grip and a few other places had the bluing worn off, but I know how to fix that.



As you can see the pistol has an external extractor.



The sights are fixed, but they are nice and big for military sights and easy to see.



To disassemble, you first make sure the pistol is empty and remove the mag.

Then you push this takedown lever forward…..



Until it is all the way forward….



Notice the small part that is normally under the takedown lever.  If the takedown lever is forward, this part will fall out of the pistol.  It is easy to put back in, if you don’t lose it.  I just pushed the takedown lever back over it while I cleaned the pistol.

And the slide will then come right off of the frame.



The spring comes off of the barrel much like a Browning Hi Power.



Then you rotate the barrel bushing a quarter turn and it comes off.



The barrel will then come forward and off of the frame.



I noticed that the rifling in the barrel was “frosted”.  This is probably the result of firing corrosive ammo in the pistol and not cleaning it properly.  But the rifling was strong and I thought I would polish it up a little.



I got a worn .45 caliber bore brush and dipped it in some JB Bore Compound and gave it a good scrubbing.



I then washed it out with WD-40 and cleaned the barrel with a 9mm brush and Hoppe’s #9.  I washed it out with WD-40 again and here is what it looked like.



It was amazing how much better the bore looks.

I removed the plastic grip panels and used Birchwood Casey Super Blue to touch up the front of the grip area and all other areas of the pistol where the bluing was worn. When you do this, remember to immediately apply a rust preventative like WD-40 to stop the bluing from rusting the pistol.



I took the grips into the sink and scrubbed them really well with soap and a brush.  I dried them and applied some Liquid Gold polish.  They looked much better.



I put everything back together and here is what it looks like now.



But the main question is: How does it shoot?

To the range…..

And here I am shooting it.



My son Abel caught one with the slide backing up and the empty getting ejected.  Neat pic.



I let Abel shoot it and he liked the way it shot.  It is a heavy pistol and that absorbs recoil and makes it a pleasure to shoot.



It shot close to point of aim and shot accurately.  It also ran 100% with ball ammo.



We had brought my grandson Levi with us and I brought a .22 pistol for him to shoot.  It was his first time to shoot a “real gun”.



He was proud that he even got one in the bull’s eye.



He said it was fun to shoot stuff.

If you are interested in a full sized 9mm semi-auto, give the Star Super B a look.  It is a fine pistol.

I will shoot standard 9mm loads in it.  No problem.

Yep, I couldn't pass it up at that price.



Thanks.  We had fun.  Levi didn't want to quit.

I was mostly shooting 115 grain JRN bullets through it.  No problems.

I tried a few of my handloads with a JHP, but it didn't like that profile.  Not uncommon for a milsurp pistol.

This one is 9mm Parabellum.(Luger)

This seems to be a commonly spread "rumor".  I had heard in times past that the steel in them was "soft".

However, the pistol looks good up close and it is heavy and well built.  I see no problem shooting standard 9mm through this piece.

Great pics/write-up, as usual.

I've had a very nice example of a Super B 9mm for years and it is a great shooter.  It was also a pretty gun, so I dressed it up a bit with some fancier-looking smooth grips.

I think I have a pic here somewhere...


ETA:  Couldn't find a good one, just this one cropped from a larger group shot.  I'll have to take a better one...

Well, you made me go dig it out of the safe.

It is not a crack, but just a scratch on the slide. (Had me worried for a minute.)

As a matter of fact it is.  It is a Bulova Accutron Spaceview, which runs on a tuning fork.

My parents gave it to me for graduation from High School in 1967.  Still runs great and I wear it every day.

Nice.

I've never seen the BKS before.  If that's it in the first pic, it looks a lot like the BM (maybe slightly longer).  Interesting.

I had one of the Ultrastars back when, interesting look/design but horrible trigger and difficult to shoot well IMO.

Still wish I had it, though, just because you don't see many of them.