Since picking up the Star BM I've been in love with it. It shoots great and it has that classic 1911 style look to it. I've been wanting to completely rebuild this pistol for a while and after doing some research and ordering what few replacement parts there are for it, I'm finally ready. So here I go, I'm going to see if I can slick this baby up.
First off, the before shots, she's seen a lot of duty over the years and it shows. Not much finish left on it
Too bad they had to remove the Spanish service insignias.
I've learned that the numeral located on the right front of the trigger guard is the year of manufacture. In this case it would be 1979. Note SPAIN stamped underneath the number.
Now to start the disassembly process beginning with the slide. To remove the firing pin you'll to need to drift the rear sight out. There is an alignment mark to simplify the reinstallation process.
The firing pin and extractor pins can be driven out from underneath the slide once the rear sight is removed. Be careful when removing the extractor, there is a small uncaptured spring pushing out on it from the side of the slide.
Top view.
The firing pin and extractor with their springs and retaining pins.
A good reason to completely disassemble this pistol, it's filthy! I can't believe it even functioned. The firing pin had so much gunk in it that I had to push it our from the other side with a piece of wire.
Now to start sanding the slide down. In addition to removing the milled out area I'm also going to remove the arsenal number and all of the tooling marks left over from manufacture.
And here are the first results.
And before I get too far along, here are the parts I'll be using and where you can get them. Some of these were hard to find so I hope this will help out fellow Star BM owners.
Recoil and magazine springs from Wolf Gun Springs:
https://www.gunsprings.com/STAR/BM 9mm/cID1/mID61/dID278
New firing pin and extractor springs, plus many other parts:
https://jack-first-gun-parts.myshopify.com/collections/star-bk-bkm-bks-9m-m-pistol
Evolution Gun Works heavy duty barrel link:
http://www.egwguns.com/other-pistols-parts/star-bm-9mm-barrel-link-machined-from-barstock-2-links/
For bluing I'm going to try a technique I saw on youtube. If it actually works I'll pass it on. If it doesn't work then I'll take it to a gun shop and have it professionally done. I hope to have the entire slide assembly finished by the end of the weekend so I should know if it's going to work by then
First off, the before shots, she's seen a lot of duty over the years and it shows. Not much finish left on it
Too bad they had to remove the Spanish service insignias.
I've learned that the numeral located on the right front of the trigger guard is the year of manufacture. In this case it would be 1979. Note SPAIN stamped underneath the number.
Now to start the disassembly process beginning with the slide. To remove the firing pin you'll to need to drift the rear sight out. There is an alignment mark to simplify the reinstallation process.
The firing pin and extractor pins can be driven out from underneath the slide once the rear sight is removed. Be careful when removing the extractor, there is a small uncaptured spring pushing out on it from the side of the slide.
Top view.
The firing pin and extractor with their springs and retaining pins.
A good reason to completely disassemble this pistol, it's filthy! I can't believe it even functioned. The firing pin had so much gunk in it that I had to push it our from the other side with a piece of wire.
Now to start sanding the slide down. In addition to removing the milled out area I'm also going to remove the arsenal number and all of the tooling marks left over from manufacture.
And here are the first results.
And before I get too far along, here are the parts I'll be using and where you can get them. Some of these were hard to find so I hope this will help out fellow Star BM owners.
Recoil and magazine springs from Wolf Gun Springs:
https://www.gunsprings.com/STAR/BM 9mm/cID1/mID61/dID278
New firing pin and extractor springs, plus many other parts:
https://jack-first-gun-parts.myshopify.com/collections/star-bk-bkm-bks-9m-m-pistol
Evolution Gun Works heavy duty barrel link:
http://www.egwguns.com/other-pistols-parts/star-bm-9mm-barrel-link-machined-from-barstock-2-links/
For bluing I'm going to try a technique I saw on youtube. If it actually works I'll pass it on. If it doesn't work then I'll take it to a gun shop and have it professionally done. I hope to have the entire slide assembly finished by the end of the weekend so I should know if it's going to work by then
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