Experience Shooting Solution (ES2) Shows Off Three Models from the Spanish Fireaarm Manufacture Known as STAR

Shown above is the Star "Fire-Star" 45acp Pistol. They were produced in Spain in the 90's with an all steel frame. This is a single action firearm modeled after the world famous 1911. One odd thing about this firearms is that it as "reversed" grooves on the slide frame as normal you would have your male side of groove on the frame on the Fire-Star the male side of the groove is on the slide.

The Star Model 30M 9mm pistol is an all steel made 15 round / double stack magazine fed weapon. The Model 30M is both single and double action. Production commence in the 1980's and ended in the early 1990's when Star Firearms went out of business

The Star GM 9mm is an all steel made weapon. This pistol has a half cocked position so as to be carried as ready to go. The weapon is still used by the Spanish Police and Military units. The weapon has a magazine safety meaning it can not be shot with the magazine removed

Miami, Florida 8th June 2013: Star Bonifacio Echeverria, S.A. was a manufacturer of small arms (principally handguns and sub-machineguns) in the Basque region of Spain from about 1905 until 1997. The Eibar region has been a center of weapons development and manufacture for centuries, with "Spanish Steel" historically being a selling point with its reputation for quality and durability. When firearms came into being, Eibar retained its edge as a weapons manufacturing center. The oldest known ancestor of the Star lineage is José Cruz Echeverria, who made muzzle-loading firearms in the 18th century.

In 1919, Bonifacio formally registered the Star trade name, and all subsequent weapons were marked as such. Note that although some references say that the Basque and Spanish equivalents of Star are also registered (Izarra and Estrella), they seem to have never been marketed as such.

The 1990s were bad for defense companies all over the world. For the most part, companies in smaller markets either found their niche and flourished, or slowly perished. In Spain alone Star, Astra and CETME met their end. The final years at Star saw a relative flurry of new models, and court challenges over restructuring plans and massive layoffs. Star filed for bankruptcy protection in late 1993 after taking out loans to invest in new CNC machinery. They were indirectly affected by the Asian economic crisis; Spanish banks tried to cover Asian investment losses by more aggressively collecting outstanding debt and renewing loans with less favorable terms for domestic companies. Star and Astra began cooperative investment and discussions of mergers in the mid 90s, but Astra was not in much better shape, so this eventually dragged both companies down.

Not shown in the photos above Experience Shooting Solutions (ES2) collection of Star Firearms also included a Star 9mm Largo 9 x 23 and the Star 9mm "Super B" 9 x 19 both modeled after the world famous Browning 1911 pistol. During the time in which (ES2) has owned and fired the collection of Star Firearms, they have proven to be very reliable, well made weapons.