Spanish firearms

[walt o]

I would like to have a discussion on Spanish pistols FACT not fiction.What YOU ,not hearsay ,have found bad or good about them. I have 3 a llama mini-max 45 ,a llama 22 cal.(small 1911) a starfire in S&W40 , all have been good for me no problems at least 500+rounds through each.The only problem has been the 22 cal. magazine which i replaced and have had no more problems with the gun .I have heard POOR STEEL , unreliable ,piece of crap about them .What is YOUR actual experiences .I know they are not made any longer and parts may be hard to find someday.

 

[shooter521]

I had an Astra A-75 .45 back in the day. It was

From my website:
I purchased this gun in the fall of 1996. I really wanted to like it - it had attractive lines, a decent trigger, manageable size and weight... unfortunately, it wasn't accurate or reliable enough to trust with my life, which is the mission I bought it for. When the rear sight comes off the slide and the gun won't reliably feed hardball, it's time to send it back. EAA's customer service was a joke! After being gone two weeks, the gun was returned with a new barrel, which didn't fix anything. I sold it to help finance my Glock 26, and never looked back.

 

[holejack1]

I have a Star Ultrastar 9mm. Great gun.

 

[MeltonLaw]

Very little real experience with them but I heard that the Stars were good 9mms.

 

[pig957]

I have 2 firestars (9mm) and one llama 45. I have had no problem with any of them.

 

[Claddagh]

Mine is a mixed bag. I've owned examples from four Spanish brands: An old surplus Astra 600, a Star M43 Firestar, an AyA 12 ga. SxS and two Llamas, a.38 Spl. Comanche revolver and a small frame .22 semiauto.

The old Asta was a weird design, but nicely made, decently accurate and ran like a top with ball ammo.

The shotgun was beautifully made and balanced and got me a lot of birds.

The Star is still one of my regular CCW weapons. It's reliable, accurate and has held up very nicely over about 15 years of use.

The Llama revolver was fairly decent, but not anywhere nearly as accurate as the Dan Wesson M15 I bought so I got rid of it. The little .22 was junk right out of the box.

It was ordered new through a 'hobby' FFL holder I knew. The outside looked nice, but inside there were a lot of rough tool marks and the lockwork parts looked like they'd been fitted by an untalented Jr. HS shop student with a wood rasp.

On the first magazine through it, it doubled twice. When I dropped the slide on the second mag, the hammer 'followed' and the round blew a hole in the ground about 3" in front of the toe of my boot.

I sent it back to Interams for repair under warranty. I didn't get it back for several months, and after I finally did it worked for about 75 rds before the same stuff began again. Visual examination showed that the sear and hammer notches had rough file marks and were deformed from contact with each other. I looked to me as if the parts either hadn't received any heat treatment at all or that any case/surface hardened material had been removed in the fitting process, leaving the mild steel underneath unable to handle the stresses.

It went back again, and several more months later it returned looking just as poorly fitted as it had before. I ended up selling it at a substantial loss to a fellow who figured that he could just order parts and fix it himself. I've never bought another, although I've known folks who were perfectly happy with Llamas they bought.

IMO, Llama probably had the worst overall record where QC was concerned of the major Spanish import brands post WWII. My guess is that they cut a lot of corners on both labor and materials trying to make their profit through sheer volume.

 

[cosermann]

I know they are not made any longer and parts may be hard to find someday.

So, are you wondering if you could keep and/or use them or not, is that the goal here? If so, I think that is an independent issue from whether they're good/reliable/durable guns or not.

 

[calcot7]

I had LNIB .380 back in the early 80's and I never had any problems with it. It shot anything I fed it and was actually fairly accurate. Slide to frame fit seemed somewhat loose but I guess that was probably good for reliability. I've also the quality control was better at that time. I'd buy another if the price was right.

 

[Crystalship1]

I would like to have a discussion on Spanish pistols FACT not fiction.What YOU ,not hearsay ,have found bad or good about them. I have 3 a llama mini-max 45 ,a llama 22 cal.(small 1911) a starfire in S&W40 , all have been good for me no problems at least 500+rounds through each.The only problem has been the 22 cal. magazine which i replaced and have had no more problems with the gun .I have heard POOR STEEL , unreliable ,piece of crap about them .What is YOUR actual experiences .I know they are not made any longer and parts may be hard to find someday.

Already being discussed here -----> https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/handguns/48068-llama_45_1911s-2.html#post523270

 

[Uralguy]

I had a Star PD in 45 and I was stupid enough to sell it. Great shooter and easy to conceal. I still have an Astra 900. They are now going for 5 times what I paid for it. The PD sold for more than I paid for it after hundreds of rounds. Either one worked every time. The Astra needs an extractor now. That is the only part that won't be an original, not bad for a gun made out of substandard steel. About 70 some years old? I wish it could talk.

 

[quicksdraw]

I bought a new Llama .45 in '89. I kept it for six months and got rid of it because it was unreliable. I doubt that I ever fired a full magazine through it without either an FTF or an FTE.
On the other hand, I bought a new Star Firestar M45 in '91 (right after they came out). I still own and shoot it. It has never had a single FTF or FTE, it is accurate and reliable. My only complaint is that it is geting harder and harder to find factory magazines and spare parts for it.

 

[Uralguy]

I had a Star PD in 45 and I was stupid enough to sell it. Great shooter and easy to conceal. I still have an Astra 900. They are now going for 5 times what I paid for it. The PD sold for more than I paid for it after hundreds of rounds. Either one worked every time. The Astra needs an extractor now. That is the only part that won't be an original, not bad for a gun made out of substandard steel. About 70 some years old? I wish it could talk.

 

[walt o]

spanish pistols

Crystalship1
As i asked WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCES, not what you were told don't want a flame war but stick to the question.

 

[Revolverteer]

I had a Spanish Astra constable in .380 caliber once. It performed just fine. No problems.




.

 

[Crystalship1]

Crystalship1
As i asked WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCES, not what you were told don't want a flame war but stick to the question.

Just trying to help you, but I'll try harder to live up to your expectations.

I'm new here.