Century Star B first range trip - fail

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  • vfr750f

    Active Member
    Feb 2, 2008
    156
    I took the recently received Star B from Century to the range for its first session this morning. I was shooting my reloads which work reliably in about out other 9mm handguns including another Star B that I purchased a few years ago and just shot a couple of weeks ago. This Star B won't cycle at all - there is no visible slide movement, and the hammer remains uncocked. Manually cycling the slide to extract the fired case takes a good amount of effort. Cycling the slide on an unloaded pistol generally works OK, but at times you can feel some resistance as the barrel starts to unlock. When I received it, I also noticed that the rear sight had been drifted a good amount from the center mark and the pistol definately shoots left of target. This is the 3rd Star B that I've owned and I've had problems with each, so perhaps it is time to give up on this particular pistol. I'm going to call Century Monday morning. I had high hopes for this one - it was parkerized and looked really good. I also had 5 magazines to test so I was confident that at least 1 would permit reliable functioning.
     

    Melnic

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 27, 2012
    15,282
    HoCo
    Just cause it does not cycle reloads does not make it defective.
    Have you chrono'd your reloads and compared to factory? Depending on the gun, the minimum force to cycle reliably can be different. And the age of the spring can affect that.

    But if manually operating slide is significantly harder than another star B, that is a sign of some burrs or something or kinked up spring or something else maybe. I don't recall my Star B (or my Dads) slide being any harder to pull back than my other semi autos though
     

    G O B

    Ultimate Member
    Nov 17, 2007
    1,940
    Cen TX
    Try the recoil spring from a working pistol. They wear out every 50 years or so, may not even be the right spring in it.
     
    Jul 1, 2012
    5,711
    I would second that, I'd be suspicious of something wrong in the barrel lockup. Check the barrel link, pin and mating surfaces of the lock lugs in the slide/barrel carefully. But ... IANAGS.

    Next time it happens try pushing the back of the extractor (with a brass punch etc) to release it from the empty case in the chamber while pulling slide back - and if the slide is easy to move back then yeah, it was the cartridge case. If not, big problems elsewhere. Granted this is a tricky contortionist effort, or may requires a third hand...

    There should also be evidence of marring/distortion on the case rim I would think, if the extractor is imposing all that force trying to pull the case out of the chamber.
     

    Machodoc

    Old Guy
    Jun 27, 2012
    5,745
    Just South of Chuck County
    The fact that he's shooting reloads brings up some additional possibilities for variables. He may, for example, have cases that were sized just a tad big. It's even possible that he forgot that his cases were sized by firing them in a certain pistol. I'd still run a few rounds of factory ammo ... even manually ... through it before giving up. I'd also scrub the bejeeziz out of the the chamber with solvent and a bronze brush.
     
    Jul 1, 2012
    5,711
    It sounded like there were issues even unloaded... could be a combo of things.

    Cycling the slide on an unloaded pistol generally works OK, but at times you can feel some resistance as the barrel starts to unlock.
     

    Lou45

    R.I.P.
    Jun 29, 2010
    12,048
    Carroll County
    OP didn't mention about the expended brass and the condition thereof. Could be a chamber issue.

    OP, run a few rounds of quality factory brass cased ammo, such as Federal American Eagle 115 grain through it, recover the brass and examine it, then report back.
     

    edhallor

    Active Member
    Feb 23, 2010
    749
    Aberdeen
    I took the recently received Star B from Century to the range for its first session this morning. I was shooting my reloads which work reliably in about out other 9mm handguns including another Star B that I purchased a few years ago and just shot a couple of weeks ago. This Star B won't cycle at all - there is no visible slide movement, and the hammer remains uncocked. Manually cycling the slide to extract the fired case takes a good amount of effort. Cycling the slide on an unloaded pistol generally works OK, but at times you can feel some resistance as the barrel starts to unlock. When I received it, I also noticed that the rear sight had been drifted a good amount from the center mark and the pistol definately shoots left of target. This is the 3rd Star B that I've owned and I've had problems with each, so perhaps it is time to give up on this particular pistol. I'm going to call Century Monday morning. I had high hopes for this one - it was parkerized and looked really good. I also had 5 magazines to test so I was confident that at least 1 would permit reliable functioning.

    I purchased the Star in 9mm Largo along with 1,000 rounds of Surplus Ammo from Century a few years back. Polished the Feed Ramp, gave it a good scrubbing, swapped out some new wolf springs and it shoots like a charm.

    Correct me if I'm wrong but was'nt the conversion to 9mm Para meant for export to Nazi Germany and kowing the quality the Nazi's insisted on I would have thoght these things would have been Cherry.

    These reviews convinced me to keep my $350, $20 less if you buy the same Star B CAI Import from SOG in my pocket.

    As far as I can see the only value in these Pistols is if you can score one with Nazi Import Marks?

    Eddie O
     

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