Soviet-refinished WWII Star pistols?

[carguychris]

Howdy all,

At the risk of letting the cat out of the bag, AIM Surplus is advertising WWII Bulgarian-contract Star Model B pistols for $399/ea + $10 hand select. Catch is, they are Soviet (Russian) capture guns that were refinished postwar.

http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx?item=F3StarB

I've been thinking about getting a Star pistol for a while, but I'm a little nervous about getting a Soviet capture pistol because (a) it's refinished and (b) the Soviets famously liked to mix-and-match parts from different guns during this process, which sometimes results in improper functioning, particularly on a design that requires some degree of hand fitment.

I would be buying this pistol as an occasional fun shooter that has some degree of collector value, NOT because I see this as an investment, or because I specifically "Must Have" a Bulgarian or Nazi WWII Star. That being said, perhaps I would be better off with one of the generic and commonplace $250-$300 vintage C&R Euro police trade-ins that have all-original matching parts BUT lack the pedigree.

What are everyone's thoughts? Feel free to share random vintage Star purchase stories and pictures.

 

[irish52084]

I don't know anything about the hand fitting being an issue, but those are good looking pistols. I hope they stay in stock for a while, I may "need" one.

 

[Hardcase]

I had given it a little thought, but my concern is that since they only show the left side of the gun, the right side may have a gigantic import billboard. As a shooter, that doesn't mean anything, but as a collector, I wonder what that does to the value. I decided that I just wasn't excited about the gun, so I never followed up.

You can give AIM a call and they'll tell you if they're numbers matching guns and what the import markings look like.