[p229sas]

What brands of ammo are safe to fire in my 1943 Star Model B from AIM? I know I shouldn't use +P, +P+ and all that good stuff but what about the cheap stuff like Wolf, S&B Range Safe, etc?

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Any standard pressure ammunition should be fine.
Bill

 

[Bob In St. Louis]

I wouldn't use Wolf ammo in any of my guns - the powder formulation is high in percentage of inert binder (base clay) and sulphur. The result is a very "dirty" firing ammo, and even though sold as "non-corrosive" --- it still is mildly corrosive. I pretty much stick to American ammo, S&B, and good ol' Spanish Santa Barbara ammo.

 

[j4570]

I've used various ammo.

Winchester White box a good bit (FMJ). The Winchester White Box JHP's did not feed well.

For something other than FMJ, I found very little ammo that would feed reliably. However, Magtech makes a 124gr JSP that feeds and shoots reasonably well.

JW

 

[MGMike]

As a generic test round, I always have preferred Federal American Eagle 115 gr. It's of sure quality, very uniform and free of vices. Generally speaking, if a gun won't work with that, there's something wrong with the gun.

M

 

[Los Adaes]

Mike, is that FMJ or JHP?

 

[MGMike]

Mike, is that FMJ or JHP?

FMJ. It's loaded to standard SAAMI velocities. Also available in 124 gr. FMJ.

(I wasn't aware that Federal loads JHPs in American Eagle.)

M

 

[kestak]

Greetings,

I am new to reloading and new to the StarB.
Anyone can tell me if 115gr FMJ reloaded with 5.25 grains of Unique will blow up the gun? For my other 9mm, it works very fine. It is about 90% strength of the winchester bulk white box wal-mart sells.

Thank you

 

[MGMike]

I haven't the foggiest idea if that is a safe load or not. Have you chronographed it to see what kind of velocities you are getting? With a bullet of given weight, that is a fairly good method (better than felt recoil, at least) of determining if a load is mild, just right, hot or too hot. Just compare it to what you measure with Winchester WB from the same gun.

Whether it will "blow up" your gun probably depends just as much on the condition of your cartridge cases. Star BMs and BKMs, for example, are not very tolerant of previously stretched cases with maximum loads. Model Bs and B Supers are better in this regard, but a case that should be thrown away is still, no matter what anyone says, garbage, and should not be reloaded.

M