July/August 1978 - American Handgunner

, .- - A --.-ng. As analternative, you can have the filler piecewelded in place. Either way, you canfinish by carefully filing the filler piece tomatch the bottom of the trigger guardand cleaning up the entire reworked area.Checkering or stippling on squared guardis your option and need not be detailedhere.If you feel the need of a trigger stop,now is the time to install it. Drill and tap a6 x 48 hole in the bottom of the guard.Now you can grind a short taper on theend of a short socket-head 6 x 48 screw(available from B-Square, Box 11281, Ft.Worth, Texas, 76109). Cut back the taperuntil the tip of the screw arrests triggermovement where you want it. Be surethat the screwhead is flush with theunderside of the guard. Once the gunwork is complete and the adjustment isfinalized, you can degrease both screwand hole and then secure the screw with adrop of Lok-Tite.If you need a wider or longer trigger,you can simply install the make of astandard shoe you like best. All you haveto do is reshape the ends and rear toprevent the interference with the frameand guard.As for the rest of the gun, you canshorten the barrel and slide or lighten itup. For anything more, you can just followthe same procedures that have beendeveloped for the .45 Colt. Though Stardimensions aren't quite the same as Colt,all their parts are identical in shape, functionand design. That is, except for theextractor. The big Star Model P can easilybe shortened to Colt Commanderlength. If you care to, you can cut backnearly 1%" from the muzzle while retaininga high degree of functional reliability.In any event, properly modified forcombat use, the Star .45 is not only asatisfactory substitute for the big - Colt,but in some respects is actually superior.And that shouldn't be . - ,*taken lightly.1. After welding, the excess buttmetal is sawed off, parallel to theoriginal butt line, then the protrudingweld bead- is filed or ground awayon the outside.2. The Star safety is unique andblocks the hammer solidly. Be carefulin removing it, to avoid loss of thedetent plunger and spring.r-AMERICAN HANDGUNNER JULYIAUGUST 19783. Final internal fitting of the butt isdone with a fine-cut, narrow, flat file.Try the magazine repeatedly as excessmetal is filed away. Polishsmooth, the inside filed areas.