.44 Starr Single Action Revolver

[awc]

Made some special paper cartridges for my Starr Single Action Revolver. These cartridges are kinda special,the loading port that Pietta gives ya is very small so it takes a different bullet.I use a 160 grain flat point bullet that I in turn rebate the base in my Lyman sizer to .439 that way it will go into the cylinder and fit under the loading lever.The rest of the bullet is .452,it has a lube band but I still use a lube pill.All my paper cartridges I fit with a .375 pill all it needs to keep running.Powder charge is 30 grain of my home made powder.Lots of smoke but plenty of power for that light bullet. The Single Action Starr is an excellent pistol after I finished the fitting that Pietta doesn't do.I just wish somebody made a conversion cylinder it would be one of the best pistols in my possesion.I also have a Double Action that works just as good or better.Lot of people dog um but there just like the rest of the Italian guns they need some work.
Made some special paper cartridges for my Starr Single Action Revolver. These cartridges are kinda special,the loading port that Pietta gives ya is very small so it takes a different bullet.I use a 160 grain flat point bullet that I in turn rebate the base in my Lyman sizer to .439 that way it will go into the cylinder and fit under the loading lever.The rest of the bullet is .452,it has a lube band but I still use a lube pill.All my paper cartridges I fit with a .375 pill all it needs to keep running.Powder charge is 30 grain of my home made powder.Lots of smoke but plenty of power for that light bullet. The Single Action Starr is an excellent pistol after I finished the fitting that Pietta doesn't do.I just wish somebody made a conversion cylinder it would be one of the best pistols in my possesion.I also have a Double Action that works just as good or better.Lot of people dog um but there just like the rest of the Italian guns they need some work.
https://imgur.com/a/W62Rl

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

I wish they'd still make the Starr (Pietro)

Unique and not boring like everybody else has (colts remys)

 

[Eras Gone]

Will a period style conical bullet not fit under the loading lever? BTW, I contacted Pietta and they say they hope to do another run of Starr revolvers this spring.

 

[Pukka Bundook]

A few years ago, a pal bought an original Starr up at Prince George, BC. The shop was asking $100 for it, so he bought it!

Had to fix the rammer for him but all working order otherwise. Big strong old revolver it was!

 

[CaseHardened]

Hey, that's great !

I'd love to own one eventually.
https://www.armurerie-lavaux.com/w...rmal/PIETTA_STARR_Double_ACtion_1858_Army.jpg

 

[Don]

The double action was the one that had all sorts of issues. The single action runs much better. I've wanted a single action Starr for some time now. If Pietta makes them again I hope they aren't outrageously priced.

Don

 

[CaseHardened]

Anyone know what Pietta sold them for last time ?

 

[Don]

Dixie Gun works had them listed between $500 and $550 if I recall properly.

Don

 

[CaseHardened]

Whoa !

A little steep.

I'd sooner buy a Ruger Old Army.

Oh well.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

+1

If they can be had for $199 the same as their other Colt and Remys, I'll be interested. $550 is used ROA money, a much nicer more durable and simpler shooter.

 

[CaseHardened]

Oh, I might spring all the way to $400 for a new Starr, but $550 is simply not worth it to me.

But that is just me.

 

[Col. Batguano]

You might be able to find a restorable original Starr at that sort of price. In that case, which one would hold their value better?

 

[Stumpkiller]

Love to have one of the repros. But $$.

The originals were made in Yonkers and Binghamton, NY (the latter being my home town). I never did figure out where, exactly.

 

[CaseHardened]

Well, I know what happened with TOOLS.

A few years back Lie-Nielsen in Maine began manufacturing replicas of Stanley Woodworking Planes.

The modern Lie-Nielsen Planes are made to closer tolerances, of better materials, and are improved in aspects that the originals were weak in.

And with rare exception, the new Lie-Nielsen Tools sell for MORE than the vintage Stanleys.

The darn things are so well regarded, that used ones on eBay often meet or exceed the price of the same tool direct from the Lie-Nielsen website ! And I'm been told the same thing happens at actual physical Tool Auctions.

And the Lie-Nielsen have certainly tempered any increase in value the Stanleys may have otherwise experienced.

I would certainly rather own a $400 Pietta Starr than a $400 original - which would likely to be very low end.

 

[Zonie]

This might help you figure out where in Binghamton the Starr Gun company was.
It is from "American gun makers Including Supplement of American gun makers"

STARR ARMS CO.”” Store and office 267 Broadway, New York and

plants at Yonkers, Binghamton and Morrisania, N. Y., about
1858-67. Makers of revolvers under the Eben T. Starr patent
of Jan. 15, 1856, No. 14,118. There were 5,000 Starr revolving
pistols contracted for by the government Nov. 24, 1858, and a
total of 47,952 Starr revolvers of all types purchased during the
Civil War. The firm also made single-shot and 4-shot Derringer
pistols.

The firm also made Starr breech-loading percussion car-
bines patented Sept. 14, 1858, No. 21,523, of which 20,601 were
delivered during the Civil War. An additional 5,001 Starr rim-
fire cartridge carbines were purchased in 1865.

The Starr plant located in Binghamton, was later sold to
"Jones of Binghamton ”” He Pays the Freight," who made scales
for many years. He was Gen. Edward F. Jones, who commanded
the Massachusetts regiment that was fired on while marching
through Baltimore, early in the Civil War. The Binghamton
street leading to the former location of the plant, is still called
Starr Avenue. The site is now occupied by the Daniel S. Dick-
inson School.
The president of the Starr Arms Co., was H. H. Wolcott,
inventor of the Wolcott carbine, patented Nov. 27, 1866, No.
60,106. Probabilities are that the Wolcott carbine (specimen
in the National Museum) was made in the Starr shops.

I don't know when this was written and a Google search for the school shows it is located on Court Street between State Street and Exchange street.

Looks like they renamed the streets?

 

[crockett]

I think they were the third most popular revolver in the Civil War and all the military revolvers used combustible cartridges. I thought standard Colt ammunition could be used.

 

[jlynn]

If you own a s a Starr, you might like to check the following-place the hammer in one of the safety notches and see if it locks the action up. On mine the hammer will not move-have to remove the cylinder and replace to get things right. Bought it early on and still like it. I just load 5, not 6

 

[CaseHardened]

If you own a s a Starr, you might like to check the following-place the hammer in one of the safety notches and see if it locks the action up. On mine the hammer will not move-have to remove the cylinder and replace to get things right. Bought it early on and still like it. I just load 5, not 6

Yours is a Pietta ?

 

[jlynn]

Yes- there is really no notch between nipples.. just space Possibly never intended as a safety. Thanks

 

[CaseHardened]

Ok.

The Safety Notches are a major reason I bought the 1858 Remington by Uberti.