Just got a pietta starr double action tried it today.Im here to tell you this gun is not an easy trick.First the thing is supposed to allow the cylinder to rotate on half cock if the trigger is held back a little.Mine doesnt.Actually mine doesnt do anything right.I understand you have to cock it with the trigger and fire with the secondary in single action.But does anybody know what I need to do to get the cylinder to rotate for loading purposes.Also does anybody know the proper load for this pistol.Also bought a lemat army revolver havent tried it yet but am anxous to does anybody have good load data on it.
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starr blues lemat loades
- Thread starter breech
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Some of the original Starrs were produced here in my home town of Binghamton. I'd love to have a repro, but I own a Pietta and once burned . . . Mine is a Cabela's $100 1851 Colt Navy, and the Starr is $375 from Dixie. Hopefully they put some better metal into the pricer Starr.
Dixie shows 22 gr of FFFg and 0.451 round balls as the proper load for both the LeMat and ths Starr, with the added 20 ga. smoothbore tube of the LeMat taking 30 gr. FFg and either a .630 round ball or 7/8 oz shot
Dixie shows 22 gr of FFFg and 0.451 round balls as the proper load for both the LeMat and ths Starr, with the added 20 ga. smoothbore tube of the LeMat taking 30 gr. FFg and either a .630 round ball or 7/8 oz shot
All of the Italian instructions are multi-lingual, very general and try to cover all the products in the line. They are very sparce as to actual information. My lemat has slightly smaller chamber mouths / bore than my Uberti replicas and is best used with a .451 Ball. The chambers are just a bit shorter than remington and colt .44s but work well with the same powder charges. It is a bit difficult to use reduced loads- much below 30 grains/ volume with the Lemat because of the short throw of the after-thoughty bullet seating set-up.
I've used two Pietta LeMats and both have been excellent revolvers but with a lot of design quirks dating from the original LeMat Design. they are the only evidence I've seen that Pietta actually does have the capacity to make a good revolver(although other Pietta owners report good performance from their guns)
My earlier Lemat got velocities about 100 fps faster with similar loads-go figure.
Many people have tried and many have given up getting spare parts for these. Pietta has made this task as difficult as possible but VTI GunParts got a good kit for me by ordering direct from Italy. They also told me that they plan to keep spare LeMat Parts in the United States.
The revolver exhibites good accuracy, perfect timing and no problems from cap fragments. quirks include the tendency of the ejector to recoil straigh up and the barrel latch to recoil straight down. Best fix is frequent tightening of the ejector screw and a paper wedge under the barrel latch
(both phenom seen here:}
I've used two Pietta LeMats and both have been excellent revolvers but with a lot of design quirks dating from the original LeMat Design. they are the only evidence I've seen that Pietta actually does have the capacity to make a good revolver(although other Pietta owners report good performance from their guns)
My earlier Lemat got velocities about 100 fps faster with similar loads-go figure.
Many people have tried and many have given up getting spare parts for these. Pietta has made this task as difficult as possible but VTI GunParts got a good kit for me by ordering direct from Italy. They also told me that they plan to keep spare LeMat Parts in the United States.
The revolver exhibites good accuracy, perfect timing and no problems from cap fragments. quirks include the tendency of the ejector to recoil straigh up and the barrel latch to recoil straight down. Best fix is frequent tightening of the ejector screw and a paper wedge under the barrel latch
(both phenom seen here:}
Well charlie I have bought 5 pistols in the last 6 weeks.All have been pietta and after looking into their guns I learned they seem to have a line of cheep guns of poor quality and there pricier guns seem to be well made.I just got a cased set old silver engraved remington 1858 copy and an engraved 1851 stainless colt copy,a lemat a steel framed 1863 rem pocket and this star and all appear to be top guality and the ones Ive fired shoot well.Only gun Ive had any problems with has been the star.Took the load data got here this morning and the star seems like it needs quite a bit more powder than recomended to have the ball seat and worse I cant get it to snap one cap.Fired the lemat with recomended loades and seemed quite weak.Woked the revolver loaded up to 45 grns it it shot tight groups.Got the shotgun barrel worked up to 50 grains and it went from a week pop to a boom.All in all pietta guns are ok if you choose wisely but that star I think may have problems inherit to there desighn.I paid 299.00 for it so guess I ain hurt too bad.Thanks highgain.
Really good info espaecialy about the spare parts I have made a copy so Ill have it.tried outhe gun and as you said about the accuracy is correct but I found that it really came to life after feeding it 45 grns on the revolver and 50 grns on the shotgun barrel.Did have the the rammer come out of place after firing the stout loades put a blade of grass in there and seemed to hold.Gun was bought brand new along with all of the pietta products had no instuctions with them.I have had to rely on this site to find out anything.Had no problems with the remington and colt copies cause I know how to use them but this lemat and starr Im lost so thanks.
my first one responded well to the blade of grass solution. the second one did not so, I wedged the ramrod in the tube more firmly.
Many users complain of poor ignition due to the short throw of the hammer when set for the shot barrel. My first one worked if I kept my hand from touching the cocked hammer. My current one requires quite a regumen to fire the shot barrel. I stone down the caps until they are almost cut through. ( I suppose there is the risk of setting them off in my hand this way.} Before seating the cap, I remove the nipple and charge the ignition channel with powder. Some people complain of the shot column walking forward under recoil from the revolver chambers but NewsPaper wadding has a good enough grip to preven this. At my own risk and not necessarily recommended, I have gone up to 60 gr/vol of pyrodex P with 310 grains to an ounce of various sized shot. I've shot this quite a bit but stipulate that it is a much heavier charge than anywhere recommended. #8 will penetrate 3/8" into a pine board at 20 feet and the center mass of a 7 pellet load of .31 buck shot will go completely through a 1" board.(periperal pellets barely stick or bounce off.
I put a white square of paper over this target-the better to squint the sight picture.
AH Article:http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BTT/is_158_26/ai_86704796
Many users complain of poor ignition due to the short throw of the hammer when set for the shot barrel. My first one worked if I kept my hand from touching the cocked hammer. My current one requires quite a regumen to fire the shot barrel. I stone down the caps until they are almost cut through. ( I suppose there is the risk of setting them off in my hand this way.} Before seating the cap, I remove the nipple and charge the ignition channel with powder. Some people complain of the shot column walking forward under recoil from the revolver chambers but NewsPaper wadding has a good enough grip to preven this. At my own risk and not necessarily recommended, I have gone up to 60 gr/vol of pyrodex P with 310 grains to an ounce of various sized shot. I've shot this quite a bit but stipulate that it is a much heavier charge than anywhere recommended. #8 will penetrate 3/8" into a pine board at 20 feet and the center mass of a 7 pellet load of .31 buck shot will go completely through a 1" board.(periperal pellets barely stick or bounce off.
I put a white square of paper over this target-the better to squint the sight picture.
AH Article:http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BTT/is_158_26/ai_86704796
One of the reviews of the Starr on Dixie's sight mentioned the owner had to have metal removed from the hammer to allow it to hit the nipple before the frame.
The original Starr didn't have design flaws from what I've read. It was the third most popular pistol in U.S. service at athe time
Starr Revolver - Part 1
Starr Revolver - Part 2
More than 47,000 saw service in the Civil War - not including private purchases by officers. I bet most of them fired when the trigger was pulled.
I'm waiting for Uberti to introduce theirs (no idea is that's planned).
You is made of sterner stuff than I is! $300 sunk and I'd be driving to the retailer's with a club and a skinning knife to collect some pelts for market.
robinghewitt
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I got one of those later Starr 44's, even got an original bullet mould for it. The bore looks good as new but I couldn't hit a barn in the butt at 5 paces when I tried it out 
