Problems with Starr DA repro

[Dutchman Dick]

Well, my Starr 1858 DA repro arrived a couple of days ago. From the outside it looks like a nice gun. In actuality, I'm rather disappointed - I think I got a lemon:

1) The front (cocking) trigger has two locking lugs on it: a front one that engages the stop slots on the outside of the cylinder when the trigger is forwards, and a rear one that engages slots next to the nipples when the trigger is back. On my gun, the rear lug looks like nobody bothered to deburr it before putting the trigger in the gun, and it's BARELY long enough to engage the rear slots in the cylinder.

2) The cylinder does not fully index. When I release the front trigger, I have to turn the cylinder a little bit farther by hand in order for the front lug on the cocking trigger to engage its slot and lock the cylinder.

3) The knurled screw that holds the frame shut is so tight that it requires a padded pair of pliers to remove it.

Has anybody else has a similar experience with the Pietta-made Starr DA repros? Now I need to send it back for repair or replacement...:baring_te

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Problems with Starr DA repro

Hallo!

No...

But your experience well illustrates what I post about some of the problems with the randomness and varied lack of Quality Control of these Italian imports in regards to fit, finish, and mechanical functioning or lack of functioning.

To my knowledge, most importers "back then up" with friendly customer service and easy exchange policies (if one does not mind paying the postages back and forth). However, they do not repair or fix them at their expense, they simply pull another box off the rack and ship it out with the hopes that:

1. The customer will randomly get one with better "QC" and be happy

or

2. The customer will simply give up somewhere along the line.

Curt

[Dutchman Dick]

Re: Problems with Starr DA repro

Seems I heard somewhere that Dixie Gunworks WILL repair defective guns they have sold, at the customer's request. Don't know how true that is, though. IIRC, the reference I read was in regards to another person with a Starr DA that had a weak mainspring and therefore spotty ignition (apparently a common problem with these repros). DGW's gunsmith replaced the mainspring with a better one and fixed the problem.

With the declining value of the dollar vs. the Euro, I suppose that if the Italian gun makers were held to the same standards of manufacture as many (though by no means all - look at how many "Friday" cars there are out there...) American manufacturers are, the guns would cost almost as much as originals in shootable condition. I suppose we should be thankful they're not made in India or Pakistan...

[rogue]

Re: Problems with Starr DA repro

Mr. Knock,
If you will go to the other forum, Civil War Reenactors Discussion Forums, use SEARCH and you can see my earlier problems with the Pietta Starr.
When Dixie first came out with their short (Czech made I believe) Austrian Lorenz I bought one. It never functioned as it should, and it was sent back to them twice. Their gunsmith worked out most of the problems (bad springs and soft lock parts) but never made it as it should be. Eventually they refunded my purchase price in full. They were very good about trying to fix a bad weapon, but in the end it did not work out.
Just my experience with the two items.
Steve Sullivan

[shooter13]

Re: Problems with Starr DA repro

The cylinder hand is not correct. Take a flat nosed punch and place it near the end of the hand. Then strike it with a hammer a few times and then reassemble the weapon and try it out. Its a slow trial and error process. You are displacing metal towards the enguagement point on the hand. This is a old trick for timing the action of a weapon. I learned it on old Colt double actions.

Bill Hess

[Dutchman Dick]

Re: Problems with Starr DA repro

The cylinder hand is not correct. Take a flat nosed punch and place it near the end of the hand. Then strike it with a hammer a few times and then reassemble the weapon and try it out. Its a slow trial and error process. You are displacing metal towards the enguagement point on the hand. This is a old trick for timing the action of a weapon. I learned it on old Colt double actions.

Bill Hess

Problem is, the indexing problem only showed up in single-action mode. The cylinder indexed just fine in double-action mode.

Let's face it - I was sent a lemon gun. Another problem I found was that the inside edges (front and back) of the triggerguard loop, which should have been neatly flush with the underside of the frame , were very much exposed. I think the gun's assembler must have been either drunk, or badly hung over, when he did that one. Hopefully DGW will actually send me a good one next time (I sent the other one back via UPS yesterday). Frankly, for $350, I should have a reasonable expectation of getting a decent gun in the first place:sarcastic. Or they should have advertised a sale on "factory seconds"...:confused_