Star (and other Spanish) pistols are most easily dated by using the Spanish Proof House markings on the frame. The marking is either a letter (i.e. A, B, C.) or a letter and a number (i.e. Shotplus i cracked.
A1, B1, C1.). It is located on the left side of the frame. The letter code is stamped inside of shield with a knights head on top. On military pistols, the marking is usually to the left of the magazine release. On commercial models, it will probably be underneath the grip panel. A chart for dating the the symbol can be found here Since you are looking for a C&R piece, you will be looking for a proof date of 1958 or older.
The right place to find all older Star pistol model numbers is on the butt, as seen in the illustrations below and photo to the right. On the flat plate on the bottom of the gun, just rear of where the magazine is inserted, look for a letter, set of letters or a word. The longer number is your serial number, incidentally. The top is hinged to the bottom via its yellow covering. The top cover is marked with a large Star logo, a picture of the Model F, and “Cal.22 LR”. The top has an end panel with shows the correct make and serial number of this pistol, but refers to it as the Model F (We guess they had a few boxes left over from the previous year).
This will be signified by a code of D1 or lower. The year date code is NOT inside the knight's helm over shield proof; that is a totally different proof mark.
The Eibar region proofs are a triad groping of the knights helm over shield with an 'X' in the shield, a flaming bomb with 'I' (Military issue) or 'P' (commercial or export) in it, and the date code. The date code is a stand alone letter, or letter plus number, with '*' above it. The letter code started with 'A' in 1927, went to 'Z' in 1954 (keep in mind the Spanish alphabet includes the 'LL' and N with squiqqle over it (Nyay) - started over with 'A1' in 1955.
The Star Model BM is a that fires the pistol cartridge. It was produced by in. Although its external appearance resembles the classic, its design is different in several respects. For example, the Star does not have the 1911's.
In addition, the thumb safety on the Star disengages the sear, whereas it blocks the motion of the sear on a 1911. The pistol is fed by an 8-round detachable.
History A total of 217,682 Star BM pistols were made between 1972 and 1992. BM serial numbers ranged from 1,226,501 to somewhere around 1,942,445. The pistols were made without mechanical variation throughout that period, but there may be a lot of different cosmetic variations depending on agency issue and commercial sales. In general, earlier pieces were more highly polished and later ones were more of a matte finish.
After serial number 1,560,901 in 1981, all BM pistols were fitted with a ramped and serrated front sight. At approximately this same serial number a few other shortcuts were used to expedite production – a shorter rollmark/slide legend, coarser polish limited to side of the slide and frame, and all the small parts were given a bead blast matte finish. The slide cocking serrations are also reduced in number on these later pistols. There have been at least four importers of ex-Spanish BMs to the United States: Garcia Sporting Arms,, PW Arms,. Most imports in the US are arms that were traded in by various Spanish military branches to Star for exchange for newer model 28/30M and 28/30PK pistols. For the Interarms imports, Star reworked all these trade-ins prior to selling them to Interarms. Spain's Guardia Civil used BM's up through about 1990 or so as did many other police agencies in Europe and Latin America.