Once at the range I naturally gravitated to the Star BM first being a huge 1911 fan myself and boy oh boy is this thing the bee's knees. Shit was this thing badass--no lie I love it and want another one already. Trigger was super smooth and the action was also butter smooth. I was surprised that the recoil was about that of the 1911 (.45 ACP), but I attribute this to the shorter barrel perhaps (?) and I did shoot them side by side today and they felt about the same. Used some Fiocchi 124g FMJ 9x19 for testing...and only because I left my range ammo at the house. (whoops!) All in all the Star BM exceeded my expectations by a country mile and I came in with very high expectations. The Makarov unfortunately was a bit of a downer, perhaps my expectations here were set too high. The Mak was VERY snappy, I was utterly shocked on how snappy it was. After 2 full mags the web of my hand was a bit sore and since I have a high grip got a little hammer bite. I adjusted my grip accordingly for the hammer bite but was still a bit disappointed with the snappiness. I know you can get a 19lb and 21lb recoil spring to address the recoil but honestly the factory 17lb recoil spring is so stiff no one in my family but me can rack the slide so I seriously doubt I'm going to get one of those springs to reduce the recoil. The ammo I was using, which by the way was almost twice the price of regular 9x19 ammo because I had to buy the range's, was Sellier & Bellot 95g FMJ 9x18. Perhaps I need to try a heavier bullet? Though Buffalo Bore is the only mfg which a heavier bullet but that is loaded +P and would most likely exacerbate the problem.
I really liked everything I've heard, watched, and saw from Makarovs so it was a bit surprising to be a bit disappointed--but the more time I spend with it the better. I had originally thought this would of been a good carry option for my wife, but, as mentioned earlier she cannot even rack the slide so that's a NOPE. Hell, I wouldn't carry the Makarov and I was contemplating it before I fired it. The Star on the other hand, hell yes I would carry it, no hesitation. My confidence level with this is already at 100% after I found the right sight picture on that last mag I ran. Seriously folks, the Star BM is about as brilliant as you can get on a steel frame 9mm semi-auto pistol. Cannot wait to put some more rounds through it.