Star entered the Wondernine era in 1978 with their Model 28 pistol, a double action 9mm offering with 15-round magazines. It was one of the entrants in the first round of US military XM-9 trials, but unfortunately for Star was beat out by the Beretta 92. Star took feedback on its gun from the commercial market, and revised a number of small elements to create the Model 30, released in 1981. A few years later (in 1986), the Colt company purchased 20 Stars - 10 30Ms and 10 30PKs - for “internal review” to see if they might be interested in manufacturing the design. They decided not to, and sold the guns off to Colt employees not much later.

A quick designation guide to the Star 28/30/31 series; M indicated a military pattern with a full length slide, P indicates a Police pattern with a shorter slide, and K indicated an aluminum alloy frame instead of the standard steel frame.