Magma boolit feeder

[ddeaton]

I took my boolit feeder off my Star Magma today and bout threw it against the wall. I am going to do without it for a while till I get used to sizing with this. I see things that need to be changed with it. While being new at this I am not new at working on machines. Thats what I do for a living, rebuilding old and building new machines. The plate that the boolit feed slides on top of, and sits over the die, is too thin. The die top head is a tad thicker than the plate, therefore sticks above the plate by that much. The boolit has to hit this and jump over it every throw as it slides over the die. Either need to turn the thickness of the die head down, or space the boolit feed plate up a little. Also, the whole assembly just seems to clutter up the sizer. It makes it a pain if adjustments are needed. I can almost feed as fast without it, granted I am sizing 45's now, and are easy to handle. My tip to anyone getting started with a new Magma, would be to start with the basics and add the whistles and bells on after initial setup. Just my 2 cents, and I am new at this, so dont know what I am talking about. I feel better now.

[klw]

Used my magma bullet feeder for about a week. Sold it. Just more trouble then it was worth.

[cajun shooter]

Ddeaton, Your problems are why I didn't buy one. My before buy research came up with that and other things. Almost all negatives were that you could load bullets by hand almost as fast. Some people say that they had one or more fingers cut by not having it. Slow down and that problem goes away. For the home caster, it's not needed.

[Willbird]

Ddeaton, Your problems are why I didn't buy one. My before buy research came up with that and other things. Almost all negatives were that you could load bullets by hand almost as fast. Some people say that they had one or more fingers cut by not having it. Slow down and that problem goes away. For the home caster, it's not needed.

Yup it is a basic tenant of running machines to not close them up on your fingers :-).


Bill

[686]

ddeaton what do you want for that bad bullet feader? i may buy it. i have 2 stars with the bullet feader on and one stae for gas check bullets without the feader. i am looking for a 4th star and will be putting the feeder on it. i had a person working for me once that took a plug out of there finger because they did not let go of the bullet before they pulled the handle. if you do not want to go fast get a lyman or any push-pull sizer. does your star have a star sizer die or another make? neather sizer or nurmos dies fit above the bullet feeder plate. it can be looked at as faster of slower. slower is that you first have to tube up the bullets. faster is all you have to do is keep pushing the handle. i look at it as being better using the bullet feeder. you first tube up the bullets letting you check for any bad ones. then a safer way of lubing. i push with one hand while keeping the other hand under the luber catching the bullets. this lets me watch the bullets for good lubeing and for any bad ones. also they do not hit on each other like letting then fall into a can or box. by doing it this way i can switch hands to do it left hand or right. to each his own . how much do you want fot that bad bullet feeder? try it again you will like it.

[Springfield]

If 686 backs off on buying your feeder I would like to be next in line. I have 2 now and love them. Sounds like yours wasn't set up properly, I don't have that problem of the sizer sticking upon either of mine. Do you use the o-ring on the sizer die? Maybe it isn't letting the die go all the way into the hole. Just pitch the o-ring, they work fine without them.

[ddeaton]

If 686 backs off on buying your feeder I would like to be next in line. I have 2 now and love them. Sounds like yours wasn't set up properly, I don't have that problem of the sizer sticking upon either of mine. Do you use the o-ring on the sizer die? Maybe it isn't letting the die go all the way into the hole. Just pitch the o-ring, they work fine without them.

No O ring, other than the 2 that are in the bore of the sizer. You guys can picture what I am saying, that the top rim of the die is thicker than the sheet metal feeder bracket? With the feeder bracket lying over the die and bolted down, the rim of the die protrudes above the bracket just enough to create a lip to catch the boolit. I havent had much time to give it a good look yet, but will. I will take a pic and post it. I might hang on to it and give it one more chance, if I get fed up I will let you guys know first.
Thanks, Danny

[cajun shooter]

As I stated before; not for "HOME CASTING" Springfield has a bullet selling business with his leather goods. His need for one is alot different than the home caster that's sizing and lubing for only one person. By the way Mark aka Springfield makes some nice BIG LUBE bullets for the CAS crowd and he packs them in styrofoam cartons so that they are in good shape when you receive them.

[runfiverun]

i run 3 stars too, two with and one without the feeder for gas checked and rifle stuff.
i don't comercial cast either i just want good boolits.
for my pistol stuff i do like 686 fill all 20 tubes and get the wife to help fill them as i go.
i run off about 5,000 or more at a time, so i only have to cast for some of my stuff one time a year.

[Roundnoser]

I've got two stars. One Magma and one San Diego that size approx. 10,000 bullets a season. Bottom line...are the bullet feeders a thumbs up or a thumbs down? Put another way...If I can size 1 K per hour in manual mode, how much faster can I do that same 1 K with the feeder?
Thanks, Jon.

[Springfield]

Roundnoser: If you can do 1000/hr you are better than me. But then I don't let them drop, I put them in trays so I need to have my left hand free. If I let all my BP bullets fall in a box I would have a heck of a mess on my hands.
ddeaton, it would be much easier to make adjustments with the feeder on if you would convert to a 2 piece punch like I have. Never have to loosen the lock ring that holds the feeder in place.

[101VooDoo]

I've thought the feeder would be cool accessory, but didn't see where it saves time.

If you've got to load the boolits into a tube, how does that save time as opposed to just loading them into the sizer? Is there something I'm missing? :-?

Jim

[Roundnoser]

I guess if you invest in an automatic bullet feeding unit, like a Mr. bullet, so it feeds the steel tube, you could really crank them out...but now yer talking big $$$.

Springfield -- I don't know that I can do 1K / hr., but if the feeder makes the process more efficient, I might consider dropping the 100 + bucks for it....maybe. Might try a used one if there are any to be had. Anyone out there with a used Magma feeder for sale?

[D Crockett]

don't have a feeder for sale but I have a box of tubes for 38;s I will take $1.50 each there are 68 tubes in the box comes to $102.00 plus shipping I have used them for a number of years but it time the thin out the things in the reloading room they are thin walled not thick like the ones you get from Magma D Crockett

[Springfield]

I think the feeder is faster because I can inspect the bullets as I put them in the tubes. Then when I'm sizing I just crank them out and don't have to look at every one while sizing. Even if it isn't faster it is easier on me mentally, I only have to be in the inspection mode while tubing, not sizing, although I do catch a few rejects then also, usualy a bad base I didn't see before. So the feeder gives me another chance to catch a bad boolit. But you have to remember I run a very small commercial bullet business so I have more volume than the average home caster. It is all in what works for you. I am basically a stay at home dad, so I can tube the bullets while still being in the house with the kids, so I am sorta using this "dead" time to do some work, instead of spending more time in the shop sizing. Makes the best use of my time. Same reason I do most of my leather sewing at night, I can watch TV with the family or whatever instead of being in my shop sewing, thus turning my leisure time into work time. About the only drawback to the feeder is the cost, it certainly isn't slower. If you have lots of time and no money, get a Saeco or Lyman or RCBS. If you are trying to be more efficient so you can spend more time doing whatever it is you like, shooting, reloading, or spending time with the family, the Star makes more sense. And the feeder just makes it more so, in my opinion.

[casterofboolits]

Adding a bullet feeder to your Star depends on how many boolits of the same caliber and style you intend to lube/size at one time. IMHO 500 to a thousand can be done in an hour or less. Auto feed not required. If you are doing multiple thousands, then it has an advantage. Or if you just like neat gadgets and like to tinker, then it's what makes you happy.

Before I had my stroke, which affected my left side, I could do just over a thousand 45's an hour by hand feeding the boolits. At the time I was selling boolits and bought an MA Systems Collator and added the auto feed to the star. This upped my production to about 1,400 45's and 2,000 nines/38's an hour. I ran that combo for about a year.

The collator might be a bit much for the average guy, but the bullet feeder and plastic tubes would speed up the sizing, even with the time it takes to fill the tubes. I sized mine to hold 100 boolits. Also added a wall mounted arm with a spring clilp to steady the top of the tube. I had twenty tubes for 44/45 and twenty for 09/38. My son would keep the tubes filled while I ran the luber.

[hammerhead357]

The boolit feeder keeps the fingers out of the die and out of the way of the punch. I have posted this before. My first wife was very fast at sizing/lubing boolits on a Star. But one moring she caught her thumb in the die and cut a .347 diam. hole in it. 650.00 bucks later and severl days off it was repaired and this was 25 years or so ago. GET THE BOOLIT FEEDER IT IS SAFER.....JMHO.....Wes

[Springfield]

My tubes only hold 25-30 bullets. Any larger and they are difficult to handle. Having larger ones doesn't really save any time. I fill them and put them in a 5 gallon plastic bucket and then carry them out to the shop. I have nicked my finger before, I can see how it would be easy to punch a hole init. OUCH!

[SWANEEDB]

I have a Magma bullet feeder on the way, has anyone adapted a Lee case feeder to the bullet feed, it's only a thought right now as I don't really know what the bullet feeder looks like and how much room there is for an add-on.

[Roundnoser]

OK, I think I've got it...FASTER, check. SAFER, check. FUN TO TINKER, check. ANOTHER TOY TO THROW MY MONEY AT, check. WIFE ROLLING HER EYES WHILE I ACT LIKE A FIVE YEAR OLD PLAYING WITH CHRISTMAS TOYS, check. -- That was easy. I just talked myself into buying one!

[David2011]

A thousand in an hour isn't unrealistic with a Star. I plan on that level of production any time I use mine. It's an old San Diego model. No air, no feeder, no nuthin'. Most of my sizing is .40 or .45. I do try to maintain situational awareness betwixt the fingers and the punch. I kinda flip the boolits in from the edge of the die so they fall pointy end first.

After lurking and contributing for a few years there seems to be two kinds of casters. A few of us go for volume most of the time to meet the needs of a competition gun. The rest of us cast at much lower volumes, striving for perfection with every pour. Most of us probably do a mix of volume for some calibers and pure quality for others. I've watched a high volume sizer in action. You can size 6000/hr if you're willing to pony up. The cost is over $6,000 to size that many in an hour. For about $250 a Star does pretty well. For slow, precise and perfection a Lyman or RCBS works very well.

David

[casterofboolits]

A thousand in an hour isn't unrealistic with a Star. I plan on that level of production any time I use mine. It's an old San Diego model. No air, no feeder, no nuthin'. Most of my sizing is .40 or .45. I do try to maintain situational awareness betwixt the fingers and the punch. I kinda flip the boolits in from the edge of the die so they fall pointy end first.

After lurking and contributing for a few years there seems to be two kinds of casters. A few of us go for volume most of the time to meet the needs of a competition gun. The rest of us cast at much lower volumes, striving for perfection with every pour. Most of us probably do a mix of volume for some calibers and pure quality for others. I've watched a high volume sizer in action. You can size 6000/hr if you're willing to pony up. The cost is over $6,000 to size that many in an hour. For about $250 a Star does pretty well. For slow, precise and perfection a Lyman or RCBS works very well.

David

You are correct. I got into volume casting and lubing to feed my IPSC habit. Then my buddies asked me to cast for them and it went down hill from there. I've had a Magma Lube Master for over twenty years and does 4,000 boolits an hour using the MA Systems collator. I paid $2,300.00 for it and $750.00 for the collator. Mine was the fourth collator off MA's line. Had a few bugs, but MA rebuilt the thing and it has been running for about 22 years. First on the Star, then the Lube Master. In fact, I told Magma about about MA Systems.

[deltaenterprizes]

You are correct. I got into volume casting and lubing to feed my IPSC habit. Then my buddies asked me to cast for them and it went down hill from there. I've had a Magma Lube Master for over twenty years and does 4,000 boolits an hour using the MA Systems collator. I paid $2,300.00 for it and $750.00 for the collator. Mine was the fourth collator off MA's line. Had a few bugs, but MA rebuilt the thing and it has been running for about 22 years. First on the Star, then the Lube Master. In fact, I told Magma about about MA Systems.

I hope you installed the dust collector, that is how I got lead poisioning. The slot in the bottom of the bowl was nose height and I was inhaling fine particles of lead dust! Installed the dust collector and lead level dropped considerably in a short period of time and I was running 2 lubsizers at a time. Be careful!

[angus6]

I've had a Magma Lube Master for over twenty years and does 4,000 boolits an hour using the MA Systems collator. I paid $2,300.00 for it and $750.00 for the collator.

Been looking for a used Lube Master for a while now.. Each time I've come a cross one the wallet was empty:(

[thebigmac]

Before I retired from the Navy I made some boolit feeders for my Star luber. I also got some 1/2"
plastic tubes. Then I went to the lumber yard and got a 4' piece of door molding with 6 cutouts in it.
Placing a hand full of boolits on this board allowed me to fill the tubes quickly. Later on, I purchesed a Camdex boolit loader and the same tubes, with lubed bollits in them this time was used as a boolit feeder for that machine. All this was done before the fancy feeders came on the market. BTW I have a couple feeders I sold on this web. They are not nicely made like a compute controlled
machine would make them, but they work fine. They not only save time but make sizing a lot
easier... Bigmac

[6bg6ga]

The Magma bullet feeder is a pain in the ass to get running correctly. It makes adjusting the punch depth a real chore. Its a crude mechanical method of delivering a bullet to the die but once set up works pretty good. I recently added a rotary feeder to the bullet feeder assembly and its a nice way to have approximately 75 bullets stored in the assembly just waiting to be sized.

I am in negotiations with a local manufacturing company to produce a version of bullet feeder and a rotary bullet feeder attachment. The bullet feeder will be air operated via a small air piston assembly to deliver the bullet to the sizing die. This will eliminate the tedious punch adjustment of the current mechanical design and will alow for a smooth controlled bullet delivery system.

[biscot]

I've had a bullet feeder sitting around - I used it for a while, but didn't really take the time to get it set up properly, so I took it off.
Last week I got in a bit too big of a hurry, and left my thumb in the wrong spot for a little too long. Fortunately I only got a sore thumb, but after reading the stories on here about people punching holes in their thumbs, I'm putting mine back on!

[tackstrp]

looking to buy Magna star sizer bullet feeder send PM please or email.... Reading all of the above chanded my mind. Will make my own. Somthing like the CH4D primer spring loaded set up

[tackstrp]

sure would like to see a magna star sizer bullet feeder picture