Which luber?

[rvpilot76]

Found a RCBS luber (not sure if it's the first or second model) for $120 brand new. I don't see myself casting tens of thousands of boolits, although the Star is a nice unit. What I would like to know is, are boolits "really" much more accurate if sized nose first? If they are the Magma is for me. I don't like launching things downrange unless I know I can hit them, and I HATE inaccurate ammo. I'd really appreciate your opinions. I have pretty much ruled out the Lyman 450/4500based on opinions of others I have read elsewhere.

Thanks fellas!

Kevin

[steveb]

I have the RCBS LubOmatic 2 and like it real well.

[DLCTEX]

I have both RCBS and Lyman Sizers, And can't say I prefer one over the other. The RCBS does have a beefier Handle mechanisim, but the Lyman has done many thousands of bullets for me, and I bought it used, without a hitch(it's a 45). I prefer it's ratchet handle for lube pressure as compared to the little 2 knob handle on the RCBS. Otherwise they use the same dies and nose guides.:Fire:

[44woody]

RVPILOT76 I have had a rcbs lub-a-matic-2 and now own a star I used to have the worst problem with lube on the base of my bullets I would spend hr's cleaning it off the base I finly was able to get a star and sold the lam2 and have not regreted it everrcbs warenty v magma warenth that is a no braner rcbs has the best if it breaks for any reason your fanle or the cat's fault rcbs will fix it this is just my 2 cents worth :castmine: 44Woody

[ssgt]

I use an RCBS,a new Lyman and an old Lyman 45. The all seem to work equally well. Lately though, Ive started picking up the Lee sizers. I think these may be my new favorites.

[wills]

I used a highly scientific and organized approach to the selection of a lube-sizer. After much careful deliberation and research I bought one someone happened to have at the range to sell, with the correct size die already installed and about half full of SPG.

[Maven]

Kevin, Until the Lee sizer dies came out, all of my CB's were sized base-first in a Lyman #450 and 2 RCBS Lub-A-Matics. In fact, the tiny .45-70 group I described last week used CB's sized base-first in a Lub-A-Matic. If the ram and die are properly aligned and you don't bend the bullets when sizing them, I don't think there's much difference between the two methods. Just my $0.02

[StarMetal]

I'll add my .02 cents to Maven's and make it .04 cents. I've experienced the same thing he has. One thing I might add, I like the base type luber/sizers better because lubing with the Lee push throughs is so inconvienant to lubing.

Joe

[Springfield]

For the 60 bucks get the Star. I had an old Lyman 45 and an RCBS, almost new. After I got the first Star I sold them both. Now I have 3 Stars. Yes, I size thousands of bullets a month, but the price difference really isn't that great. I just don't have that much free time and I hate to waste it to save 60 bucks on something that is going to last until I die in 40 years. Yes, the Lyman and RCBS did a decent job of sizing. But so does my single stage RCBS press work well, but I almost never use it, I use the Dillon 550. If you have a Dillon progressive press than you are probably a Star kind of guy. IMHO

[omgb]

I have the RCBS LAM II and a Star and an old Lachmiller LAM I . I use the RCBS and lachmiller for short runs and experimenting. If I'm doing a large batch of 100 or more bullets i go to the Star. Dies for the Star are more expensive but the machine is by far faster to use. So, if you shoot a few rifle but hundreds of pistol rounds, then the Star is the way to go.

[Marshal Kane]

I shoot a lot of handgun bullets so when I cast, I cast a lot of bullets. Have found the Star lubrisizer the ideal tool as the bullets go in nose first, get lubed and sized, and exit the bottom of the die. Each pull of the handle produces a sized and lubricated bullet. Fastest lubrisizer on the market. Never have to consider using another lubrisizer as all sizing sessions involves lots of bullets. The Star is built to commercial standards so expect years of trouble-free performance. Just my dos centavos.

[Bent Ramrod]

Back in the Thirties the prevailing idea in the gun literature was that nose first sizing damaged bases, bent bullets and caused all kinds of grief to the hapless cast bullet shooter. These denunciations had the effect of causing everybody to junk their tong tools and push-through sizers and buy Ideal or later brands of base-first sizer/lubricators. Now we've gone full circle and base first is the "only" way to go again.

There was also the argument that the tong type tools made inferior ammunition because the handles didn't move in a "straight line."

Like the perennial .270-vs-.30-06 argument, the purpose of these is to sell the commodity in question and also sell the publications wherein the arguments are staged.

I have a Lachmiller, a Lyman 45, a couple Pacific base-first dies and I sometimes use a Kake Cutter and size through the push die or the hole in the handle of a tong tool. If the bullet is started straight in any of them, the accuracy appears to be equivalent.

[omgb]

I agree with Bentramrod. Accuracy from either the RCBS/Lachmiller tools or the Star seems to be the same. Only the speed of production is different

[bobthenailer]

had them all! star is the best way to go !!!!!!! cost a little more but well worth it! any one who i let try my star has bought one, so far ive converted 5 other casters, as for accuracy 1 1/4 for 25 shots at 100 yards with a rpm xl and 2 1/2 inches for 25 shots at 200 yards for a browning bpcr . bob

[rvpilot76]

Well, looks like the Star is getting the nod. Thanks for all of your input, fellas!

My best to all,

Kevin

[xpshooter]

Hello;
I see you say for 120$ you can get the luber, but at midway for 128$ you could get the luber, a melting pot, a ladel, an ingot mould and the Lyman cast bullet book.

[rvpilot76]

Hello;
I see you say for 120$ you can get the luber, but at midway for 128$ you could get the luber, a melting pot, a ladel, an ingot mould and the Lyman cast bullet book.
Link?

[Sixgun Symphony]

I found it.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=573247

[brshooter]

I used a lyman for 2 years and was always wiping the base of the bullets, what a pain in bucket. Bought a Star Lubricator in 1963 and have never looked back. First dies had fitted nose punchs for the different bullets, worked OK, but had 5 different nose punches just for 45 auto. Now use the nose first method and retired about 30 different nose punches. Now the Star is outfitted with a heated base, bullet feeder, and a pneumatic lube actuator. What a deam to use. Still have a Star loading press with, 45 auto, 9mm, 38/357, 32 S&W long, 44 mag and 30 carbine heads. Both the lubricator and press are lifetime machines with minumum maintance.

[rbwillnj]

brshooter, we are of the same mind. Have you ever seen a post where someone said they had a Star, but got rid of it and went back the their Lyman or RCBS....I don't think so. Not that they won't do a great job of sizing bullets, but once you have used a Star, your hooked. ....and Star Reloaders are pretty good too. My collection of Star Reloaders is bigger than my collection of Star Lubsizers.

[xpshooter]

I was wondering where the best place to find information for the star luber? I am just getting into casting with the purchase of the 44 kieth style bullet through the group buys.
I was considering the Lyman master casting kit, and a lee production pot for starting out.
- The lyman pot for fluxing the metal and making ingots and then the lee for making the bullets.
I would hate to spend money on the lyman if the star is a superior machine which is the way it sounds. I have a Dillon 550 and I would rather spend more up front and get something really nice than something so-so. What would you recommend for the rest of the setup if I get a star luber?

Sorry I got so long winded, just too many things to learn.......

[omgb]

Really, there is no home source for Star info other than the Star collectors site but even that is not user friendly. If you PM me with questions, I can answer them as i have a couple of Stars and a couple of RCBS/Lachmiller units. I'd be happy to discuss them with you.

For melting wheel weights and scrap lead, most of us have found that a good gas or propane heat source and a 2 qt cast iron dutch oven can't be beat. If you use a dipper to cast your bullets this is a good casting pot too. however, there is a certain convenience to using an electric pot. Lee's 20 lb. pot with the 4" clearance under the spout is very good for the price and will serve you well. It's an excellent value.

Any way, drop me a PM if you like and I'll see what I can do to help you. I think I even have a Star instruction sheet in PDF file.

[omgb]

I should add, Magma Engineering does have a site and it is sort of helpful but it's not really in depth.

[rbwillnj]

You can find some information on the Star Lubsizer at the Star Reloaders forum, and ask questions as well. http://www.starreloaders.com/forum/ On the sister site, you can get a copy of the original manual, such as it is. http://www.starreloaders.com/ You can also download a copy of Magma Engineering's manual at http://www.magmaengr.com/item.php?id=24

[jar-wv]

xpshooter. The Lyman pot your looking at is only a 10 # pot. Hardly big enough for any kind of smelting. I've been getting by on the cheap by using an already onhand, seldom used, colman camp stove and a (I think) 6 qt stainless steel stock pot, 4 bucks at a liquidation store. I can smelt about 100 lbs of wheelweights in it at once, and it doesn't get hot enough to worry about the zinc ones. only modification I made was to get a hose to hook up a larger propane tank, like is on your gas grill. My ingots are made in cut off coke cans. Cut em off at the wide spot just below the top and the ingots weight in at about 7.5 lbs. I've smelted about a ton of em so far and must caution, keep an eye on the grating of the coleman, as it's make to fry bacon, not melt lead. I do my mixing, ie, ww/lino, in same bottom pour lee at same time as casting. hope this helps.

I also bought a lyman 45 on ebay for about 40 bucks. It does great for about the 1,000 rounds of revolver bullets I shoot per month. I also have a dillon 550b and love it for the speed, but it also has it's weak spots, such as the primer feed slide.

jar

[windyhill]

Hi! Kevin,, I have used a number of sizers , the lyman 450 , RCBS Lub-o-matic, seacos, and stars,,, Out all of these I like the stars ,, I have four of the old star lubesizers and they are the best in my opinion... Good Shooting,, Denny

[straightshooter1]

Am preparing to purchase a luber/sizer. Is the new Star by Magma inferior to the old Star? I notice the new one is $195.00 and older ones can run about the same price.

I want to start with 30 calibers, .310 to .312 and then go to .459s. Thought the Star, either an old one or the Magma Star would be the way to go, but don't want to buy something that is inferior.

Bob

[R.M.]

I think you'll find that the newer ones are just as good as the old ones.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it

R.M.

[rbwillnj]

Never owned a Magma, but from what I have heard and seen they are just as good. Keep in mind that $195 doesn't include a die or punch. If you buy the die and punch from Magma, add another $47 to that number. Most of the old ones go for $175 on ebay, and include at least one sizing die and punch.

[hpdrifter]

M Kane.

Have found the Star lubrisizer the ideal tool as the bullets go in nose first, get lubed and sized, and exit the bottom of the die. Each pull of the handle produces a sized and lubricated bullet. Fastest lubrisizer on the market.

I'm not trying to be difficult here, but that statement leads me to a question: Is the star springloaded? How does the handle get back to start position?

With my 4500, I pull handle once and a bullet is done also. I just have to raise it back up to retrieve the bullet. Do you not have to raise your handle back up on the star?

I will say this so that it may help another beginner. I had a terrible time with mine at first. I'd have grease/lube all over the place, that is until I plugged up one set of holes on the Lyman dies. I got perfect control over the situation. So, now I buy RCBS dies for 1 lube groove/short bullets and Lyman 2 hole dies for long multigroove bullets. Problem solved.

[omgb]

The Star is not spring loaded, one must indeed return the handle. The speed comes from doing just one thing with the left hand and one repetative motion with the left. one cranks in enough lube pressure, (it will last for many bullets) and places a bullet in the die. the handle is pulled and the bullet passes through. As the handle is being pulled, the left hand grabs another bullet and as soon as the handle is raised back up, insert the next bullet and start the process over again. What you don';t have to do is remove the sized bullet and set it in a container. Saving these two steps markedly improves the effeciency of the sizing operation. I speak from personal experience here as I have both a Star and two of the RCBS machines. I use them both and the Star is considerably faster. Another feature is that going nose first and without a ejector rod, the bullet is very fast to place in the die and it's self-centering, that speeds things up too.

[hpdrifter]

Kewl, that clears that up. I'm unfamiliar with the star and was just a little confused by the "one stroke of the handle". I can see where the left hand doing no extraction and placing in a container would be a time saver.

I will say that the 4500 is, to me, light years ahead of pan or tumble lubing. I did that and want no more of it. The Star, if into the sheer numbers game, would be a significant improvement to that.

Now if someone or I could figure a way to use the Lee dies with a little lube injection, that'd be right nice.

[Marshal Kane]

I'm not trying to be difficult here, but that statement leads me to a question: Is the star springloaded? How does the handle get back to start position?
Yep, omgb is right, the Star handle must be manually returned to its starting position. Where the speed comes in is the bullet is only handled once (feeding it into the die) and the lube pressure only needs to be adjusted after sizing maybe 15-20 bullets through the luber. My left hand feeds the bullets into the die while my right is operating the handle. Everytime a bullet is pushed through the die, it also pushes the one ahead of it out of the luber. The bullets drop through the luber into a homemade padded ramp which is sloped so the bullets are channeled into a collection box. Since the bullets are fed nose first through the die, only one universal punch is needed to push on the base of the bullet. Hope this explains some of the details that I left out of my original post.

[Springfield]

Actually, if you let go of the handle on the Star it will go to the top by itself, from the pressure of the lube. That is one way to tell if the lube is warm enough or not, by how fast the handle returns to the top. Also, I have 2 old Stars and one brand new Magma/Star, and they all work exactly the same. The only real difference is the new ones have an o-ring in the body to seal the sizing die. If you change dies all the time like I do just leave it out, and it will still work fine.

[RANGER RICK]

I have a star with 8 sizer dies and have had nothing but headaches trying to get it set up just for one die .
I still get lube on the noses of the bullets when they come out . All the bullets are a gas checked bullet.
I have tried all the remidies (sp) and suggestions from the board here to get it to work right .
Heat-less heat, pressure-less pressure, plug holes -unplug holes , adjust punch -re adjust punch ETC.
I have 5 RCBS , 1 RCBS LAM 2, 2 Lyman 450 ,1 Saeco . They are all set up to run different bullets with different lubes .
I have a bench with a mess load of bullets that need to have lube wiped off of them that came out of the star before they can be put away .
I had a couple friends that were interested in buying it . I have now decided to keep it and just leave it under my bench and maybe try to work out the bugs later in the winter when things slow down a bit .I have too much $ invested to sell right now .
As of right now I can run circles around the star with any of my other sizers hand's down.

RR

[rbwillnj]

Sorry to hear that RR,

If I were closer, I would come over and help. I have four Stars, and while I admit there is a bit of a learnig curve getting one set up and running right (especially if you are used to using the others) no other luber comes close. I hope you get back to it and work things out.

[Swagerman]

Ranger Rick, sorry to hear you are having trouble with your Star lube dies.

I'm thinking maybe you've got too many die lube holes open on your lube dies.

What diameter die are you having trouble with? How many lube holes on the die are there, and are they all open.

You may need to plug some of the lower holes with number 7 bird shot. Just leave the bullet plunger in the die body and using a brass hamer tap some #7 lead shot into the holes you think are causing excessive lubing.

In other words, just leave enough lube holes open to take care of the bullet bands you want filled. Look at your bullet to be lubed, mesure the bands height to your die body's holes.

Putting bird shot in the holes is not a permenate thing, it can be removed later if you like.


Jim

[Ed K]

I worried a lot about Star vs RCBS vs others. I, like most of you, enjoy getting the best in tools. During this quest a visit to my local gun shop turned up a "used" RCBS II that was basically NIB for $50 - end of dilemma.

If I get really hooked on casting I'm sure I'd upgrade one day.

Ed

[RANGER RICK]

ROUND TWO !!!!

I pulled the Star out and gave it another test run with another sizer die and bullet .
This time I ran a 429 sizer with some 360 Gr WFNGC bullets .
After an hour of adjusting the plunger , adjusting the heat , adjusting the lube pressure I had a respectable pile of bullets that had lube not only in the grooves but on the noses !!!!!!!

Learning curve to say the least !!!!!

I just do not know the answer ?????

And no I am not an idiot !!!! most of the time I am not anyway !!!!

Back under the bench it goes's . I think this time it will collect quite abit of dust before it comes out again !!!

RR

[omgb]

If it frustrates you enough, just box it up and lets agree on a price. PM me if interested.

RJ Talley

[grumpy one]

You might try checking the unsized diameter of the front driving band. I had the same problem with a Lee mould, but it got a lot better when I lapped the driving bands so that the front one actually gets sized.

[BruceB]

Gentlemen;

Right off the bat, let me say that I've never even SEEN a Star lube-sizer to my knowledge.

Hence my question: If lubing a multi-groove bullet, maybe a Loverin with five or six grooves, how does the caster lube ONLY the grooves he wants to have lubed?
Typically I only lube two or three grooves on Loverins, those being the ones closest to the base of the boolit.

I'm very curious to find how you Star devotees handle this question. For the life of me, I can't see how one could restrict the lube to ONLY the desired grooves, if using a push-through die. If the Star doesn't allow that option, I really want nothing to do with it.

I have three Lyman 450s now, and find that I'm quite content with them.

[Swagerman]

Most Star lubers came with a little booklet page that explains getting lube to the correct bullet groove. You can get one from Magma Engineering.

If the bullet has a single or double groove band only, you can adjust the amount of lube reaching those bands only, if your lube die has too many holes merely plug some of the holes where it is not neededd by #7 leadshot from a shotgun shell.

This requires the bullet punch be inside the lube when pushing the lead shot into the not needed lube holes.

This is also not a permanent thing, you can restore those holes later if you need to.

No more lube on the bullets nose if you do this right.


Jim

[BruceB]

So, Jim;

If one wants to restrict the flow of lube to certain parts of the boolit when using a Star, it seems he has to fiddle with shot pellets and a trial-and-error campaign of messing with various positioning of pellets, etc. before arriving at the proper setting....and this adjustment period would apply to every single variation that we might like to try...one groove lubed, two grooves, all grooves, etc. And all this for just ONE bullet type?

It seems to me that whatever time savings might be gained by the push-through method would be rapidly reduced, at least to some degree, by all the ritual of getting the lube flowing just where we want it.

On the Lyman machine, I can have a new die installed and lubing exactly where I want in about one minute flat, and I also don't have to remove shot pellets from the die in order to use it for another bullet style that might require lube elsewhere than the previous style. Note that the shot-pellet routine has been used by some casters with the Lyman-type machines as well, but in all my years of casting and over seventy boolit designs presently on hand, I've never had to resort to that measure to accomplish what I needed in the way of lubing.

I think the Star is a well-regarded design for mass-production of ONE (or very few) boolit designs, and particularly when using one boolit design per bore diameter....this would make the use of the properly-restricted die very easy, as long as no changes are anticipated in the lubing pattern chosen. In my case, as an example, I use at least a dozen different .30-caliber designs, and the same sizing die works for ALL of them, without any untoward complicated adjustment required.

I could see having a Star on my bench back in our Bullseye days, when we fired many thousands of a standard .38 load per year. For my current needs, I'm still perfectly happy with my Lymans.

[9.3X62AL]

I agree with Bruce on this question, both for the reasons that he gives--and that I have a considerable investment in the Lyman/RCBS system now. If my present Lyman 450 expires, it might get replaced with an RCBS sizer. I would be interested to hear from folks with experience using both--which is a better machine?

[ron brooks]

Folks,

I think this is a question of what is better, a car, a pickup, or a SUV. It depends on your needs and wants. It is as simple as that. You shooting Bullseye, IPSC or IDPA, you should probably check out the Star, you want to experiment a lot, look at RCBS or Lyman.

Ron

[carpetman]

Dep Al---I have used both Lyman and RCBS. The RCBS holds pressure a little better--but no big deal. Not a dimes difference in the two except the RCBS warranty. In fact I like the LYMAN ratchet feed better than the newer toggle feed on RCBS. Once I modified the RCBS to ratchet--again because of the security of the warranty I like it better.

[RANGER RICK]

Most Star lubers came with a little booklet page that explains getting lube to the correct bullet groove. You can get one from Magma Engineering.

If the bullet has a single or double groove band only, you can adjust the amount of lube reaching those bands only, if your lube die has too many holes merely plug some of the holes where it is not neededd by #7 leadshot from a shotgun shell.

This requires the bullet punch be inside the lube when pushing the lead shot into the not needed lube holes.

This is also not a permanent thing, you can restore those holes later if you need to.

No more lube on the bullets nose if you do this right.


Jim


Jim

The one die (.500 ) I was messing with has many holes to either plug or not .
The 429 die has one set of holes and I was still having the lube on the nose issue also.
I have down loaded and printed out the star booklet and have read through it many times to no avail .
I have went through all the remidies from the board members and what the star booklet has to say and the lube is still there on the nose !!!

When I purchased the star I really thought I was going to up the production on the amount of finished bullets !!!!!!
I do so many different bullet weight and styles of each DIA bullet I am going to have to get many of the same DIA dies or each time I want to do another bullet I will have to pull out the shot or put some in . I already have two .500 dies along with 7 or 8 other ones .
I just do not see a future with this Star . I really like the hassle free RCBS,LYMAN and the Saeco's I have .

Thanks for all the information guys . I think I am finished .

RR

[Swagerman]

Gentlemen, no one is trying to impose their will on you using a Star luber. The shot placement has helped me tremendously correctly lubing my bullets without the nose getting gobbed with lube goo.

I use at times two lymans, and one RCBS lube presses...as well as the Star. This statisfies my needs. But needless to say the these other lube presses have been a royal pain in the stern section at times.

The RCBS has less lube holes in the lube die, but I still have issues with lube build up on the bottom of the bullet.

The Lyman lube dies have more lube holes, and they are really big ones on the older dies. Seems like more lube gushes out the bottom of the die than through the holes where its needed.

None of these presses are perfect, but if operated properly you can get something out of all of them.

Work with what works for you.


Jim

[KYCaster]

WOW!! It's really amazing how different people can come to such vastly different conclusions.

Ranger Rick said, "I just do not see a future with this Star . I really like the hassle free RCBS,LYMAN and the Saeco's I have ."

My experience has been just the opposite. I find the Lyman to be much more aggravating than the Star, especially that #%@*$ fine thread nut that holds the die in place. I have a .358 die that refuses to center correctly, so I have to force it in place in order to get the nut started. Last time it took a good twenty min. just to get it installed. I could have changed the die and lubed a couple hundred boolits with the Star in the time it took to change the Lyman die. And I dread the time I get that nut cross-threaded.

And the deal with plugging holes.........I don't see that there's any difference between the two systems. Take a Loverin style boolit for example, like the 311407 mod GB, it has a GC shank, six full dia. drive bands and two reduced dia. bands. My Star .309 die has three rows of holes spaced at ~.350 outside to outside. That will put lube in four grooves and I can choose which ones just by adjusting the top punch. Want to fill more? Adjust the punch and run them through again. Want to fill fewer? Then you have to plug holes.
My .309 Lyman die has four rows of holes spaced about .800 outside to outside. That spans the distance from the base to well past the top groove on the 311407. How do you choose which grooves to fill? All you can do is adjust the stop up, and at some point, you have bands that don't get sized, so ya gotta plug some holes.
Now, riddle me this, Batman.......how about leaving the shank in front of the GC empty so it can act as a scraper? No biggie with a Star, just adjust the punch. Tell me how you do it with a Lyman without plugging lots of holes.

I've been commercial casting for fifteen years or so and before I got a Magma Size Master, I ran everything through a Star. I hate the thought of having to do that with a Lyman.

Like Jim, I'm not trying to talk someone into buying a Star, but it would be unfortunate if someone influenced by some misconseptions or reports of poor performance that should have a simple solution. There are obviously many people perfectly happy with all the different brands of equipment. I find it very handy to have both Lymans and Stars.


Jerry

[RANGER RICK]

Jerry

I guess when I say hassle free I mean after I set up one of my sizers for a certain bullet it is set .
With the same sizer and a heavier longer bullet of the same caliber as you know is a simple resetting of the lock nut . I do not have to pull out the die and adjust shot in holes to get the desired lube rings filled .
As of last week I have a total of 12 lube sizers not including the Star .
I had to take a one of my Lyman 450's apart and add linkage to be able to lube and size a 975 Grain bullet .
I get one sizer set for a certain bullet and I am done with it .
I have been commerical casting for 5 years and love it .
With the Star I wanted to get more done in a shorter period of time .
It has not worked for me yet, I stll have my fingers crossed that it will work .
The reason I bought the Star is because I herd nothing but good reports and I am sure it is a good sizer maybe one of the best , but not for me at this point.
I am sure it is still something I am missing on setting this up ???

RR

[KYCaster]

Jim

The one die (.500 ) I was messing with has many holes to either plug or not .
The 429 die has one set of holes and I was still having the lube on the nose issue also.
I have down loaded and printed out the star booklet and have read through it many times to no avail .
I have went through all the remidies from the board members and what the star booklet has to say and the lube is still there on the nose !!!

When I purchased the star I really thought I was going to up the production on the amount of finished bullets !!!!!!
I do so many different bullet weight and styles of each DIA bullet I am going to have to get many of the same DIA dies or each time I want to do another bullet I will have to pull out the shot or put some in . I already have two .500 dies along with 7 or 8 other ones .
I just do not see a future with this Star . I really like the hassle free RCBS,LYMAN and the Saeco's I have .

Thanks for all the information guys . I think I am finished .

RR



Rick: I'm sorry to hear you're having so much trouble with your Star. I've found them to be pretty simple to adjust.

The ammount of lube deposited on the bullet is a function of temp. and pressure, its that simple. If you've set it up by the book and are still having problems, then there are a couple other things to try.

What kind of lube? I once tried "Rooster Red". It needs to be heated, but the temp. range between solid and liquid was so small it was impossible to get consistant results. The lube needs a "plastic" range in order to work right. Most lubes I've used worked OK.

Take the die and punch out of the press. There's a hole on the left side of the bore that the lube feeds from. Adjust the temp and pressure till you get a steady, uninterrupted ribbon of lube from the hole. About six inches per min. or a little more is about right. If this ribbon has gaps or bubbles in it, you have air that needs to be purged.

Now install the die with no punch and no bullet. You shouldn't be getting any lube comming through the holes until you push down the handle to opperate the pump.
The pump should push an equal ammount of lube through all the holes that aren't plugged. If you're getting lube into the die without pumping it, then the temp./pressure needs to be adjusted down. Depending on the plastic range of the lube, this can be difficult to adjust.

If you leave the temp. and pressure on for long periods, the lube will eventually stick to the inside of the reservoir and screw up the pressure. If this is the case, melt out the lube, clean with mineral spirits and lightly lube with WD40.

I've gotten a couple of dies that had burrs on the holes that shaved lead and eventually clogged the holes. If that's the case, polish with a diamond ball in your Dremel.

I also have multiple styles of the same dia.. Nearly all the ones with one or two lube grooves work fine without plugging holes. Styles with multiple grooves may need to be run through a second time after adjusting the punch to fill different grooves. It's still faster than one time through a Lyman.

If you've already given up on the Star, I have a Lyman that I'm not useing, maybe we can talk about a trade.[smilie=1:

I hope you can get it working.

Jerry

[BruceB]

Gents, no flames from this sector.

The easiest way I've found to get a die installed in the Lyman 450 is this:

BEFORE attempting to put the die in the machine, put the fine-threaded die-retaining nut on the die and tap it down to a snug fit on the top of the die. I use a plastic mallet for this, and it takes very little force. Make sure the nut sits evenly on the die.

Place the die and nut in the hole in the luber body, and place a penny or similar coin on top of the nut. The coin (or any other metal disc) should be smaller in diameter than the outside of the nut, and larger then the hole in the nut....and a penny works just right and the cost is reasonable!

Put the Lyman-issued wrench around the retaining nut. Lower the ram (with a nose punch of some sort in place) and let it rest of its own weight on the coin to seat the die in the machine. This gives even, "square" pressure to the top of the die and nut. Start turning the wrench and nut, and it usually will engage nicely and start into those super-fine threads in the sizer body.

Works great.

[RANGER RICK]

Rick: I'm sorry to hear you're having so much trouble with your Star. I've found them to be pretty simple to adjust.

The ammount of lube deposited on the bullet is a function of temp. and pressure, its that simple. If you've set it up by the book and are still having problems, then there are a couple other things to try.

What kind of lube? I once tried "Rooster Red". It needs to be heated, but the temp. range between solid and liquid was so small it was impossible to get consistant results. The lube needs a "plastic" range in order to work right. Most lubes I've used worked OK.

Take the die and punch out of the press. There's a hole on the left side of the bore that the lube feeds from. Adjust the temp and pressure till you get a steady, uninterrupted ribbon of lube from the hole. About six inches per min. or a little more is about right. If this ribbon has gaps or bubbles in it, you have air that needs to be purged.

Now install the die with no punch and no bullet. You shouldn't be getting any lube comming through the holes until you push down the handle to opperate the pump.
The pump should push an equal ammount of lube through all the holes that aren't plugged. If you're getting lube into the die without pumping it, then the temp./pressure needs to be adjusted down. Depending on the plastic range of the lube, this can be difficult to adjust.

If you leave the temp. and pressure on for long periods, the lube will eventually stick to the inside of the reservoir and screw up the pressure. If this is the case, melt out the lube, clean with mineral spirits and lightly lube with WD40.

I've gotten a couple of dies that had burrs on the holes that shaved lead and eventually clogged the holes. If that's the case, polish with a diamond ball in your Dremel.

I also have multiple styles of the same dia.. Nearly all the ones with one or two lube grooves work fine without plugging holes. Styles with multiple grooves may need to be run through a second time after adjusting the punch to fill different grooves. It's still faster than one time through a Lyman.

If you've already given up on the Star, I have a Lyman that I'm not useing, maybe we can talk about a trade.[smilie=1:

I hope you can get it working.

Jerry



Jerry
Thanks for the info .
I have not tried any different lubes .Actually never thought about the lube .
I think I should invest in a heater that can be adjusted .
The one's I use is unadjustable either on or off .
Thanks for the offer but I have not given up just a little fustrated (sp) .
I will give your suggestions a try.

RR

[BigCheese]

Ranger Rick,

Here is an old post of mine that I hope will help you in aligning the bullets in a Star lubricator so only the groove is filled. I will assume the bullet has one groove:

First, use a vernier to measure distance from the base of the bullet to the center of the lube groove Call this #1. Then measure the distance from the base of the die to the lube holes. (The die will have to be removed from the Star and lube removed to access the holes). Call this #2. Subtract #1 from #2. This is the amount the base of the bullet should be recessed up from the bottom of the die.

Use the depth gage at the end of the vernier to span the hole at the bottom of the die. Start a bullet high; keep turning down the top punch and operating the handle (no lube pressure) until the base of the bullet is at the calculated distance above the bottom rim of the die. Once you do this, keep the dimension in a notebook so the Star can be reset when you change bullets. To make resetting easier, after the setup is complete, you can raise the handle all the way up and use the vernier to measure the distance from the top of the die to the bottom of the punch. Next time you use this die & bullet combination, just screw the punch up and down to repeat this distance.

All of the above assumes sizing base first, but it could also be done for nose first by measuring the distance from the nose to the lube groove as #1 above.

[Boomer Mikey]

I have 2 Saeco, 2 RCBS, and 2 Lyman 450's.

The strongest is the RCBS, I use them it for the big calibers, 35 and up. I use the Lyman 450's for 6mm, 7mm and 30 cal, they have broken several times while doing 44/45 caliber work and are the weakest. I haven't had any problems after limiting their use to the smaller calibers. The Saeco doesn't have enough leverage to do anything serious with big calibers but it is by far the most accurate. Saeco dies are superior to the H&I dies and I wouldn't consider using anything else for precision 30, 7mm, 6mm and 22 caliber work.

Following the example of the Star sizer; I size and seat gaschecks on bullets nose first and then lube them in another operation with a die .001" larger than the original sizing die. This also alows me the option of heat treating bullets after sizing and storage sans lube until I need them. Until I started the nose first sizing process I had problems with out of round bullets - especially using the Lyman 450's.

This process requires a perfectly flat - base punch - to push the bullet base into the die squarely. The sizing process pushes the gas check flat against the bullet base and the result is a more uniform bullet base. I make the base punches on a lathe and have an advantage in being able to make the punch fit the sizers punch hole exactly and make the punch fit the sizing die diameter exactly.

I even use the RCBS lubrisizer to bump-up bullets to fit a couple of over normal (.434" & .460")bore size rifles.

I considered getting a couple of Star sizers but life is short, and I allready have all the regular size and many custom size dies.

I know all of this sounds complicated but the results are gratifying and I hesitate to do something different as this works for me.

Boomer :Fire: