Star Sizer - FRUSTRATED as all Hellllllll.......

[DHC]

Trying to size and lube some MP 454200 bullets. Using White Label Red 160 lube. I was successful with sizing/lubing a bunch of bullets from an NOE 452-230 mold, but I guess the bullet style is enough different that the MP bullets are giving me fits with getting the lube to inject into the groove (and STAY there) and ONLY in the groove. Too often the lube ends up in 3 small clumps on the nose of the bullet - lined up with the lube holes in the die. Then, the lube hole furthest away from the supply hole in the casting frequently leaves gaps in the lube groove. The gaps I can rectify by cranking up the pressure in the lube tube, but then the problems with lube getting on to the nose of the bullet increases. And all of this is affected by the temp of the lube as the Lyman (NOT Magma) heater grows warmer.

Whereas I managed to find the 'sweet spot' with the NOE bullets, these MP bullets are just NOT working out.

AAARRRRRGGGGGHHH

[AlaskanGuy]

Maybe you could pan lube them??? Pan lubing wih warm bullets should be able to fix the problem till you can get the sizer die thing worked out....

[ReloaderFred]

It's a combination of top punch position, lube temperature and pressure. All three have to be right for it work correctly. It doesn't take much variation in any of them to affect the outcome.

With that said, it sounds like both the pressure and temperature are giving you problems. When the temperature of the lube rises, it will take less pressure, and vice versa.

Sometimes you just have to walk away for a few minutes and then come back to it and take another look......

Hope this helps.

Fred

[MT Chambers]

One of my Stars has the Lyman heater and when I have a problems like yours I unplug the heater for a spell, make a few adjustments, and things start working...you got too much going on there.

[williamwaco]

Simple solution.

Tumble them.

[MT Chambers]

Why go through all the mess, fuss, etc. when you can size and lube, thousands at a time with the finest equipment made? The Star is the bee's knees and there is a small learning curve, sometimes with each new mold, but when you get it right, nothing can touch it.......lube all over everything including inside your seating dies helps no one . Try to be more helpful or don't bother.

[starnbar]

With my star sometimes a certain boolit design lubes better when you run them through backwards give it a go it might work better for you.

[VHoward]

Or use a different set of lube holes in the die. Some bullets like the top row or bottom row instead of the middle row.

[wv109323]

The lube groove of the bullet needs to be aligned with the holes in the sizing die when the piston injects the lube. Getting lube on the nose of the bullet tells me that it is not. The sizing die has injection holes at different heights to inject the lube. You can block the ones not needed with lead shot from a shotshell and you can adjust the nose punch height. Lube temperature will need to be "adjusted" by plugging and unplugging your heater. Once you get the lube warm you can lube an awful lot of bullets before you need to plug it back in( if ever). That depends on the air temperature. Also lube "spillage" from one lube groove to another (or on the nose of the bullet) can be caused by the pressure you exert on the handle. Watch the piston and modify your force on the handle to move the piston a satisfactory distance to deliver just the needed amount of lube.
If all else fails you can lube nose first. If you are going nose first you may want to consider a flat nose punch to push straight down on the flat bullet base.

[MarkP]

Unplug your heater back off the main spring and walk away come back in a 1/2 - 1 hr or so.

[DHC]

Unplug your heater back off the main spring and walk away come back in a 1/2 - 1 hr or so.

Thanks to everyone for your inputs. I am taking the advice to step away - for the rest of the day. I'll give it another whirl tomorrow and if the problems persist, I'll try to get some photos to better explain what is happening.

[454PB]

Adjusting a Star for a specific boolit can be challenging, but once you find the "sweet spot", measure the distance from the bottom of the base punch to the top of the die so that it's repeatable. I have a few that require using shot to plug one row of lube holes, and I suspect that is your solution.

[engineer401]

I use a Lyman heater with a dimmer switch. The dimmer switch solves the problem with temperature variation. I also found using
White Label BAC instead of Magma red lube works better for me. For me punch adjustment, pressure and temperature as mentioned before made a big difference. I also found using the BAC gave better results. It took awhile but it works beautifully now. I still have 5 sticks of the Magma lube left over which I'll never use.

[NoZombies]

I find that I prefer to have the heat at the upper end of the range, and the pressure at the lower end of the range, that is, enough heat to make the lube move easily without being runny, and just enough pressure to consistently keep things moving. Then it's the adjustments with the punch and having the right holes blocked.

When I have lube on the nose, it's normally because I have too little heat and too much pressure. too much heat can do the same thing, but then it's pretty obvious because the lube is runny.

[captaint]

Sounds to me like the 3 blobs of lube on the boolit noses are from the previous boolit run through the die. I might try reducing the heat and move the punch a little further UP into the machine. Also remember the Star squirts the lube at the bottom of the stroke. Adjustments can be interesting. Much easier if you remove the locking ring on the punch. I haven't used mine in years. The punch never moves by itself. Just some ideas. Mike

[Springfield]

More pressure and less heat will work better. The lube is already too warm which is why a bit of it leaks out and puts the 3 blobs on the nose. IMHO

[MarkP]

I have had the lube on noses on numerous occasions; I typically do not have large blocks of free time. (as most probably do not as well) so forced into multi-tasking. When doing so I will turn my heater is on, start another task and come back later to size. Around 95 to 105 F seems to be about right for my dies and setup, if I lose track of time and try to size when lube is too warm (usually Car Red) lube gets all over noses and will squirt onto the heals and punch assy. When this happens pretty much done for the night as it takes an hour or so to cool down to proper operating temps. I back off the pressure and come back after it has cooled down.
My setup is way more sensitive to temp rather than primary pressure. I have purposely run this way to avoid removing shot from lube holes when changing bollit styles. I have been able to lube 3 lube grooves with a single row of holes. Doing this I will get little dots or short snakes of lube on the noses.

[cbrick]

Having used my Star's for 25+ years I learned long ago that when I get the three drops of lube on the nose it's because I got in a hurry. It happens when the lube isn't yet up to proper temp (the lube inside the reservoir) and I have the pressure to high in an attempt to compensate. It takes awhile for the temp of the lube in the reservoir to come up and flow correctly and the room temp and type of lube has a great effect on how long this is.

There can be a big difference in the temp (consistency) of the lube near the top of the column where the pressure is applied as opposed to the temp around the die which warms first from your heater. If your machine is in a cool room try lightly playing a torch on the lube reservoir, don't get it too hot or you'll have liquid lube in the reservoir. Once the lube in the reservoir is also properly warmed try turning down the pressure and start lubing.

Rick

[A pause for the COZ]

I get a bit frustrated too. I am switching back to a softer lube. The working window for Carnuba red is just too narrow for me.
Takes me a good one and a half hours of dinking around until I finally hit the sweet spot of heat + pressure.
Once I hit it I can hammer them out. But before that its "Get pissed and pull out your hair".
Going to try BAC and see if I can hit that window quicker.

[HATCH]

your not doing something right.

Last night I setup my star to do 32/20 boolits. They are kinda hard because the nose is so long.
So I plugged all the holes in the dies except the very top set.
I then set my top punch at the highest setting it can go.
Start with temp at 90% (unknown temp as I haven't hooked up my pid again) and my pressure (standard magma air setup) at 40 psi.
I run a couple thru and see what happens.
lube on the base means I went to far, lube on the nose means not far enough.
I adjust till I get a little lube on the nose and the groove is full. Then I back it up just a hair till the nose is clean but I have a full lube groove.
It took me about 20 mins.
a hour later I had about 1100 boolits sized up......