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Thread: New to me Star, advice?

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy mac266's Avatar
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    New to me Star, advice?

    Hello fellow boolit makers, I recently bought a Star lubrisizer from a guy right here on this very forum. It has the heater, air assist, and boolit feeder options. I'm not currently home to set it up or to start sizing those few thousand boolits I made before I left, but I'm eager to get home and get started. In the meantime, can you give me some pointers about set-up? Any quirks this machine has? Things you've learned over the years?

  2. #2
    Banned
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    I would suggest that you read everything in the Star section. Every quirk and problem has been listed there and has been answered.

  3. #3
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    georgerkahn's Avatar
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    I have been known to use a piece of equipment first, and then use instructions to hopefully bail me out should things work not as I hoped... Such was the case with my first Star (I now have three of them). I can't agree enough with 6bg6ga's suggestion -- but, will preface that by starting generously LUB'ing the first several boolits you plan on sizing! If this tid-bit is in instructions, I did not read it. And, at least for me, heat setting was a bit of a challenge; all of my Stars came with a bit of others' lub, and two notes: it took several hundred boolits lubing to make the transition from the wee bit of lub in the Star to that I added; and, I had a bit of a challenge adjusting temperature to find that sweet spot where lub is warmed and soft -- and stopped running all over the place. A bit of a hassle at first, but surely worth the efforts, imho.
    BEST!
    geo

  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master

    dragon813gt's Avatar
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    Read the instructions provided on their site. It's not a simple single stage press. Put it together per the instructions and run it. Chances are it will run as it's supposed to.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master


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    The type of lube you are going to use is tricky. Some lubes may not even need the heater. I use Carnuaba Red and the Lyman heater can get too hot and you end up with lube all over the bullet. On a hot summer day you can get by without a heater with this lube. I usually get the lube temp. correct and unplug the heater. My heater has no thermostat or external control. It is either plugged in and on or unplugged and off. Kinda like cooking with a burner high or off.
    The other tricky thing is getting the lube groove of the bullet aligned with the injecting holes of the press. These must align at the bottom of the stroke of the press.
    Once set up you will lube all your bullets before you know it.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master Pee Wee's Avatar
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    One tip: contact Lathsmith and purchase his punch nuts with a lockin set screw so once you get the depth set on your punch you can set the nut and lock it with the set screw and you will never have worry about setting the depth of the punch again. I have seven dies and use them on all. Makes changing dies a snap.
    Pee Wee
    NRA LIFE MEMBER
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    NRA RANGE SAFETY OFFICER

  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master



    Join Date
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    I have had a Star Lube/sizer for many, many years. Hundreds of thousands of bullets have been sized/lubed with GREAT satisfaction. I do admit that I prefer my RCBS for long, rifle, cast bullets. I pan lube my Black Powder Cartridge bullets to avoid damaging the soft bullets.

    I have the Lyman heater base (it is drilled and tapped for Star, Lyman, and RCBS sizers). However, to use it at best advantage, you need a rheostat to adjust the heat. Let the Lyman run "full on" for any time at all, and you can end up with liquid lube (not good). I happened to have a Dremel speed control so I just use that. A Harbor Freight speed control for a router works just fine, too. If you want a perfectly good rheostat at low cost you can buy a square electrical box (plastic is my choice), a light dimmer switch, and a double plug. Wire everything in the box, so that you plug the Lyman heater in the socket, run a short length of heavy duty line cord to a plug and plug in the wall. Then, just adjust to your liking.

    It doesn't take much heat but some is absolutely necessary when you are using Carnauba Red (my lube of choice). Once you have the setting, you can just turn it on a bit in advance of your needs (twenty minutes or so), let the Star warm up and go to it.

    O.P., you will thoroughly enjoy using the "new to you" Star soon after you learn to operate it to your satisfaction (there is a bit of a learning curve, like everything worthwhile).

    Dale53

    P.S. Here is a link to the Router Speed Control at Harbor Freight (they are on sale now). This is the easiest way and if you are not electric saavy, it is THE answer:

    http://www.harborfreight.com/catalog...+speed+control

    It's all "plug and play"... it is ready to go, right out of the box (if you have the Lyman flat heater).

    rdm
    Last edited by Dale53; 11-21-2015 at 11:50 AM.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check