San Diego Star 452 Die Scoring Bullets

[noshow]

Has anyone here polished their Star dies to eliminate scratching/scoring bullets at the lube hole points? My bullets have six vertical lines obviously caused by burrs on the edge of the lube holes. I thought a little polishing would help minimize that, but not sure how to go about it. All replys much appreciated.

[6bg6ga]

You can polish the die. Its probaby a result of pounding shot into the un-used lube holes. Contact lathesmith and maybe he can lend some advice. Personal note here... I have Lathesmith custom make my dies so I don't have any extra lube holes to plug. Also the quality of his dies is superior to anything out there.

[ReloaderFred]

You can polish the dies by using a bore brush or jag wrapped in something soft, like a piece of T-shirt, so it's a snug fit. Then chuck it in a cordless drill and coat the cloth with Flitz Metal Polish or J-B Bore Cleaner, or really any other metal polish. Then work the snug "swab" back and forth for a minute or two at moderate speed. That should take care of it.

I've used both J-B and Flitz, and use the Flitz the most. I also buy my new dies from Chris (Lathesmith), and just order them with the number of holes I need for most of my bullets. I've got about 25 Star sizing dies, and I've had to restore several of them to eliminate scratches from someone who got a little ham fisted with plugging holes. The polishing takes about as long as it did for me to type this.........

Hope this helps.

Fred

[MT Chambers]

The scoring is caused by using a small hook to push the lead shot out of the holes from the inside.

[floydboy]

I don't use shot. After you remove the burrs to keep it from happening again take a piece of black electrical tape and cut it into a very narrow strip. Clean the die and wrap the tape around the ring of holes you want to plug. Stays put and is easy to remove. There must be a reason somebody came up with the idea to use shot but I haven't found it yet. I never could understand going to all that trouble.

Floyd

[noshow]

I don't use shot. After you remove the burrs to keep it from happening again take a piece of black electrical tape and cut it into a very narrow strip. Clean the die and wrap the tape around the ring of holes you want to plug. Stays put and is easy to remove. There must be a reason somebody came up with the idea to use shot but I haven't found it yet. I never could understand going to all that trouble.

Floyd

Hey Floyd
Do you use a heated base under your machine, and does the tape withstand the high temp?

[6bg6ga]

That is why I mentioned in post #2 that I have Lathesmith custom make my dies and therefore I have no holes to worry about plugging.