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Thread: What year is this Star?

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy
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    What year is this Star?

    About a week ago my buddy sent me this for doing a favor making him a Ammo Mike bullet feeder, and that turned into a long project because of the 170 match swc 45's he was casting and using. It was a great gift and one I didn’t ask for but he wanted to do something back. Now I was wondering if anyone has an idea of what year this may be. I’ve seen the old Stars with blue paint but this has black paint and has the arched plunger lever on it and the handle has a bend plus it doesn’t have the O-Rings in the throat where the sizing die goes. It was meant for soft lube back then. Before my buddy sent it to me he called Magma and they said they could put the groves in for the O-Rings. But I’m just looking for some sort of year on this, any body? Sorry they are sideways but can't flip them without picture getting messed up
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    Armed society is a polite society
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  2. #2
    Boolit Master trixter's Avatar
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    Send the photo to the manufacturer, maybe they can I D it. all parts are interchangeable. Since powder coating has become so popular, not too many folks still use them. I still have mine and I am going to keep it, it has become a work table piece of art.

  3. #3
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    Pressman might be your best source for a guess. It is a very early one, though. I only have two with the cast rib reservoir cap, and none with the curved lever. Your handle has been bent by a previous user, as the originals were all straight, and Star never grooved their machines for O-rings. That was added after Magma purchased the rights to manufacture the Star.

    Magma will do repairs for parts plus labor. I've had them repair three of my machines. Magma isn't cheap, but when you're the only game in town, you can pretty much name the price. Don't get me wrong, they're really not that far out of line on their pricing, but they don't give their parts and labor away, either......

    Hope this helps.

    Fred
    After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. - William S. Burroughs.

  4. #4
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by ReloaderFred View Post
    Pressman might be your best source for a guess. It is a very early one, though. I only have two with the cast rib reservoir cap, and none with the curved lever. Your handle has been bent by a previous user, as the originals were all straight, and Star never grooved their machines for O-rings. That was added after Magma purchased the rights to manufacture the Star.

    Magma will do repairs for parts plus labor. I've had them repair three of my machines. Magma isn't cheap, but when you're the only game in town, you can pretty much name the price. Don't get me wrong, they're really not that far out of line on their pricing, but they don't give their parts and labor away, either......

    Hope this helps.

    Fred
    Hi Fred and thanks for the reply, I’ve been doing some research on old Stars and have seen them with a bend handle. Now my buddy that sent it to me called Magma before he sent it and they quoted him a price of $60 to do the cuts for the o-rings which I didn’t think was to bad but with shipping it could add up. Just a neat old machine that still works from many years ago, they just don’t build then like that anymore. And if I look at the handle bend I can’t see any stress marks at all which leads me leads me to believe it was factory. In any case a very cool old machine.
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  5. #5
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    Harry,

    I own eleven of the Star Sizers and they came from the factory with straight handles. They get bent by users who either try to size down a bullet too much or run a dry bullet through a sizing die that has never had lube in it, which produces too much resistance for the handle, and it bends. You'll see a lot them with bent handles, but they didn't leave the factory that way......

    Hope this helps.

    Fred
    After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. - William S. Burroughs.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    After the second O-ringed die was a nightmare to remove I quit using them. You just got to figure the temp of the lube your using and the pressure necessary. I get a little lube creep but it's small. It takes less time to remove the lube then getting the die out with the O-ring on.
    Last edited by ReloaderFred; 11-11-2018 at 01:14 PM. Reason: Edited out Grawlix

  7. #7
    Boolit Master

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    I have a Magma Star and I bent the handle back to keep the top punch in the up position. It took some doing and a bit of heat.

    That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    It is an old one for sure. I'd certainly try it before I worried about any O rings -- my old Star (a blue paint one so not as old as yours) only gets a little lube ooze if I get the lube too warm. And when I do that I get lube dabs on the nose area of the boolit too, so I know I need to back off and let things cool down a bit. And my handle looks just about like yours but it used to be straight when it was new.

  9. #9
    Boolit Buddy
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    I’ll tell ya I was fooled by that handle but what you and others are saying it was bend by over pressure, but I still can’t imagine putting that much force to see the handle bend. The thought ran across my mind to get in contact with lathesmith who makes dies for the star and ask if it was possible cut the groves on the die and put the o-rings in the die itself ? Or it may not be a issue at all, I’ll just have to get it set up and try it and see how it works. Now got to hunt up a heated base for it, Magma is pricey at $120 and I see Lyman Reloading Universal Lube Heater that says it’ll fit the Star is $50. Plan to hook it up to a PID controller at some time, any thoughts on that?
    Armed society is a polite society
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  10. #10
    Boolit Master
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    If you have a PID controller, you can buy a piece of 1/2-3/4" aluminum and some heating elements off eBay and make your own heater base. I think I used 50w elemements about 3" long, 120v
    8500' Wet Mountain Valley, Colorado

  11. #11
    Boolit Master
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    I got a couple pieces of machined aluminum at the scrapyard. 4x4x1" Drilled a hole in the side big enough for the 30Watt cartridge heater. Drilled and taped a hole on the other side for a "button" type thermocouple and hooked it to a PID. Hair dryer gets the body of the lubesizer up to temp quick and the heater base maintains it. I've got about $20 into it.

  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy rbwillnj's Avatar
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    That's an interesting Star Lubesizer. It looks like a transitional machine. It has a modern aluminum base which is essentially the same as the last ones produced by Star, but the top part is like the earliest Lubesizers produced in the 30's. Attached is a picture of an early Pat. Pending Star Lubesizer.


    Of course it's possible that an old machine could have been rebuilt with a modern base at some point.

    Bruce Williams

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    Last edited by rbwillnj; 11-19-2018 at 08:18 PM.
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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"
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GC Gas Check