Lathesmith's Star dies

[GLL]

Chris:

About 80 degrees and very sunny here for the past week. We expect more of the same brutal winter conditions for the next ten days. Young women are running around in shorts and bikini tops here on the campus ! Difficult to concentrate !

Jerry

[songdog53]

Chris , dies arrived yesterday and already using them and really nice. You do great work and will have all my business from now on and was pleasure doing business with you.

Michael

[bobo55]

Chris , I received my dies and dished punch today,I am impressed with the quality of workmanship and the speed of turn around time. You are my go-to star guy! Chris, do you still make the L shaped handle? Rick

[lathesmith]

Thanks for the comments guys, I appreciate them. Rick, I definitely still make the L-handles, if you need one just drop me a PM.

lathesmith

[CHD]

Chris, I recieved the dies in the mail last week; they were beautiful and worked perfectly. I will be using you for all of my future star sizer needs.
Thanks a bunch.
Cody

[Gunsmoke4570]

Chris, my dies came in yesterday. Look great! Hope to try them out soon.

[Jon K]

Hi Chris,

Dies are right on as usual.
Need another one. PM is on the way.

Thanks,
Jon

[John Ross]

Rockrat: a 513 die for the Star is no problem, although it is just about the largest size a Star could handle, I would think.

lathesmith

FWIW Mock at Star around 1981 made a .585 die for me and when it arrived, I called to thank him. He good-naturedly chewed me out, saying it was a bitch to make. Don't know if that meant it took several tries or not.

Do you make dies with different spacings of lube holes? I cast .500 bullets in a variety if weights with different numbers of lube grooves and need dies suited to particular bullets.

Up to now I've been setting up the die for the short bullets with few lube grooves and running the long ones through twice with different punch settings, but that's a pain.

Shown below: 450 to 725 grain bullets, with two to five grease grooves. Note some have lube in the crimp groove. Not shown: 400 grain with one grease groove.



Do you make top punches for the Star to fit the nose? Mostly I use a flat punch and size them nose first. Might be better the normal way for the shorties.

[lathesmith]

JR,
A .585 die for the Star would leave side walls that are only about .050, which is getting mighty thin, especially for shoving 1-ounce + size slugs through! At that thickness flexing or even breakage would be a concern, and a guy would want to take it easy for sure.

Do you make dies with different spacings of lube holes?

Definitely, I can make any spacing you request, up to the limitations of the die, and up to 5 holes per row is also an option.

Do you make top punches for the Star to fit the nose?

Customarily, no, as each profile would require its own dedicated tool, which would be too time-consuming to be cost-effective. Normally, when a fitted nose punch is required, a hollowed-out punch is purchased, and then epoxy is used to get a custom fit to the bullet's nose. This seems to be a cost-effective and quite satisfactory way to get a nose-fitted punch.

lathesmith

[cajun shooter]

John, It appears as if your alloy or mold is not up to temps as your bullets show some signs of being too cool. Have you ever thought about pan lubing your large bullets? I have had Buckshot make me a couple of very nice Kate Cutters that are long and knurled and very easy to cut out the bullets from the lube. On large bullets this method keeps the lube in the grooves and is very fast. The Star is limited by the diameter of the outside as it fits in the press. A cutter may be made to any size. I use 459-.460 in my 45-70 and my cutter was made to a.462 for ease of use. Just a thought.

[John Ross]

John, It appears as if your alloy or mold is not up to temps as your bullets show some signs of being too cool.

I know. Loaded all my good stuff and these were in the melt pile. Took the pic at 3 AM with my cell phone. That's why they look like **** and no 400 grain. More interested in shooting than posting pretty pics. Lubed em to show lube issues. My bullets I shoot look a lot better...

Thx.

[bobo55]

Hi Chris, I received my roller handle and .44-.45 top punch monday.First class workmanship and communication as normal and with good prices to boot!!

[WARD O]

Greetings, I received my parts last week and put them to work over the weekend - everything is great.

Thank You for the great service.

Ward

[Jon K]

Hi Chris,

Need another die .260 PM on the way.

Jon

[ronbo]

Lathesmith, I did send you an e-mail this am about ordering some things, Ron

[lathesmith]

Hi Ron, PM sent, please check your Private messages, and thanks for the kind words guys, your support of me, this forum and your fellow shooters is greatly appreciated!

lathesmith

[jixxerbill]

received the .401 die yesterday chris, worked flawlessly as usual. thanks so much....bill

[gohuskers]

PM Sent

[luv44mag]

received my 3 dies and punch today....... they are beautiful... kind of a shame to get lube all over them..... thanks a bunch...... i will be ordering more when i figure out what other sizes i need

thanks again for the great work

[Alvarez Kelly]

Can somebody post a photo of the roller handle? I know I've seen it somewhere, but I can't seem to find it. Thanks!