Star or Ballisti-Cast Mk VI

[dbarnhart]

I normally reload 1K 45acp at a time, and due to the heat here in the summer (Phoenix, AZ), I'm seriously contemplating doing two casting/reloading sessions per year, each for two or three thousand rounds. As a result, I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on either the Star or Ballisti-Cast Mk VI. Whichever I get will be 'fully loaded'.

I like the Mk VI, I think it's a newer design and much stronger machine. There is one thing that bothers me though: From watching the videos it looks like my left hand will be occupied turning the little wheel. (The Star on the other hand leaves my left hand free to feed boolits into the feeder tube.)

How do you Mk VI owners keep yours fed without stopping to refill the feeder tube each time it is empty?

[VHoward]

You could buy the bullet collator from Magma and fit it to either machine. I think Ballisti-Cast is planning to develope their own collator as well.

[ballisti-cast]

We're developing a collator right now. I'm hoping to have it done by the end of July. It's going to be substantially cheaper than the M-A systems one Ballisti-Cast and Magma sell now and eliminate the jamming issues. I believe it'll do semi-wad cutters more accurately as well, but unfortunately still haven't came up with a way to collate wad cutters.

[dbarnhart]

Well, today I ended up ordering a fully-loaded Star. The major deciding factor was that I can operate the Star with just my right hand, leaving my left hand free to drop boolits into the feed tube, whereas it appears to take both hands to operate the Mark VI.

As an aside, today is Thursday and she said it will ship on Tuesday. woo hoo!

UPDATE: Magma called today (Friday) and it is shipping today.

[Rockchucker]

Congrats dbarnhart, I think you made the right decision, however I've never used the bc machine I've been 100% satisfied with my Star. It has proven itself over and over for decades of heavy use by a lot of members here and never have I heard anyone complain it's not heavy duty enough to handle any of your needs, it just never comes up.

Almost forgot to mention that Lathesmith (Chris) makes Star dies and punches for a great price and his quality control is outstanding. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=34499