Hollow lube sticks in Star?

[paulezo]

I've just received new Star from Magma Engineering and I'm not sure if I can load it with hollow sticks of lube I used in Lyman 450 and RCBS L-A-M. The lube is 50/50 and BAC bought from WhiteLabel.

Can the air column inside the lube stick cause any problems?

[billyb]

Yes you will trap air. I melt my lube and pour it into the resivor. When you fill the star be careful and stop about a half inch short of the vent hole in the back of the resivor. Let the lube solidify before the putting plunger in, you will blow liquid lube out like a gyser if not!

[ReloaderFred]

I sometimes use hollow stick lubes in my Star machines. Once in awhile I'll get a small amount of air in there, but most times there isn't any problem. I don't use soft lubes in my Star machines, though, only hard lubes that require heat. That may, or may not, make a difference.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[paulezo]

I see ... maybe using hard lubes which require heater helps the flow of the lube and reduces problems with trapped air. Temperature of the room where I will be sizing/lubing is 23 degrees celsius (about 73 Fahrenheit), I expect the 50/50 and BAC lubes to work without the heater, have not tried it yet. Anyway, I will definitely try melting lube and maybe remake the hollow sticks into solid ones.

Thanks guys!

[captaint]

Veral sent me some hollow sticks by mistake a while back. I just melted them in the microwave in a Pyrex cup and poured them right on in. DO stop short of the little hole, though !!!! Now, my wifey doesn't even want her Pyrex back ?? OK, that'll work. enjoy Mike

[paulezo]

That's a good idea - a microwave! The lube from WhiteLabel comes packaged in a plastic tube, I'm going to melt the lube, pour it back to the tube and let it solidify. If it goes well, I could remake all lube sticks like this and have the sticks ready for the Star.

[VHoward]

The plastic tube that white label lubes ships the lube in will melt or deform if you make them too warm. I did that and deformed one of them. What I did with the remainder of what I had was melt one stick and pour the melted lube into the hollow portion of the other sticks while they were in the tubes. That way the clear part of the tube wasn't exposed to the warm/hot lube. The red end caps seem to withstand higher temps without deforming.

[paulezo]

I didn't think of that - yes, the tubes are made of thin plastic, they could deform from the hot lube. It's a great idea to fill just the hollow portion of other sticks - thanks VHoward!

[engineer401]

I see ... maybe using hard lubes which require heater helps the flow of the lube and reduces problems with trapped air. Temperature of the room where I will be sizing/lubing is 23 degrees celsius (about 73 Fahrenheit), I expect the 50/50 and BAC lubes to work without the heater, have not tried it yet. Anyway, I will definitely try melting lube and maybe remake the hollow sticks into solid ones.

Thanks guys!

I use BAC in my Magma/Star sizer. BAC requires heat in my basement which is usually around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The plunger doesn't work without heat. I heat to about 85 degrees. I also use a Lyman heater with a dimmer switch to control the temperature.

[paulezo]

I don't have any heater yet, just the Star - will have to try it without the heater first.

Yesterday in the evening I melted some of the hollow lube sticks and filled the rest of the sticks, and put one of the prepared solid sticks into the Star. I tightened the top screw but didn't install any sizing die. This morning there was a nice long lube cord hanging from the supply hole. :-| It seems the lube flows not only when the lever is all the way down, but also slowly with the lever up (still no die installed). Is this normal?

[VHoward]

Yes, that is normal. Just back off the pressure on the lube feed screw when not in use.

[paulezo]

OK, will do so. Slowly learning :) Now I just have to measure lube groves on my bullets and set the top punches and start sizing. I should have first bullets ready this evening.
Thanks!

[runfiverun]

once i have the star filled up i use the little bleed off hole to my advantage and extrude the hollow sticks through it into long spaghetti strings of lube i can make little filler balls with.
i use that same strategy to mix different lubes together.
just push them through the bleed off hole and then mash them together and send down the tube to lube with.

[paulezo]

First batch of bullets successfully sized and lubed! It worked even without heater (BAC inside), at first I had lube missing on one side of the bullet, after some sized bullets the fill-out started to be perfect. I like how fast one can lube bullets with the Star, I have done 300 bullets on first run. It took considerably longer on RCBS L-A-M plus I don't have to wipe the bases of the bullets. Perfect!

[MT Chambers]

Paul: 300 is just getting it warmed up!!