i think i need a star

[labradigger1]

I have been having trouble lately with my 450 lube sizer. I broke my handle about xmas, ordered the upgrade kit from lyman. Kit arrived and the new ram was .09 smaller in diameter than the old one i removed. My old ram had almost zero slack and was a pleasure to use. The other day i was sizing boolits and the bottom link on the handle broke. I called cs and ask about the warranty, she informed me they have a one year warranty and they would ship out a new bottom link. I informed her about the new ram being smaller in diameter than the one I removed that was probably 45 years old. She said no problem and they would send me a new ram as well.
Today i received the parts and changed them out. This new ram is exactly the same as the upgraded ram and was .09 too small as well. Arrggh, frustration.
Irritated i went to my old south bend lathe and turned down the collar on my old ram and cut the slot to receive the new handle style. Installed the original ram and sizer is wobble free as always.
I have been sizing alot of 44's lately (429421 and 429244's) and just cannot seem to keep the lube off the bottom. I have never had this problem with any boolits in the past and i have sized ALOT! 429421 drops at .431, die is .429, bhn is pretty hard at 23 so i use only my 450 for these hard boolits as i am afraid to use my 45's due to the small lever.
I plugged all the holes with shot except the top hole. Removed the rod from the die and chucked in the lathe and recut the concave top face of the shaft.
I tried to adjust the threaded stop rod up and down. I am not using alot of pressure on the lube, just enough to fill groove.
Now as the saying goes, only change one thing at a time. I changed to bens red i made (which is softer than the nra lube and alox i have always used) and changed to the .429 die.
Frustration is about to drive me to the star. I have three lube sizers because I like not having to change dies and lube as often because i dedicate each one to only a couple calibers.
I have read almost only good things about the star.
Rant off.
lab

[blikseme300]

Get a Star. You'll be glad you did.

[bbqncigars]

Get a Star. If you don't like fiddling with/adjusting things, then get a punch with set-screwed locknut when you order your die from lathesmith. Chris does superb work and usually gets them out fairly quickly. The combination of his tooling and a Star is unbeatable.

[gmsharps]

Some folks think the Star is to much of a pain to get them to work properly. There is a bit of a learning curve but in life there is usually a learning curve for most things worth having. I haven't much of an issue with mine and after using one for the first time I knew I had to have one and have never looked back. I now have three so I do not have to change lubes since I use different lubes in several applications. Once you have used it you will wonder why you took so long to change.

gmsharps

[Beagle333]

Get one. You need it and just didn't know how much, til you got it. It doesn't take long at all to figure out exactly how warm your chosen lube likes to be, how to adjust the punch perfectly, and which (if any) of the holes to close in the die, and then you're punching out a bazillion boolits til you get a cramp and you're smiling the whole time. :D

[David2011]

Yeah, get one. Mine is so old that it has the gold and red San Diego decal on it and it still works perfectly. As far as I know all of the parts other than some newer dies are original. The .452 die even says San Diego on it.

When I first set up for a new boolit or die, I measure the distance from the top of the die to the punch and keep notes for each boolit so it only takes seconds to adjust the punch. My entire "database" fits on one index card. Much is made of adjusting the punch but it's not a big deal with reference info.

Goodsteel just got one and posted about it. You might wat to take a look if you haven't seen it.

David

[wv109323]

I have two Stars that I use regularly and an RCBS that I have not used in the last 5 years.

[MBTcustom]

Yeah I like mine. Just made a few MBT style modifications today. You know, just to be a lathe jerk heh heh.
100166
100167

[rollmyown]

My Star and my classic cast turret press are my most used things on the bench.

Lathesmiths dies and punches are superb quality and his pricing is very reasonable.

Do yourself a favour and get one.

[6bg6ga]

Watch out they multiply like rabbits

[MT Chambers]

It is still very possible to bend the handle on a Star, if too much downforce is used and the bullet is too large/hard and/or die is without any lube(usually happens with first bullet).

[6bg6ga]

Just like GM and some of the Japaneese car manufacturers I have issued a recall on them.

[Cherokee]

It is still very possible to bend the handle on a Star, if too much downforce is used and the bullet is too large/hard and/or die is without any lube(usually happens with first bullet).

++ on that comment. My big 44 & 45 boolits go thru the 450 or 4500. Sometimes it helps to run an already sized boolit thru the star, effectively lubing it, which lasts 5-15 sizings depending on the boolit.

[Crash_Corrigan]

I fiddle with the settings on the length of the punch until I find perfection. Then I take a dried out Rose bush stem of about pencil size and mark off the correct length from my top punch onto the stem with a black magic marker. Then I carefully saw and sand down the stem to exactly the correct length. Then I mark the bullet and dia etc onto the stem and put it away in a small plastic container along with the die and top punch.

This way when I change boolits and dies etc my set up time is minimal and always on the money. Now is just need to save enuf money to buy another Star for my black powder shooting irons so I do not have to change out the lube in my Star.