my new gear

[colbyjack]

hey guys, just signed up good lookin site.

well just getting into casting. fairly new to reloading, first year. i figured id give it a shot. went out to my grandpas and asked if he had any gear he wasnt using. he sent me home with some stuff. not sure on the brands or what not. he told me to get set up and when he gets time he'd come over and help set it up.

got 1 mold 2 cavitity, says H & G 68 not sure on the weight, he sent me home with some rusty tools too... lol. on this bullet luber it has no markings except a pat. number and san diego, ca stamped on it. looks to have a yellow gooey lube in it. not sure what to buy to keep feeding it. grandpa said last tube he bought was more than 10 years ago.

going to build a bench in my reloading room for it. it has good ventalation, fan blowing in and out. (its in the basement) thinking of a heavy table with maybe a durarock (concreate board) top over the ply wood top. for ease of cleaning and for the heat if i spill lead or something.

im pretty excited getting into this. looks like i got alot to learn. ill start by reading the stickys. hopefully i can get by on a low volume casting with what i got. i need to get a pot either 10 or 20 pound lee i was thinking. and a burner for outside to flux the lead and melt the scrap.

well heres a pic of what i ended up with. looks pretty bad i thought too... hopefully i can make a few bullets....

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f186/hawgz/castinggear002.jpg

-chris

[Bob Jones]

Gosh, I'll take that junk off your hands for $20... Just kidding, you hit the jackpot.

Unless I'm mistaken, you got the legendary Star sizer, which folks seem to consider the holy grail of luber/sizers and go for big bucks these days.

The H&G 68 mold is also one of the great classic molds.

Do a little web search on those two and you'll find a ton of info, even the instruction manual for the sizer is online in PDF.

Start doing some research, you'll get hooked. Once that molten lead starts to flow and bullets drop out of the mold, it's awfully hard to quit.

Have fun!

Here's a link to a bunch of pix of your sizer in new condition, clean it up and it'll look good too.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/555605911xnsAre

[trickyasafox]

not sure if its a star- but if it is you definately hit the jack pot. the H&G 68 is considered by many to be the finest 200 gr 45 acp LSWC made. It is often imitated and seldom duplicated.

welcome aboard! more knowledgeable people then me will chime in shortly with more wishes of welcome and information :)

[45nut]

I would say that you probably have a jackpot in your grandpa also. Do pay attention when he visits, take notes if you can and ask as many questions possible without being too picky about his answers, I suspect a lot of it will make sense down the road. You have a great head start there, do what you can now to secure a supply of wheel weights for alloy, that will be the biggest hurdle for almost all of us.
Welcome to CB!

[Swamprat1052]

Its a Star!! It dont get no better than that. Lots of good lubes around to use in it or you can find some recipes here and make your own. Yessir you hit the jackpot in more ways than one. Congratulations and welcome to the world of casting.

Swamprat

[EMC45]

Welcome Sir! ColbyJack mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm behold the power of cheese!:-D

[Rick N Bama]

Welcome aboard! I'll up the offer to $50.00 for the stuff:-D

Unless I'm badly mistaken, you're gonna need a larger jar for your Harley Fund[smilie=1:

Rick

[colbyjack]

im thinking bout ordering a couple sticks of that Carnauba Red. do i need to get hollow sticks or solid sticks?

thinking bout this http://www.lsstuff.com/lube/index.html

-chris

[crabo]

I believe you will need a heater for the Carnauba Red. I use the BAC and it has worked fine for all my pistol needs. I put a clamp on light with a 100 watt bulb next to my star to slightly warm the lube and it works better.

To clean out all of your old lube, take a heat gun and put the Star on some old newspapers. The is also a plug at the bottom of the lube tube, take it out. Heat up the Star with the heat gun and run all of the old lube out onto the newspapers. I would recommend that you do not do this inside on the kitchen table.

Another hint is that I don't put more than 3/4 of a stick of lube in when I refill it. It is a pita to get it out when you over fill it.

I paid $150 for my used star and was glad to get it for that price. What size die is in the sizer? A 452 would be great for 45 acp.

Crabo