Star dies and punch question

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

How far down does the punch for a Star die need to be able to go to get reasonable adjustability and get the boolit down in the die far enough to properly lube the boolit?

In other words, I'm trying to figure out how far down from the top of the die into the die.

[HATCH]

http://www.magmaengineering.com/PDF/Star_Sizer.pdf

page # 5 of the manual

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Hatch,

Thank you. That helps a great deal.

I've been away from casting/reloading/shooting for several years taking care of my Father and just now getting back into the swing of things. I've forgotten a lot I used to know. I also don't remember that manual being available or maybe I didn't know about it or that page.

I'm in the process of figuring out how long a punch I need made for my Ballisti-cast sizer. I prefer lathesmith's work, so I'll be ordering from him. The punches I received from Ballisti-cast (crudely made to me) seemed to be the right size to reach down in the die far enough with the feed wheel installed, but the threads for the ram were too long and didn't allow enough adjustability.

My previous punches from lathesmith had correct threads for the ram to allow adjustability, but are too short to reach through the feed wheel and push the boolits down far enough.

Needless to say, my forays into lube sizing for .358" have been frustrating, as I was getting lube in one groove and the nose, not in both lube grooves.

The instructions you provided should allow me to calculate exactly what I'll need for the shaft of the punch and measuring the threading depth on the ram will tell the rest of the story to get an ideal punch.