What lubsizer do you use

[Superfly]

Ok time to get serious here

Like prom night off we go.

I have decided to get a lub sizer and go deep into this Boolit casting what the heck someone has to stimulate the economy right.


One wife has helped me alot I mean ALOT i belive i wll be ordering a star just a no bells no whistles one, My wife will smack me hard enough to see birds and stars so bells and whistles are not needed.

So tell me what you run, and the good bad and ugly.

I belive i will be using Carnuba Red for lube, I only want one lube for rifle and pistol.

Rifles will be 30 30 ,45 70 maybe 243, 30 06.

Pistols will be 45 cp 45 long colt 44 mag

So what do you think???? Carnuba red??????

Thanks Superfly


:castmine:

[MtGun44]

IMHO, my two Stars are wonderful for producing large quantities of the same
boolit, and much less wonderful for smaller batches (100-200) of many different boolits.

The issue is that unless you buy Star dies from lathesmith on this board, or another
lower priced source (lathesmith's dies are excellent quality) you will pay twice as
much per die from most sources of Star dies, compared to most sources of
Lyman/RCBS dies.

Setting up the Star is much fussier, due to the need to align the lube holes
in the die with the groove(s) in the boolit, and plug the excess holes with
lead shot, or drill the shot out when changing boolits. Time consuming unless
you have a specific die dedicated to each boolit design (or unless you luck
into two of the same diam with the same lube groove location - hasn't worked
too well for me so far).

Lyman/RCBS (have one of each) are quick and simple to change dies, same
setting works for most boolits, altho sometimes you need ot adjust the depth
but not very often. Top punches need to be a decent fit, but for flat pointed
designs, a plain flat punch works for a wide range of designs.

I just find myself reserving the Stars for the boolits that I use in very
large quanty, like greater than 500 or so as a minimum batch.

All of them work; first cost, die prices and ease of changing setup are the
biggest differences.

Bill

[HeavyMetal]

I have two Star's and, a recent purchase, an old Lyman Number 1 Lube sizer.

The Star's get the nod for most (95%) of my lubeing and sizing needs. Yes they can be a bit finicky to set up first time around but if you take notes on depth of the plunger and ask Lathsmith to put holes only in the bottom area of his Star dies you'll never have a repeat problem with a Star! I will suggest you stay with single lube groove designs, that may be hard with rifle boolits, so don't be afriad to ask lathsmith for specific hole spacing on any dies he makes. This will make it possible for you to do mulitiple lube groove boolits easy!

As for the Lyman Sizer? That gets used for specility boolits like the Lyman 429303 which do not lead themselves to push through sizing and require a gas check.

As for lube/ Can't go wrong with Carnuba Red! Alloy composition is much more important once you get the right lube!

A heater of some type will be nice and I suggest a cheap Iron from Wal mart, then mount your sizer on a 1/4 inch piece of aluminum plate and lay the iron behind it, or you can get a pre drilled unit from Lyman.

[kodiak1]

A 450 and A 4500 Lyman. Both do what I want. One is set up for Black Powder Lubes and the other for Smokeless Lubes.

Ken.

[sagamore-one]

I am running six Stars , each set up for different boolits/ different lubes. Some with hard lube--- some with soft.. I keep an RCBS , a Lachmiller, and a Saeco/Redding handy for small batches. Main lube is Rooster Zambini. Also use quite a bit of Alox/ beeswax and keep on hand some Magma green and some Bullshop Speed green.
Different strokes for different folks.

[bruce drake]

I've got a Lyman 45 that I run with Lars 50/50 and I lube for rifle and pistol with it. Never a problem. The tool is probably twice as old as me and still running strong. One boolit at a time. Each stroke of the ram exercises an arm muscle. Just switch arms every 25 boolits so your arms are evenly built :)

Bruce

[Jbar4Ranch]

Three Lyman 450's, two with soft lube and one with hard.

[mooman76]

I use a Lyman 450 and yes I still use the Lee TL. It just deoends on what suits me. Works for me!

[9.3X62AL]

Lyman 450 here, and I've used Javelina 50/50 Alox for about forever. I caution that I don't ask a lot of my cast boolits--rifle speeds seldom exceed 2000 FPS and usually run more like 1600-1800. If I want more WHOMP at the receiving end, I add boolit weight and not velocity in a given caliber.

[JDFuchs]

Ive only been at it for 2-3 years now. Picked up a Lyman 450 on craigslist for cheep. Been quit happy with it. Eventuly i think i may pick up a star.

[BD]

I own one star, and for the last five years it's been the only sizer I have. I do own a die for each boolit I size in any quantity. This makes changing over pretty quick. I don't know how far north in MN you are, but like many northerners you may have plenty of time to get all of your casting and sizing done in the "off season" I'll set my star up, and then run a season's worth of everything but .45 acp. I leave it set up for the .45s all summer as that's really the only thing I'm using more than a few hundred/year.

I'll typically spend one Saturday a year smelting alloy. 400 lbs does the trick.

I also sit down one afternoon a year and make Felix Lube. My batch runs about 3 lb. and when I'm up north, (6 months of good shooting/year), that lasts me. I make my Ed's Red at the same time.

Being in the PRNY this past year, I didn't need to make lube, or boolits, at all.

I'm hoping my latest project will change that. I'm driving up next weekend to raid the barn for alloy, lube, primers and powder. I'm thinking the left overs in my barn are gonna be enough to keep a guy shooting in the peoples republic of NY.
BD

[wiljen]

Geez, I knew I was missing something - I'm supposed to lube em before I load em?

LLA
Lyman 45
RCBS

[Sprue]

I have two in RCBS. I'm content with them. The dies & top punches are reasonable. Change over to different cals is quick. Pretty much the same as the Lymans

[Echo]

One Star for pistol boolits and two RCBS/Lachmiller's for GC boolits. One w/50/50, the other w/Red. My suggestion is go on Ebay and buy an RCBS/Lachmiller to start with - cost about $70-80 plus shipping, about half price of a new one. You can use it for anything. Later, if you decide that doing pistol boolits in the in-n-out lube-sizer is too time-consuming, get a Star. They are great, but I prefer to L-S GC boolits on an in-n-out. Just me.

[Daves1]

Lyman 450, changing lube to speed green from Bullshop soon.

[DLCTEX]

A Lyman 45 and a RCBS lubesizer do most of my lubing needs, usually with Lar's 50/50 and sometimes added carnuba. I also use Lee sizing dies and tumble lube with LLA or JPW, or a combination.

[mtgrs737]

I have two Star's and two Lyman 450's. I run Lar's BAC with a 3/8" slice of Carnuba Red mixed in for one of the Stars and the other I am setting up with straight Carnuba Red. One of the Lyman 450's has the BAC/CR mix and the other is being set up with Bullshop's Speed Green. I have a small fortune tied up in sizer dies and top punches for these machines but I have just about everything covered. For larger quanities of boolits my first choice is the star's. I use the Lymans for the smaller qty's.

[Dale53]

I use a Star for my pistol bullets .32's, .38/.357's, .44's, and .45's. I have an RCBS and a Lyman for my gas checked bullets and for use with Black Powder lube. I pan lube my BIG BPCR bullets and use a Lee push through sizer for those.

Dale53

[Marine Sgt 2111]

I have a Magma production luber (it uses star dies), a star and a 450 Lyman that I bought when I was 16 yrs old (now 53). I use zambini in the production sizer, for now 50/50 besswax and alox in the star until it is all used up and Rooster HVR in the Lyman.
Both the Magma and Star can be a pain in the behind to set up so I keep one die per bullet style. The lyman is easy to set up and the dies/top punches are cheap.

[mike in co]

three rcbs. rifle in one, felix in two one rifle one pistol.

[largom]

I have never owned a Star, mainly because of the cost and reported headaches setting up. I currently own 3 Lyman 450's and one 45. I bought one 450 new and the rest used. I also use a "push thru" sizer that I made which uses Lyman sizer dies. The multiple sizers allow's me to set each up with a different lube. Counting all of my sizers and dies I do not have as much money invested as one Star would cost me.
Larry

[waco]

i use the lyman 450
got it from my uncle when he passed
been using it for over 10 years now
love it
simple, and effective...
wish i had one to two more lube sizers to make things easier
HATE trying to change lube!:(

[MT Gianni]

RCBS & LY 450 mounted side by side.

[MT Chambers]

I use 2 Lyman 4500s with heater elements, 2 RCBS, and 2 Star machines, I try to use the Star whenever I can as it is much faster and I believe in the nose first sizing. Both Stars have Lyman heaters and 1 is full of BP lube and the other a homemade Carnauba Smokeless lube. The Lyman and RCBS are faster to set up and I use them for small batches or odd sizes, and for when I only partial size bullets.

[Blammer]

lyman 45 sumthin is a good one. :)

[Recluse]

I love the Lyman 45's. Always keeping my eye out for additional ones. I like them because I do small batches of different size/style boolits at a time rather than hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of just one kind of boolit at a time. The Star is definitely top-shelf, but I don't like fiddling with it and it's kind of a pain if you change calibers/sizes a lot. But if you want speed for doing a lot of boolits, it has absolutely no peer.

Also like the Lee push-through sizer system immensely. I don't mind the wait in between tumble-lubes for the stuff to dry. I tumble-lube lightly with a blend of lubricants, let dry, run through the push-through sizer, then tumble-lube lightly again with same blend, let dry, then store. No leading, no "buildup" whatsoever in my seating dies, and fantastic accuracy--with both TL boolits and traditional lube-groove boolits.

:coffee:

[dromia]

IMHO, my two Stars are wonderful for producing large quantities of the same
boolit, and much less wonderful for smaller batches (100-200) of many different boolits.

The issue is that unless you buy Star dies from lathesmith on this board, or another
lower priced source (lathesmith's dies are excellent quality) you will pay twice as
much per die from most sources of Star dies, compared to most sources of
Lyman/RCBS dies.

Setting up the Star is much fussier, due to the need to align the lube holes
in the die with the groove(s) in the boolit, and plug the excess holes with
lead shot, or drill the shot out when changing boolits. Time consuming unless
you have a specific die dedicated to each boolit design (or unless you luck
into two of the same diam with the same lube groove location - hasn't worked
too well for me so far).

Lyman/RCBS (have one of each) are quick and simple to change dies, same
setting works for most boolits, altho sometimes you need ot adjust the depth
but not very often. Top punches need to be a decent fit, but for flat pointed
designs, a plain flat punch works for a wide range of designs.

I just find myself reserving the Stars for the boolits that I use in very
large quanty, like greater than 500 or so as a minimum batch.

All of them work; first cost, die prices and ease of changing setup are the
biggest differences.

Bill

Ditto what Bill said, I have three RCBS, two Lyman and a Vickers on the bench. I have a Saeco somewhere that is also a good sizer its just that the dies and top punches are too expensive. If I ever get back into shooting .38s in quantity again then I'll pull it out.

Star went as it wasn't appropriate for my needs, fine sizer though.

[JeffinNZ]

Lyman 4500 with heater. Started with a 2nd hand Lyman 45.

I can't believe how many of you have multiple lubers!!!!!

[Tom W.]

An RCBS LAM II with a lyman heater and I've tried a variety of lubes, including my own, and have gone to Glenn's carnauba red. I've just about purged my lubrisizer of all the other stuff that was put into it...

[Cherokee]

Lyman 45, 450, 4500 with heaters. Star for high volume bullets; requires record keeping to aid quick set up when changing bullets. Thompson Red and migrating to Lars Carnuba Red lube for rifle and pistol.

[deltaenterprizes]

A Lyman 450 I have had for 25 years and 3 Stars.

[Tom Herman]

It works well for me! Caliber change is usually easy, with no adjustment of the arm that the bullet will rest on.
I use my own lube that is a dead ringer for SPG but only costs me about $5 a pound, and it works slick!
I also built my own heater from a discarded piece of half inch steel plate, some surplus Dale power resistors, and a $2 110 volt AC to 24 volt transformer.
I typically size and lube a cookie tray of 300+ bullets at a time, and do only as much as I can load with the Dillon.
Even with the thirsty .45 LC RNFP's, I can get about 600 bullets through before I have to refill the reservoir.

Happy Shootin'! -Tom

PS: Two parting shots: I regretted not cleaning the Lubrisizer when I first got it. The unit was full of chips. I have chewed up one reservoir gasket, and made sure I have more on hand. Fortunately, a good substitute was available at the local hardware store.
I guesstimate that I get about 4,000 bullets per gasket. -T

[dragonrider]

I just want to say that one can change dies in a Star and be lubing in 90 seconds without adjusting anything. I do it with mine. I make my dies and punches and each one is boolit specific, meaning I have a die and punch for each boolit. I unscrew punch, screw in die extractor, remove die, unscrew die extractor, insert next die, screw in matching punch a begin lubing, no adjusting needed, no plugging of lube holes. Makes it easy and fast to size and lube any quantity from 1 to whatever. Since I started making and using matched dies and punches I have retired my Lyman 450.

[NoDakJak]

I have a Lyman 45, a couple 450's, an RCBS and a SAECO. My favorite is definetly the SAECO. I hope to own a PITZER Sizer one of these days. Neil

[Jon K]

2 Star & 1 Lyman 450

[missionary5155]

Good morning
I have 3 lymans I use when up there. That way I do not need to change lubes.
I tend to go with BP Lube in one ... High Pressure lube (mag pistol and Rifle) and Low pressure lube for all the rest.
I have never owned another luber.. everyone I have known used Lyman.
Mike in Peru

[codgerville@zianet.com]

Lyman 450, Lyman 4500, RCBS Lube a matic. Drilled the bases of the 450 and RCBS to use the Lyman heater.

[Shiloh]

Lyman 450, LEE Sizer Dies.

Just acquired a Lyman 45 Still in a box with parts. Not sure it's all there. Sure hope it is.

Shiloh

[oldhickory]

I guess I' the odd-ball here...Saeco, on a Lyman heater base. I find it much easier to change dies and top punches than with Lyman or RCBS.

[billyb]

I use a Star for pistol and a Lyman 450 for rifle. I use Lar's carnuba red in both.Star heater for the Star and for the Lyman I use a Lyman heater. Bill

[cabezaverde]

I just bought a Saeco from a guy on another board. He says it takes the Lyman/RCBS style sizing dies. Can it also use Lyman top punches?

I bought it to use in addition to my Lyman. Did I make a boo-boo?

Anyone know of an online manual? The sizer looks to be in great condition.

[HeavyMetal]

Are you sure it's a Saeco and not a Lyman number 1? Saeco's that I've seen take a propriatery sizing die.

The Lyman number one can be mistaken for the Saeco until you see them together.

[runfiverun]

i have three stars.
one for 32,9mm and 38 with heater an boolit feeder.one for 44,45 with same and a third that i use a different lube for rifles and seating g/c's on.
i only have 4 top punches,two sizes of tubes and 2 lubes.
i cycle through all my pistol stuff and run between 100-150 lbs of alloy at a time.
this way a lot of boolits stays consistent for at least a year.
i do my rifle boolits in a 40 lb pot and just size and check as needed for the summer, usually 3,000 per rifle.
smelt in summer alloy in the fall,cast in the winter, and scrounge seriously in the spring.
it's worked for the last 20 years or so.
i finally had to replace two springs on the 2 used stars i bought 10 years ago.

[oldhickory]

I just bought a Saeco from a guy on another board. He says it takes the Lyman/RCBS style sizing dies. Can it also use Lyman top punches?

I bought it to use in addition to my Lyman. Did I make a boo-boo?

Anyone know of an online manual? The sizer looks to be in great condition.


I have a Saeco and can tell you, they take completely different dies and top punches than Lyman or RCBS. I feel they're easier to use than either of the above mentioned sizers and worth the bother of buying their own dies and punches for. I'll probably get a lot of arguement from Lyman and RCBS users, but I like my Saeco a lot better than the Lyman 450 I had before.