finishman2000
10-07-2009, 04:07 PM
This all started when I got married again and was packing up the stuff from my home in NJ to move into my wife’s house in PA. I found things that I forgot I even had and in many cases didn't even remember where they came from.
I decided that I was going to decrease the quantity and increase the quality of all my reloading gear.
SOOOO....I sold off my lee 100's, my Dillon 450 and last but not least the Green machine that I never even set up. I purchased a new Dillon 650 loaded with everything that was available.
Next came the casting equipment. I decided that the ol'e 8 cavity H&G's were a work of art they were heavy and I didn't cast in years because of the wear and tear of using them. Add in the cheap cost of bought bullets I kinda fell out of casting. Well, when things went nuts last year I decided maybe I better get back into it. I sold off most of my old molds, a bunch of stars that I collected over the years and decided to get the best of the best, stuff that would last me the rest of my days.
First was the MasterCaster from Magma. I posted the video of that last week. It is a great tool and with a few improvements it is almost as fast as a 6 or 8 cavity mold but without the wear and tear.
Next it was sizer time.....I decided to keep the Lyman and RCBS for GC and small qty runs. Next were the Stars. I found them to be weak and seemed to always bend the handle and the ones I acquired over the years also always had a bend handle as well. I figured there had to be better machine out there. Esp since it has been around for soo many years pretty much unchanged. My search let me to Ballisti-Cast.
Seemed like a better mousetrap. Stronger and with all the features that we bolt onto the star built right into the design. I looked around the web and could find no info or vid's of the machine. There was NOTHING! I decided that this was the only option so I call them up, ask many question and ordered one up. I was told that it would be 3-4 weeks. Well 10 weeks later and many phone calls it came in. I thought all my dreams have now come true.
First off it is a stronger machine. It is also a simple machine. The Star has the spring/lever-cam bullet feeder and the BC has a wheel. Simple is usually good. The problem with the wheel is that it comes with 5 holes in it. An uneven amount that makes smooth operation impossible. The feel the boollit drop into the wheel then turn a little more to feel the other boolit drop into the die. It was double pumping and jerky. I didn't like this at all so I had my machinist machine another 5 holes in the wheel. Now both boolits drop at the same time which helps with the feeling of using the handle to press down. It also makes for less movement of the wheel which means faster...much faster.
Next was the punches themselves. Great idea of using a screw to set the height of the punch, but the problem was that you couldn't hold the punch while locking the set screw nut. Not a biggie but still a pain trying not to mess up the die with vise grip marks. Soooo again, I had my guy mill flat spots on the punch so I can use and adj wrench to hold. The punch system itself is easier to adjust, just forget how they tell you do it.
Then there is the boolit feed tube. It comes with a short plastic tube that holds like 15 boolits. Not a speed demon. Back to the machinist. I had him make a bushing that went into the stock feed arm and a slightly over 1/2" hole drilled through it. Next was to get some 1/2"id x 3/4"od plastic tube. I cut short pieces of the 3/4 to slide over the 1/2 and glued them to the right height. Then I drilled holes through the tubes so I could have my stepson pre-load them so I could just drop the tube into the bushing and pull the pin out. MUCH Faster.
Last but not least was the handle. No matter how I sat, over even stood there was no comfortable way to use the arm. Yes it massive and would NEVER bend, it wasn't going to work! So guess where I went back to??? I had him machine flats on the handle and thread a hole to accept a swivel handle that I ordered form Mcmaster-Carr. Does it make a difference? HUGE! Now I can sit down and really just bang them out.
It may sound that I'm not happy with the Mark VI. Not so. I'm very happy with it. It has a secondary heater right on the lube tube that preheats the lube making the base heater work easier and allowing faster rates. The disk feed is fast and simple. With the changes I made you will see in the video me run 40 boolits in about 35 seconds. The Star feeder might be able to do that rate as well but if you miss a stroke it kinda messes you up and breaks your rhythm.
Better mousetrap? I think so. I bet that they use some of ideas, I taked to Peter the owner and after explaining the added holes in the disk he said they were going to try 6 holes out. Most of the ideas i now use would be so simple for them to make part of the machine right from Ballisti-Cast
Watch the video and you decide.
CWK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmTL5zz_azk
I decided that I was going to decrease the quantity and increase the quality of all my reloading gear.
SOOOO....I sold off my lee 100's, my Dillon 450 and last but not least the Green machine that I never even set up. I purchased a new Dillon 650 loaded with everything that was available.
Next came the casting equipment. I decided that the ol'e 8 cavity H&G's were a work of art they were heavy and I didn't cast in years because of the wear and tear of using them. Add in the cheap cost of bought bullets I kinda fell out of casting. Well, when things went nuts last year I decided maybe I better get back into it. I sold off most of my old molds, a bunch of stars that I collected over the years and decided to get the best of the best, stuff that would last me the rest of my days.
First was the MasterCaster from Magma. I posted the video of that last week. It is a great tool and with a few improvements it is almost as fast as a 6 or 8 cavity mold but without the wear and tear.
Next it was sizer time.....I decided to keep the Lyman and RCBS for GC and small qty runs. Next were the Stars. I found them to be weak and seemed to always bend the handle and the ones I acquired over the years also always had a bend handle as well. I figured there had to be better machine out there. Esp since it has been around for soo many years pretty much unchanged. My search let me to Ballisti-Cast.
Seemed like a better mousetrap. Stronger and with all the features that we bolt onto the star built right into the design. I looked around the web and could find no info or vid's of the machine. There was NOTHING! I decided that this was the only option so I call them up, ask many question and ordered one up. I was told that it would be 3-4 weeks. Well 10 weeks later and many phone calls it came in. I thought all my dreams have now come true.
First off it is a stronger machine. It is also a simple machine. The Star has the spring/lever-cam bullet feeder and the BC has a wheel. Simple is usually good. The problem with the wheel is that it comes with 5 holes in it. An uneven amount that makes smooth operation impossible. The feel the boollit drop into the wheel then turn a little more to feel the other boolit drop into the die. It was double pumping and jerky. I didn't like this at all so I had my machinist machine another 5 holes in the wheel. Now both boolits drop at the same time which helps with the feeling of using the handle to press down. It also makes for less movement of the wheel which means faster...much faster.
Next was the punches themselves. Great idea of using a screw to set the height of the punch, but the problem was that you couldn't hold the punch while locking the set screw nut. Not a biggie but still a pain trying not to mess up the die with vise grip marks. Soooo again, I had my guy mill flat spots on the punch so I can use and adj wrench to hold. The punch system itself is easier to adjust, just forget how they tell you do it.
Then there is the boolit feed tube. It comes with a short plastic tube that holds like 15 boolits. Not a speed demon. Back to the machinist. I had him make a bushing that went into the stock feed arm and a slightly over 1/2" hole drilled through it. Next was to get some 1/2"id x 3/4"od plastic tube. I cut short pieces of the 3/4 to slide over the 1/2 and glued them to the right height. Then I drilled holes through the tubes so I could have my stepson pre-load them so I could just drop the tube into the bushing and pull the pin out. MUCH Faster.
Last but not least was the handle. No matter how I sat, over even stood there was no comfortable way to use the arm. Yes it massive and would NEVER bend, it wasn't going to work! So guess where I went back to??? I had him machine flats on the handle and thread a hole to accept a swivel handle that I ordered form Mcmaster-Carr. Does it make a difference? HUGE! Now I can sit down and really just bang them out.
It may sound that I'm not happy with the Mark VI. Not so. I'm very happy with it. It has a secondary heater right on the lube tube that preheats the lube making the base heater work easier and allowing faster rates. The disk feed is fast and simple. With the changes I made you will see in the video me run 40 boolits in about 35 seconds. The Star feeder might be able to do that rate as well but if you miss a stroke it kinda messes you up and breaks your rhythm.
Better mousetrap? I think so. I bet that they use some of ideas, I taked to Peter the owner and after explaining the added holes in the disk he said they were going to try 6 holes out. Most of the ideas i now use would be so simple for them to make part of the machine right from Ballisti-Cast
Watch the video and you decide.
CWK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmTL5zz_azk