Star Progressive reloader in 38 spl

[scrapcan]

Yesterday was the day for the only really good deal I have had in many years on reloading or casting items.

I had a few minutes to spare at lunch and like a dummy I went to the local gunshop. Generally this is just a 5 to 10 cruise throught the stuff too highly priced for me. It does kill a little time though.

Well there was a Star progressive loading machine on the end of the counter. This is the first one I have seen for sale in this area. So I waltzed over just to have a look and give it a glance. It was marked at $100. Too rich for my blood an dcommenced to talk tothe shop owner. Finally haggled down to $60.00 plus tax. $63.60 total if paid in cash or check. Out comes the check. I found out it has spare parts pack, freeloader case feeder, 3 powder reservoirs, 8 or 10 powder measure slides, and a few other items.

I did some research last night and found out I made a hell of a deal. had no idea there was such a following. I had always heard that the Star tools are the best machined units one could work with. That is why I spent what I did, just to find out if it was true. Working with it for about a.5 hour, I can tell you it is very well made. Too bad their are so few parts available. Now to fire up the old girl and send a few hundred 38 specials into the loaded bin.

[elk hunter]

WOW, congratulations, what a deal, NO, what a steal!!!

I had one in the early eighties. I don't remember the exact price, but do know it was over $1000.00. I loaded tens of thousands of rounds on it and only got rid of it when I bought a Camdex automated loader.

You're going to love cranking out 38's with it. To get the most out of it you should add a case feeder, but even if you don't you'll still love it.

[stephen perry]

You must live in a part of Wyoming that hasn't seen daylight for 30 years. Anybody in the reloading World knows that a Star loader is a high dollar item. The store owner has access to e-bay where Star Loaders sell for $400+. Come on now you looking for glory or what. Next time you see a $60 Star I'll give you an extra $20 for the trouble.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR

[curiousgeorge]

I'm not sure if you or I am the luckiest on our Star deals. Ten years ago I bought one in .38 special with an extra tool head set up in .45 acp. It had 4 powder bars including an adjustable bar.

Total price ---- $100.00

( too much reloading equipment and NONE for sale )

skt

[Ugluk]

That seems almost too good a deal to be true.. Congratulations!

The star has a great feel to it, and although I havent had very much experience with other presses, the priming especially gives me a good vibe. It's a bit tricky to remove primers without using them up, so I usually make a number of rounds based on the amount of primers in the tube.

How does the freeloader casefeed look and work? I've seen pictures of the Hulme, and made my own for the press I use, http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=66840
but I haven't seen a freeloader.

The only downside I've seen with the star so far is the non-standard thread on the tools. I guess they could be tapped out by a good machinist though. Or tools turned to fit the star..

[Lead pot]

The Star is a fine press. When I was heavy in pistol bulls eye I got one used and it worked fine for many years but it started to give me problems with alignment in time so I sold it and got a Ponsness warren to match my shot shell press.
The metallic#2 is also a fine press and regular loading dies will fit this press.
It also is a fine press to find.

Here is a link for the Star parts layout if you ever need it.

Kurt

http://www.starreloaders.com/manuals/manuals.html#Downloads

[scrapcan]

I have immediately gone to the star forum and the site just given. I really had no intentionof picking up another progressive press. I have a 550b. When I saw it I knew what it was even though I had not seen one in person. I know it was stolen in the buy he made from the estate. I know how the shop deals. They buy real low and sell real High. There was an elderly gentleman that inhereited a rode hard and puta way wet win94 saddle ring carbine with carbine sight that came in while I was packing things out. He offered the guy $200 for the carbine. It is worth more than that for parts or a wall hanger.

I could not believe it when he took the price I offered. I could not get it paid for quick enough.

He had the old powder and cast bullets from the same estate priced higher than the press.

I will try to get some pictures up in the coming days.

The Freeloader is just a double funnel on a tube. I need to do some research on the star forums to see if the one I have is all there. If not, I will look at the post above.

[phil218b]

pm sent

[deltaenterprizes]

A Dillon 1050 is just a Star with all the bells and whistles( case feeder, auto advance) added. The bases of the Star wear and need to be trued after a couple hundred thousand rounds.

[scrapcan]

Phil,

I got your pm and replied.

All,

I got it setup and loaded a few last night. It is a fine setup. I need to do a bit of work on the case feeder funnel but other than that it is a gem. I will we boring out a charge bar to take hornady pistol measure bushings though.

[phil218b]

I didn't receive a pm

[scrapcan]

Phil218B,

I sent you another pm just now, second time is a charm.

[stephen perry]

I bought mine from my retired RO. It was his dead brothers and part of the estate he was liquidating. I bought 2 rifles, a handgun, and 450 copies of Rifle/Handloader along with allot of small stuff.

The Star Loader I bought is a .38 spl with a 45 head extra. My price $150. I load with the Star mainly for my handicap BR mentor's .38 handguns, Cast of coarse. The Star gets the job done.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR :brokenima

[scrapcan]

Phil,

I got the email. Thank you. It halped me to figure out where the spring on the safety cam is supposed to hook to frame. Not sure I will use it but I know how it works and have the option.

[STAR4ever]

You will be very surprised to find how accurate your pistol reloads are with a Star that has been set up correctly. Were I you, I would slowly take it apart and clean it up and lube it. Particular attention should be made to the dies in the tool head. The seating die often times is clogged with old bullet lube which can cause OAL variation.

A wee bit of graphite on the primer slide is good to do. Also you could use a nice soft bolt or slide grease on the vertical shaft and notch.

You stole that press! Is it a Universal (adjustable for other calibers of pistol rounds?) or is it a Star 38 special? If it is a Universal, there will be adjustable "teeth" near each station that adjust in our out to apply the necessary inward pressure to align the cases for the station's work.

[scrapcan]

Star4ever,

It is the universal it has the locating tabs. I only have the stuff for 38 spl and don't see me finding another toolhead and dies that I can afford.

I did take it apart and clean lube. It's previous owner took vary good care of it and it did not take much for me to clean lube and adjust. I put some stos lube on the shaft ( I figured if the stos lube is good for the ponsness warren 800b it would work here also).

I will try to get some pictures taken and put up this week.

[STAR4ever]

Star4ever,

It is the universal it has the locating tabs.

Yes, the Star Universal is the version with the adjustable metal tabs. These are L shaped tabs that are screw adjustable and are on the outside of the base. There are 3 of them. They are located at the full length sizer/decaper, powder drop and bullet seater stations.

The Universal model (the most desireable) can allow you to put different machine heads or pistol caliber dies and different shell plates as it was designed for that. The Non-Universal however, was only a special purpose 38 Special/Magnum machine and it does not lend itself to reloading for different calibers.

There was a long shaft model of Star which was designed for the 30-06 rifle but this is a rather rare bird and not often seen. Some guys are trying to reload .223 Remington on the Universal and a project is underway by them to manufacture these specialized dies and powder drops.

[thebigmac]

Hey, I can go one better.. I received my Star ++++. When Baltimore City Police Dep't.shut down their ranges and loading rooms, the Prop. Div. had 9 of each of: old Lyman elec. pots; H&G #50 moulds; and Star machines. They asked the man in charge of the Gun Shop to put a price on them. He just smiled and said OK. (he was a member of the dep't. pistol team). I got one of the universals, three moulds, and the 2nd best pot there. Cost ++++. I have been the Team Captain for over 30 years. The guy in the gun shop got first pick, & he picked out mine... The Prop Div. said later he was satisfied with that. How's that for a steal?????thebigmac

[Ugluk]

Sounds more like a just reward than a steal to me.. I assume you did some good during those 30 years..

Sure beats a gold watch..

[Willbird]

I am wondering what size powder measure slides you have ? Some of the machines set up for 38 used a very thin slide, 1/4" maybe ?? If so you will want to buy the powder measure base and slide for a thicker slide for most things besides 2.0 of bullseye.

You can if you work at it make an excel spread sheet that will tell you what dia hole you need on a given thickness slide to throw a given charge weight if you use the volume/grains data from the LEE reloading handbook. The Hornady bushings work ok, BUT you can go to LOWES and buy nylon bushings the same length as the powder measure slide is thick...they have ones with different dia holes, which you can open up to throw the charge you want. The bushings cost all of 90 cents for two. They are in all the little slide drawers in the hardware section, they call them "stand offs" or some such.

You can take an rcbs taper crimp die and turn it down (peel the case harden off with carbide, then it machines nicely)) then thread it to fit in the STAR toolhead. They use an oddball thread like 9/16-28 or some such as I recall.

Also the STAR "lifetyme" carbide full length resize dies may not size SOME brass enough to hold a bullet, at least in 45 acp I had that issue, and friends said it was common....carbide was a treasured exotic when those dies were first made :-).

Also keep an eye on the tiny set screws that hold the decapping pin in....if one ever backs out and pinches between the case and the decapping stem you will be using every curse word you know getting the thing apart.....the setscrew can come CLEAR out and be in there above that carbide sizing ring...it is a BEAR to rectify....better/easier to make sure the set screws stay tight :-).

Also if you can find some primer slides and other priming parts BUY them....they are the one thing that wears that will be a real pain to replace if you cannot find a new one.

[scrapcan]

willbird,

I have OO slides and the adapter plates and several 1/2 inch slides. I bored one of the half inch slides to fit hornady bushings. I like the thought of using 1/2 nylon or delrin for bushings, I will look a that option as I also have a hornady pistol measure that I use quite alot. Most of the bushings are larger bushings for 357 mag. Only a few for target level loads in 38 spl.

I did get a set of spare parts which includes 3 extra Small primer slides. I had not heard about the decap pin set screw issue, I will keep an eye on that.

It came with a freeloader case collator and a hulme case feeder. I had to take the case feeder apart to repair it, pretty straight forward use of common materials to make a usable item. Middle picture is of the loop that shakes the case feed tube and makes the freeloader case colloator shake to drop shells head (heavy side) into feed tube.

I have loaded about 1000K rounds on it so far and it is a very nice machine. The rounds feed and shoot well also. I don't see a need for a taper crimp die on the 38 spl and since I can not afford a set of dies and shell plate for another caliber I will make due with the dedicated caliber press.

Here are pictures. The picture of the press is a little dark, sorry for that.