Magma/Star Lubrisizer?

[prickett]

I'm very close to pulling the trigger on getting a Magma/Star lubrisizer. Before doing so, I have a couple of questions:

1) what is the state of bullets as they exit the sizer? are they totally clean of excess lube (i.e. lube outside of the grease groove) or do they need cleaning off excess lube?

2) i'm probably going to use NRA 50/50, so a heater isn't necessary, but, if I change to something else, what are some inexpensive (i.e. cheaper than buying the Magma brand heater) ways to heat?

Thanks

[Springfield]

If you have the heat and pressure right there is no excess lube. If the pressure is too much or the lube is too warm you will sometimes get 3 dots/lines of lube on the bullet nose. From my experience this problem is encountered much less often with a Star then with the other types of sizers.

[NuJudge]

My experience has been that if a bullet is not .001" larger than the die, I may well get leakage.

Set up of a Star lubricator is very complicated, involving plugging lube holes you don't need, using #9 shot, or drilling out holes you need.

[Adam10mm]

My advice is select bullet types that all have the same number grooves or just spend the money and get a set of sizing dies in the same diameter but plugged for different number lube grooves. (ie .452 die one for 2 hole and 3 hole each).

Also once you have the punch set right for perfect lube, measure the distance from the top of the die to the bottom of the punch when the punch is raised. Write it down in a safe place. Refer to this setting in the future when you size that bullet again. I put a 3x4 inch card on the wall by the Star with this info on it (had close to 8 different bullet designs at one time).

[runfiverun]

the perfect number for revolver boolits is one large lube groove.

[fredj338]

My experience has been that if a bullet is not .001" larger than the die, I may well get leakage.

Set up of a Star lubricator is very complicated, involving plugging lube holes you don't need, using #9 shot, or drilling out holes you need.

Not diff at all to setup, if your die matches the bullet. If you have one groove, use one set of holes, two grooves, two sets of holes. It takes some tinkering to get the bullet depth correct, but once done, measture the top punch distance to the die & write it down for the next time.
White Label lubes are a blessing for us casters. afforadable & enough choices. Heat, no heat, alox, no alox, etc. BAC needs no heat, but is a bit sticky. CarbubaRed needs a little heat, maybe 90deg, so on hot days it will flow, on cold days, you could probably get by w/ a light buld touching the res. I think the cheaper Lyman base heater will work fine.

[cajun shooter]

You can do as I did and use at least a 1/2 piece of aluminum plate and leave it long enough so that you have enough area to place a travel iron on it. Travel irons are smaller and easier to use than the regular ones. They have good thermostats. You can do this for years or buy the Star heater.