Anyone not like their Star luber

[cheese1566]

Anybody have a Star sizer and hate it? or regret buying it? or would rather use another luber?

Anything negative about them?

pro's vs. con's

Still debating about dropping hard earned money on a Magma Star. I have 3 lubers now and a fourth in the refurb process. 95% of my casting/loading is for pistols. Not high volume, but looking to change that. Enough lead stockpile to do about 30-60,000 pistol bullets varying on weights and styles, so over the years it will get used.

Trying to talk myself into buying a new Magma Star but having a hard time justifying the cost or selliing off my other lubers to achieve it.

(Of course, I'll keep my RCBS LAM for odd and small jobs...)

[HeavyMetal]

Does anyone have a Star sizer they hate?

Dude: what are you smoking?

Seriously I have had a bunch of sizers over the years and, If I had to go out tomorrow and pay the current asking price for a new sizer only two would get my cash:

The Star and the Saeco! The Star for production and the Saeco for the odd ball stuff like 429303 and the like.

Currently own two Stars and a Saeco wanna be made by Herter's.

The fact that Stars are hard to come by and even harder to come by cheap should be telling you something.

I would buy the Star, decide which of your other sizers you no longer need ( you will find that decision real easy to make after you lube and size your first 200 boolits) and sell them to re coup some of your expense in buyng the Star.

I will tell you it is a good idea to keep one of the old style sizers and the RCBS is as good achoice as any. You will keep it for the same reason I kept the Herter's you will wind up with something that needs that style of sizer!

Trust me!

[dromia]

Stopped using my Star, not that I didn't like it just that it didn't suit my needs when I stopped needing high volume, single calibre/diameter boolits.

I now cast and lube up to 200 boolits per batche of different designs/diameters/lube needs so have a battery of RCBS and Lyman sizers most of which I picked up second hand and in total cost less than a new Star.

I find the RCBS/lymans just so much easier to adjust and change over but if you need high volume, single diameter same lubed boolits then the Star has no peer that I know of.

[cheese1566]

I now cast and lube up to 200 boolits per batche of different designs/diameters/lube needs so have a battery of RCBS and Lyman sizers most of which I picked up second hand and in total cost less than a new Star.

That is where i am at now, I have three lubers and a fourth in the clean up process. They came to me in good deals over time and now dedicated for one caliber each.

What does it take to change over sizes, and how much time?

My pistol bullets are current Lee 6 bangers with bevel bases. How does the Star do as far as keeping lube off the bevel? (One factor in my decision to buy)

Thanks for the input, please keep them coming.

[LAH]

What does it take to change over sizes, and how much time?

I use a Star for everything I do except a bullet for the 50/70 GOVT. which is done a Lyman 450. With the new Stars you can change dies without tools & the only adjustment is the top punch. I seldom need to adjust my top punch because the bullets I do in bulk have a rather wide lube groove so it's a matter of changing dies & back to work.

Bevel base bullets make no difference with this machine.

Here's a close up of the top punch.

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h244/Creekerpics/Picture446.jpg

[dragonrider]

I can change dies and punch in my Star and be lubing a different boolit in 90 seconds, no adjusting needed.

[GLL]

LAH:

Could you back up a bit and take another photo of your entire STAR setup for us ?

Jerry

[wallenba]

The price is a little high for them new, but that's not what puts me off. I would have to buy a lot of new dies (15 or 20) that's a lot of money!

[20nickels]

I'm a relatively new Star owner and have not used the other sizers. This was purchased for a lifetime of shooting so I bought a base heater and air piston. Initial setup is tricky for a total noob, but once you are set with Lathesmith's top punches changeover's are easy enough. I keep it simple though, one lube and four boolits from 700-1900 fps. I am a high volume shooter and caster. I don't like to tinker once setup. This setup may not be ideal for the caster that collects firearms of many different calibers.

[LAH]

LAH:

Could you back up a bit and take another photo of your entire STAR setup for us ?

Jerry

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h244/Creekerpics/Picture441.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h244/Creekerpics/Picture440.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h244/Creekerpics/Picture452.jpg

[GP100man]

How many boolits are in the tube , does it run to the floor above & someone is feeding ????

But I like it !!

I`m in the same boat as cheese , I got the 450s going but at times would like a bunch more production!!

[lathesmith]

cheese, don't take my following comments personally, they aren't meant that way, they are just general observations, so....

It always amazes me when guys that own several beautiful firearms--revolvers, autos, whatever, that set them back $6-800 bucks or more(sometimes WAY more) apiece, use one or more high $$ progressive reloaders, have several multi-cavity molds, and then cry and complain about spending $250 on a tool that will drastically speed production of building the ammo using their multi $$ molds and progressive loaders, all to shoot in their fine firearms. Which do you want to do, sit and size bullets, or be at the range shooting(or something else that you enjoy?) This may sound strange to some, but man, I hate sizing bullets; I don't really mind casting so much, but sizing to me is mostly just drudgery, a means to an end. I guess that's why I love the Star so much--it minimizes the drudgery, for me it must be 4x faster than anything else I have tried. Don't take me wrong, if you don't load or shoot much, say a few hundred rounds per year, then it isn't an issue. I don't know what there is that's not to like. Yeah, I know, your initial investment is a little more, but once again, you want to size or do you want to shoot? Choice is yours...and my rant is done!

lathesmith

[cheese1566]

Not a rant and by no means offended lathesmith!
These are the comments and suggestions I was hoping to hear. You hit it on the head and made me look at it in a different perspective.

I bit the bullet and ordered the Star today. The unit, one sizer die, and 9 sticks of hard blue lube is setting me back $310 including shipping. I have already been in contact with lathesmith about more dies and a roller handle in the future.

Mary at Magma was pleasant to deal with and we talked more about stuff than actual ordering! (Even though I called earlier in the day for one-one questions and got some male grumble butt!) I did converse with Mary all week through email and she answered my initial questions promptly. She knew exactly who I was when I called and asked for her.
Bad thing is it is backordered for 7-10 days, but that's better than weeks or months!

Thanks for all the help guys!

On to building my heater base that will eventually be PID controlled, and maybe an air feed...:p

[LAH]

How many boolits are in the tube , does it run to the floor above & someone is feeding ????

But I like it !!

I`m in the same boat as cheese , I got the 450s going but at times would like a bunch more production!!

The tubes hold 30 to 40 bullets depending on bullet length. The factor here is total weight of bullets as the bullet slide is returned by a spring. If you over load the spring won't fulling return the slide.

I do have a collator & air lube feed when I chose to use them which really speeds things up. If I was lubing for myself I wouldn't use the feed but customers don't like to see bullets with lube grooves not completely full. Using the bullet feed frees my left hand which I use to catch the bullet allowing it to roll in my hand before falling into a container. This last inspection makes sure the groove is completely full.

BTW I use another machine for machine cast [blasting] bullets but the hand cast stuff goes though the Star.................Creeker

[Dale53]

I have had a Star luber/sizer since the seventies. I also have both an RCBS and a Lyman luber/sizer. It is handy to have black powder lube in a dedicated sizer.

However, the STAR is MY Star:mrgreen:. I shoot mostly revolver these days and regularly size .32's, .38's, .44's, and 45's. Mine is an old original model and I use a simple tool to pull the dies. Only takes a couple of minute. However, since I size 600-1000 bullets or so at a time, changing the dies is NOT a chore for me.

In the past, when I was shooting IPSC, and I and both my sons were involved, we did serious bulk loading. Our record is casting, lubing and sizing, AND boxing 13,000 bullets one weekend. The Star was fully up to the task.

As a pistol shooter, if I had to lube/size on a conventional machine and had to do without my Star I think I'd take gas...:veryconfu

FWIW
Dale53

[blikseme300]

I cast and lubed more than a 1000 158g .358 boolits in one session tonight. Between my MOAM(e) and my Star this was easy to do. No other sizer is as fast as the Star.

See my melting pot and sizer here: http://bliksemseplek.com/boolits.html

Bliksem

[Dale53]

blikseme300;
Very nice blog, lots of excellent pictures and a WELL crafted "Mother of all lead pots"...

Thanks for sharing with us.
Good work!

Dale53

[LAH]

http://bliksemseplek.com/boolits.html

This is truely a great pot. My hat's off to ya................Creeker



Dry Creek Bullet Works
Dry Creek Firewood

[cbrick]

Anybody have a Star sizer and hate it? or regret buying it? or would rather use another luber? Anything negative about them?

I would give up casting before I'd give up my Star! A solid week of finger nails on the blackboard is nothing compared to just the thought of having boolits and no Star. Bamboo under the finger nails sounds like a fun time compared to the thought of my bench without a Star bolted to it.

I'm currently looking at the chance of picking up another used one for around $50-60.00 but the guy slipped out of town on a motorcycle vacation to Alaska (and he's 68 years old), hope he doesn't fall off that thing before he gets home :evil:.

Rick

[Fixxah]

Nothing compares to the Star. Lathesmith will cut any dies you need also.

The die that comes from Magma requires #7 shot to be used to block any unnecessary lube holes and they really don't stop the lube from leaking and making a mess.

Lathesmith fixed that problem and I haven't looked back. Just watch out for fatigue when sizing, you don't want to catch a finger in the punch. Ouch!

[LAH]

The die that comes from Magma requires #7 shot to be used to block any unnecessary lube holes and they really don't stop the lube from leaking and making a mess.

Never a problem with this & I use #8...............Creeker


Dry Creek Bullet Works
Dry Creek Firewood

[cbrick]

The die that comes from Magma requires #7 shot to be used to block any unnecessary lube holes and they really don't stop the lube from leaking and making a mess.

I'm with Creeker, never had such a problem. The only thing I can think of is that your not installing the shot correctly. I use a small brass punch to give the shot a light tap to make sure it's firmly in the hole. Never a hint of a leak in any of my 30+ Star dies in the 25 years or so I've been using it.

Rick

[Forester]

I bought one after a false start with an RCBS sizer.

Like Others have said I hated sizing, really despised doing it and I needed to produce 15-20,000 boolits a year for my USPSA/IDPA habit. I switched to a Star and it was a different world.

Now I have all the bells and whistles; air feed, bullet feeder, heated base...and I shoot a lot fewer pistol boolits. I would still buy one again though because it is such a pleasure to use a well made tool.

[Springfield]

I have 3 Stars, and an old Lyman 45 for a project I had for sizing just the bottom half of a bullet. I have owned other Lyman and RCBS sizers but sold them after getting the Stars. If it hadn't been for Star's I think I might have given up on casting my own, I just don't have that knd of spare time. Funny, I have found that the lead shot completely closes off the holes and mine doesn't make a mess. Also, all the parts for the air feed can be bought at McMaster-Carr. I looked into making a larger one once. It didn't really work out to be much cheaper than getting one from Magma, though. Here is a pic of my 3. I mounted them on a hardwood board with Dillon strong mounts on the end. I bolted a piece of aluminum sheet underneath them so I could use a travel iron as a heater. Also made my own roller handle. I kept it straight so that it didn't interfere with the air feed. This set-up gives me lots of room underneath the sizers for me to work.

[curiousgeorge]

In on this post a little late, but here goes anyway.

Lathesmith hit the nail on the head. About 15-20 years ago when I spent way more time shooting than I probably should have (wife complained of being a "shooter's widow"), I also took the plunge and purchased 3 used Star lubers.

Set one up in .358, one in .430, and the other in .452. I run everything through nose first and can handle multiple bullets with the same adjustment. The older I get the more I realize that anything that saves that much time has already paid for itself many times over. I already had 2 Lyman 450's and kept them to size anything in an odd size or small volume.

Same reasoning to move to progressive presses for loading high volume pistol ammo. My preference at that time was the Dillon 550B. Kept looking until I was able to trade for 2 - one for small primer, one for large primer.

As much as I really, really, really love to reload, the end result is gaining time to be able to shoot more.

Steve

[Edubya]

I have two Stars and a SAECO. The only thing that I wish for in the Star is a factory type guarantee like my Dillon presses! I would buy another then.

EW

[crabo]

Once I get my punch set up for a particular boolit, I write down the distance from the end of the punch to the top of the locknut. It makes it very easy to change to a different boolit.