Star dies and punches

In Buckshots thread about Star dies and such, I mentioned that I would be making bullet specific dies and punches, well the plan came together today when the 12L14 material and the 1/2"x 27 tpi threading die showed up. I was originally going to single point the thread but my lathe won't do a 27 tpi without an expensive gear change, and the die is faster anyway. A couple of pics below, one is for the 360-180 group buy boolit and the other is for the 30 cal plinker group buy boolit. Each has a single lube groove. The lube holes in the die are positioned .750" from the top of the die, the punch is screwed in until is stops against the hex portion milled onto the shank and is dimensioned so that at the bottom of the stoke of the handle the boolit is positioned exactly in line with the lube hole in the die, there is no adjustment of the punch needed, drop in the die, screw in the punch and start sizing and lubing. I love it when a plan comes together :-D
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/06...sizedie009.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/06...sizedie014.jpg

I also made a die extraction tool but forgot to take a pic. Will get one up soon.

Looks great!

Did you start with hex stock for the punch? It's easy to turn the punch, but I like the hex idea.

John

No I started with 3/4" round stock, it takes just 5 minutes to mill the hex.