a die idea

So I was thinking about the new Hardline machine and how for straight sided boolits it pushes 1 through at a time so round nose tips don't get messed up and it occurred to me that all those stupid holes in the bottom of my star dies don't do squat for me since I don't wax.

Anyone cut a star die down? any issues with it seating in either a star or BC mk5? If cutting down won't work what about opening up on the bottom half so a single boolit passes through and falls out. No boolits have to shove their buddies through.

Any reason this won't work? Any one done it? If so sorry if this is basicaly a dupe thread, I tried a quick search but didnt see this specifically addressed.

Just need to one made. Just need a leade in taper, short sizing section, then relief at the bottom. Wouldn't be difficult at all to make.

Contact Lathesmith, he is the man for the job.

All sounds great, but I wonder if the factory length is requisite both to sizing 100% central of boolit, as well as the top holes allowing lub to b pumped in. I do NOT know -- your ides sounds do-able -- but on ('specially) short boolits? An evil niceness of the bottom-first sizers (e.g., Lyman 450) is the requisite machined-to-match-nose top punch which keeps boolit centrally aligned. The top-first Star has not this feature, so the boolit getting canted may (?) be an issue.
I'd love to hear of your success trying this!
BEST!
georgerkahn

Can't he just make you a longer punch??????

Hi Guys,

We have already developed the shorty size dies for coated bullets. They are turned out of hardened 4140 steel, and are in stock. We have them currently available in 9mm, 40cal, and 45cal ready to ship for $20 each. We have the material to make other sizes as well from 22 cal through 50 cal, but do not have them on the shelf. We were holding off on advertising on the website as we are working on a shopping cart.

Prior to developing them we tried the longer punches in our sizing machine and found out that the machine had to be slowed down significantly to allow for the bullet transfer bar to move into place. At normal speed the punch would collide with the transfer bar causing a jam.

Alternatively, we also tried grinding down a star die. When we got it to drop bullets through one at a time we had removed the area of the die that brings the bullets to size which is very close to the bottom.

Give us a call, PM, or email if you are interested in purchasing one.

Thank you,

Derek Roppel
Hardline Industries, Inc.
701-757-4273
sales@hardlineindustries.com

There you go! All you have to do is ask the manufacturer.....

Fred

Derek,
Will your dies fit the Mk 5 and Star, or proprietary to your machine?
Not that I mind throwing money at Hardline (again), but I was hoping to adapt the slew of dies I already have in some way.

They are designed to be interchangeable with the Star die so they work on any Magma or Ballisti-Cast machine along with ours. The outside of them is turned just under the diameter of the standard star dies so they slide in and out with ease because there is no need for a press fit if you're not lubing the bullets.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by georgerkahn

All sounds great, but I wonder if the factory length is requisite both to sizing 100% central of boolit, as well as the top holes allowing lub to b pumped in. I do NOT know -- your ides sounds do-able -- but on ('specially) short boolits? An evil niceness of the bottom-first sizers (e.g., Lyman 450) is the requisite machined-to-match-nose top punch which keeps boolit centrally aligned. The top-first Star has not this feature, so the boolit getting canted may (?) be an issue.
I'd love to hear of your success trying this!
BEST!
georgerkahn

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My Star sizer is only a few months younger than I am. ( I have the original San Diego Star Machine Invoice from 64' ) So we are both 50+ years old.

That said all the dies came with nose punches to match the specific mold you were casting from and intended to size base down.

The whole switch to nose first came about later by some lazy types that figured it was "good enough", and it caught on and is now considered the standard method. And on some styles it makes sense - which end is up on a wad cutter? You would have to look for the sprue cut marks. Semi-wads have flat bottoms and flat tops so either way will match a flat punch.