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I have had my Star for two years or more. It's an older one I picked up from the interweb some place. I'm just finally getting it set up and ready to use. It has the hard blue lube in it right now from the last owner. My question is about the lubes for these. I've always used soft lubes in my Lyman and since 90% of my bullets are pistol bullet I rarely use any hard lubes. Will the Star work with the soft lubes or does it need the hard lubes to work right?
I like the lighter 50x50 . \
If it's the Magma lube, you'll need a heater to make it flow. It's good lube, but won't flow without adding heat to it.
The Star sizers will work fine with the softer lubes, as long as it's not too cold in your shop/garage/basement, or wherever you have it set up. If it's cold, then you can use a hair drier to warm up the machine, or a lightbulb next to it. If you do use the soft 50/50 lubes, or something similar in consistency, just be sure not to apply too much pressure.
Hope this helps.
Fred
I only use soft lubes in my Star. Works without heat at room temperature. I put the Star in front of an electric heater to get it started on a cold morning.
I prefer to use a soft lube. The Star works great with a soft lube.
I do have one Star that's setup with Carnuba Red, it does require some heat, I use a travel Iron sitting on a 3/8" steel plate that the Star is mounted to. I turn on the heat about 45 minutes before I want to start lube-sizing, but you can preheat the sizer with a Heatgun or hair dryer.
Also, about 95% of the people who start using a Star, love it...becasue once properly setup, it's so much nicer and easier that using a Lyman style lube-sizer. BUT be aware, setup can be a bit challenging, and if you have a difficult time troubleshooting the potential problems, you may hate the Star.
Good Luck.
I love the Stars, but I hate setting them up. That's why I have multiple Stars. The settings never change. ;)
And they'll run soft lubes too. If you start getting lube spots on the nose of the boolit, just lower the heat and/or pressure a little.
Thanks guys. I thought it would work with soft lubes but wanted to make sure before I made a big gooey mess.