Star Luber-Sizer "Tutorial" needed . . . .

[dmftoy1]

Ok . . . .lubed my first batch of boolits today and it was entirely too "messy" so I know I'm doing something wrong. I suspect that I've got the "pressure" screw turned up too tight as there seems to be "lube" escaping and I think it's coming out as the second boolit pushes the first one out. So the two questions I have are:

1. How do you adjust the "pressure"? I'm guessing that what I should do is have the heater on for awhile with no die in the unit and then slowly turn the screw until it just starts to come out the port, and then let it quit and put the die in? If that's the case, how often do I turn up the pressure when I'm sizing/lubing? (3 grove 45-70)

2. Is there an easy way to get the punch depth set right? I can't seem to figure out an easy way to do it and the owners manual doesn't really describe the process well enough for my simple mind to grasp.

3. Oh yeah, and a bonus question. Do you aways fully cycle the "pump" that applies the lube or is it a feel thing where you realize that you've pushed enough lube into the groves and you back off?

4. Ok, I lied . .there's a fourth question. When you get this thing all setup and running well do you just put an ackro bin under the outlet and let them drop in or do you catch each one in your hand and inspect it with anal retentive attention to detail before gently putting it down somewhere?

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

Have a good one,
Dave

[Springfield]

#4. I always take each one and put it in a styrofoam tray.
#3 I always give the handle a full pull. When the bullet is full it will stop pumping.
#2 No, there is no real easy way to adjust the punch. What I used to do when I used the one piece punch is, screw the punch all the way up until you are out of threads. Push one bullet in the die. Take out the die. Measure how far down the bullet is and compare with a bullet on the outside of the die. Run the punch in till it is right. With more than 2 lube grooves it can be problematic getting them all to line up, but it usually can be done
#1 Adjusting pressure and heat is a learned skill. A rule of thumb I use is, up the heat until the noses start getting lube on them, then back off some. All the top pressure screw has to do is to fill the bottom chamber. And you only need enough heat for the lube to flow. Let the pump do the work. When the die is adjusted properly you don't need that much heat or pressure. I lube 12 diffrent bullets, and about 20,000 a month, so I have become halfway decent getting my sizers to work.

[garandsrus]

Dave,

If you do a search on this site for "star" you will find answers to most of your quetions. I know because I asked several of them a couple months ago! The Star sizer works great... Here are quick answers to most of your questions:

1. How do you adjust the "pressure"? I'm guessing that what I should do is have the heater on for awhile with no die in the unit and then slowly turn the screw until it just starts to come out the port, and then let it quit and put the die in? If that's the case, how often do I turn up the pressure when I'm sizing/lubing? (3 grove 45-70)
A - I usually have the pressure turned most of the way up. Lube should not come out of the port unless the handle has compressed the spring on the bottom of the unit. If I let mine sit without a bullet in it and the pressure turned up, there is a little leakage, but not much.

2. Is there an easy way to get the punch depth set right? I can't seem to figure out an easy way to do it and the owners manual doesn't really describe the process well enough for my simple mind to grasp.
A - Take the punch out of the die and put your bullet next to it. Visually line up the lube grooves with the holes and decide if you need to plug any of the holes. If you do, put in a piece of shot. I found that #9 works fine and I don't need to pound it in so it should be very easy to remove. If you have a choice, use the bottom most set or sets of holes. Now, with the bullet still next to the die, measure the distance from the bottom of the bullet (in the nose first sizing position) to the top of the sizing die. You can then use this measurement to get very close to the final depth with the punch. The first bullet may be messy while you are adjusting it, but the rest should be clean.

3. Oh yeah, and a bonus question. Do you aways fully cycle the "pump" that applies the lube or is it a feel thing where you realize that you've pushed enough lube into the groves and you back off?
A- I fully cycle it. I have heard of people that needed to cycle it twice with lots of large lube grooves.

4. Ok, I lied . .there's a fourth question. When you get this thing all setup and running well do you just put an ackro bin under the outlet and let them drop in or do you catch each one in your hand and inspect it with anal retentive attention to detail before gently putting it down somewhere?
A - I catch the gas checked bullets and put them in a case (empty pistol case) but let the plain base bullets fall into a bin. One of the reasons I do it this way is that the checked bullets require more time anyway, so catching them is no big deal.

One other thing I have found is that the nose of pointed bullets can get distorted while pushing out the next bullet. For .30 cal, I use a .268 bullet to push the .30 cal out of the die, without activating the lube pump. This leaves the nose untouched.

Good luck!
John

[dmftoy1]

Thanks guys! I'll go fuss around with it a bit more tomorrow. The 100 I lubed will shoot fine but I had quite a few with some lube on the nose of the bullet and I'm trying to get that bit sorted out.

That's my "fun" for tomorrow once the honey do list is sorted.

Have a good one,
Dave

[BigCheese]

I hope this link to an old post of mine works. This is for lubing base first.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...9708#post29708

[TAWILDCATT]

after you get it set take a screw with couple of nuts and make a gage from bottom
that way you can reset punch if you change setup.star dies are bullet mated.the holes match spacific bullets.

[4060MAY]

http://www.magmaengineering.com/

click on the online manual

[Orygun]

Couldn't sleep and ran across this thread. All of the above advice is good. The tip about using #9 shot for plugging lube ring holes works great for me as it seals well and is easy to remove with a dental pick if/when needed. No need to use a larger shot on the Star dies.

Today I just re-mounted my 30 yr. old Star on an aluminum plate in order to use a harder lube and warm it with an iron. I have been using the 50/50 alox for..........well, forever, and although I have been happy with the accuracy, I finally got tired of the stickiness of the lube. I bought some of Jake's purple lube to give it a try.

So I purged the remaining 50/50 lube, set the iron on the plate at about a medium setting and discovered old lube running out of orifices that I didn't even know existed! Note to self: Back off on the heat!

After cleaning things up and running a handful of culls through the sizer and letting things cool down, I finally got the results that I was hoping for: a nice semi-hard lube that is not sticky like the alox and a good fill on the lube ring. (.45 200 gr. SWC Lee 6 banger). Jake's claims that his purple lube shoots as good as the alox, and is much less messy to deal with. I will find out soon if it shoots as well, but I'm confident that it will and I know that I will be happier without dealing with the messiness of the softer lube.

[Sundogg1911]

I have used Jakes, and I really like it! I finally made the switch to hard lubes a few years ago. I figured cleaning a little lead outta my barrels would be better than the sticky mess. Guess what?........ no leading. I uses heaters on both Stars and my Lyman 450
I use Jakes and I also like the Magma hard blue, and Rooster Red Zambini.
I use blue lube in the stars and red lube in the Lyman 450.
I'm not sure why.....
maybe it's an OCD.