Star Sizer ?

[plumber]

Have been lurkingfor a while absorbing all the good info on here. I currently use a Lyman 450 for sizing, and that has made me hate the sizing part of this hobby. So, I am looking to upgrade to a Star. I found a couple used sizers on gunbroker and was wondering if the parts from the new ones are compatible with the old. Like if I wanted to add the air, or bullet feed later. Also the new ones are $250 and the used ones are going for $170 +. I'm just wondering if I should spring for a factory fresh one.

[686]

buy the used one. there is not much that goes wrong with them. yes the air cylinder fits. if you get the cylinder, get a new plunger on the bottom so you do not have to take the old one off yours. just tell them you want everything it takes to make it work with out having to change your spring. also get a new lube ejection spring. it is the spring you can see on the out side. the old ones brake easy. good luck

[Springfield]

Personally I woldn't waste my money on a new plunger. And I have 3 Stars and size a few thousand a week and have never broken a spring.

[hammerhead357]

Plumber if I were you I would buy an extra spring. I have had three of them break and currantly one of my Stars is down just for that reason. I haven't ordered a new one yet because I haven't been casting much because of the heat here and time constrainst because of work.
When I do order the springs I will order two of them just to have an extra on hand. They don't break often, I have had 3 in 26 years, but it is agravating when it happens....Wes

[plumber]

Thanks, I like having extra parts on hand. I have parts for almost everything. Right now I think I may be going new as the bidding war has it over $200. Just can't justify the difference for a used machine with no dies.

[686]

I HAVE 3 STAR SIZERS. BOUGHT 1 NEW AND 2 ORG STARS USED. THE 2 USED ONES CAME WITH BROKEN SPRINGS. THE OLD ONES WERE NOT AS GOOD AS THE NEW SPRINGS. 3 WEEKS ONE OF THE NEW TYPE SPRINGS BROOK. I ORDERED 3. also get there shoulvel handel. it makes it a lot easer and faster. if you ever get there auto bullet feeder, get a 10 pack of the return springs. i have broken one about every 5000 bullets. good luck

[cajun shooter]

Boy, I don't know what you are doing to break springs except maybe cranking way too hard on pressure handle. I have used Stars since 1971 and have never broken a spring. Two of them were used for a gun store so they saw a lot of use. Up until about 3 months ago I had three stars and now I'm at two(Sold one off). I have the air cylinder on both and beside the shovel handle it should be the first thing you buy. I run mine off a air tank as you don't use air just the pressure, no compressor noise inside that way. As far as flea bay goes I've seen people pay $300 for a used one there. Makes no sense but we have some crazy people in this world and they will not be out bid. As In said if you are planning to buy go ahead and order the shovel handle with it as yoiu will save on shipping. Contact Lathesmith and get you some sizing dies from him on the way as he stays busy but his dies for the Star are better than the ones made by Magma. Later David

[686]

Cajun Shooter it is not the lube pressure spring. i am talking about the piston spring on the out side at the back of the luber. the one arount thr brass piston. the old ones were flat , almost cast coils. the new ones are round wire coils. the other spring i talked about is the auto bullet fee, return spring.

[Edubya]

Get the new one and a heater plate. You can make a heater plate if funds are tight with an aluminum plate and the typical clothes iron sitting on the plate. If you're shooting a thousand bullets a month, the investment will be well worth it. Once you have the luber figured out, you will be able to crank out 300-500 bullets an hour. If you get the auto-feeder, shovel handel and lubricant air cylinder you can double those numbers.
EW

[Lloyd Smale]

ive broke the lube injection spring a few times and have wore others out to the point they were about useless and have even had to replace the piston on my old one. Use them enough and just like anything mechanical they will wear.

[plumber]

Well looks like I'll be getting a new one, used one on gunbroker went for $265. I'm not paying more for a used one. The guy who out bid me probably buys his primers on there as well ! I'd really like the bullet feeder, but from the video on YouTube it looks like it has a very small capacity.

[hammerhead357]

Plumber get the bullet feeder if you can afford it. This will keep your fingers away from the die and the punch. The feeder tube doesn't have to have much capacity if you fill it up and then get a hand full of bullets before you start sizing you would be amazed.
I used to be able to turn out about 1500 to 1800 per hour useing the feeder. If you get to going to fast without it you can get your thumb in the die and the punch will cut a nice chunk out of it.
I didn't do it but my ex-wife cut a chunk out of her thumb and the corrective surgery cost over 600.00 to repair and this was 25 years ago.
Now due to arthiritis I can't do this many per hour but it is still faster with the feeder and safer also...Wes

[plumber]

Are there limitations with the Star? Thinking of rifle boolits with large grease grooves. I'm sold on this now, it's just a matter of how many add ons I can talk SWMBO to go along with. Oh, before I forget, how about seating gas checks?

[hammerhead357]

Plumber yes as far as I know the bullet feeder is for handgun boolits only or should I say handgun length boolits. Yes you can seat gas checks with the Star. I have only done so recently I usually use a Saeco luberisizer for that but have been doing so with the Star now.
As for the boolit feeder tell SWCCB that it will save you a trip to the emergency room if you have it.....Wes

[686]

hammerhean357 i once had a reloading busines . i had a person casting some for me. his wife would come over to sit with him. i put her to work sizing on the star. she got fast TOO FAST ONE TIME. yep a nice curve out of a finger. not bad enugh to go to the doctor, but she did not do that again. i cast and load for myself now. i have the bullet feeder on my stars now.

[KYCaster]

Are there limitations with the Star? Thinking of rifle boolits with large grease grooves. I'm sold on this now, it's just a matter of how many add ons I can talk SWMBO to go along with. Oh, before I forget, how about seating gas checks?

Large lube grooves are not a problem, but multiple grooves can be. I think Lathesmith will custom make dies with holes to line up with any boolit you might have.

I've tried the boolit feeder and didn't care for it. Seems to me to be just an unnecessary step. I can feed boolits into the die just as fast as into the feed tube, and with the feeder you have to raise the handle further to opperate the shuttle. It slowed me down considerably.

The air cylinder conversion is a worthwhile addition.

Jerry

[plumber]

Now this thing has me building a new bench for it. Well, I've needed a quality, dedicated casting bench. I'm still in design phase, not sure if I'm using 2X4's or Unistrut. So far i've figured out the obvious, top of the bench for production bottom shelf to store dies, molds, lead, etc. The one hang up I've got is how and where to mount the star. I'm trying to figure out a system to catch my sized boolits. I'm also thinking of putting a recess in for a bucket to catch my fresh casts.
So, how to you guys catch the boolits ejected from the Star?

[Springfield]

I put my Stars on strong mounts from Dillon. It moved the sizers up and back, gives me more room underneath and puts the handles back in further out of the way.

[Russel Nash]

plumber wrote:

but from the video on YouTube it looks like it has a very small capacity.

First off...a DISCLAIMER: I don't have the bullet feeder, but I do have a Star with the Star heater base and the shovel handle. I also have the pneumatic ram thing too, I just haven't installed it yet.

I am still working on lube recipes (sigh)

Anywhoo... my take on the bullet feeder is that ideally if you had a bullet collator for it, you would be set. I think Magma Engineering sells the MA style of collators that keeps the bullet tubes fed.

But I have to wonder if the new RCBS bullet "feeder" would work? Or if the K.I.S.S. / Mr. BulletFeeder bullet feeder would work too? They were originally meant to feed the Dillon 650 or 1050 reloading presses.

plumber also wrote:

So, how to you guys catch the boolits ejected from the Star?

I am using a plastic Akrobin originally for use on my Dillon 550/650 reloading presses to catch the loaded rounds. My stand alone reloading bench has a ledge on the narrow ends. On the one Akrobin I drilled two holes in the "wall" of the bin. These are big enough to allow the head of some large sheet metal screws through. Then above those two holes I drilled two smaller holes the diameter of the shank of the screws.

So essentially, I made two keyhole type slots in the Akrobin. When the bin gets full enough, I just lift up on it and then slide it over the head of the big sheet metal screws.

[Russel Nash]

[B@ plumber....][/B] as far as building a bench, if you could attach it to the wall, that would be ideal.

If it is a stand alone bench, all my bullets/boolits go on the two shelves inside the bench. The weight alone keeps the bench from moving.