Need some advice for sizing 45 ACP with a Star

[GreenRiverBoy]

Hi All,
I have a Star sizer and I'm having some issues. I'm casting Lee 452-228-1r and they are dropping at .454 and sizing them to .452.

I'm using Rooster Zambini lube heated of course. The problem I'm having is at about the 20th bullet, the press will become difficult to size and I'm forced to remove the die and punch out the stuck bullets. The bullets that do go through are being lubed correctly in both bands and look good. The bullets are going through the die base first by the way.

Another observation is that there will be "scratches" on the bullts that line up with the lube holes of the die. Not sure what may be causing this either. of the three lube rows, the lower two are open and the upper one have shot in place.

Do you guys think I'm sizing to big of a bullet or could it be something else?

I'm out of ideas at this point.

Thanks for any insight and guidance!
tim

[fc60]

Greetings,

I use the NRA grease and I have to run a greased bullet back through the die to lube the system. Otherwise, the effort needed to size bullets becomes quite excessive.

I think there is a sentence in the Star Owners manual that describes this process.

Cheers,

Dave

[KYCaster]

Hi Tim. Dave is right....run a lubed boolit back through the sizer occasionally and that will end your stuck boolits.

The scratches are caused by burs on the lube holes. Clean the die and polish the bore with 120 grit wet-or-dry paper wrapped on a split dowel. The Star dies are usually so hard you don't have to worry about increasing the diameter, so you can be a bit aggressive if necessary.

I have one die that was so bad I deburred the holes with a diamond bob in a Dremel tool.

Good luck
Jerry

[GreenRiverBoy]

Well thanks for the help.

I had given up on the 45's and switched over to lubing some 38 hollow base bullets with no issues.

I will try the lube next time and see how that goes.

I'm new to using the star sizer so I appreciate the input. Once I got everything setup for the 38's I was cranking them out in pretty good time.

Cheers!
tim

[Lee W]

I spray a little liquid lanolin in alcohol on the boolits about to be sized. I have done about 13,000 this fall and not a one gave me trouble. It is a good case sizing lube too.

The scratches are normal. They go away after a few thousand boolits.

[cheese1566]

Yep, check for burrs on the die internals

and drop a sized/lubed bullet every 10-15. You should instantly feel the difference when dropping an unsized after doing so.

I usually have the habit of dropping a sized one when i need to reach for a small handful of unsized.

[44 WCF]

When I bought my original Star I was told to run a lubed bullet every 20-25 bullets to lube the die and I have used the 91%Alcohol and Lanolin mix to spray unsized boolits but recently came across some damaged cans of an industrial lubricant that dries to an almost wax type lube. Just like aerosol case sizing lube just thicker and only a buck a can. A quick spray over a tray of boolits to be sized and bingo it works great. Whatever works best for you. Years ago Star rep told me not using lube was the largest cause of damaged Star Sizers.

[gandydancer]

I have run thousands upon thousands of 45/200 grain and also thousands of 45 colt318 grain bullets through my star sizer in the last 20 years. and was told by the star rep always to run your bullets nose first through the sizer die I have and never had any trouble. nose first keeps your bullet straight in the die. lube you bullets before you lube your bullets? makes as much sense as washing you dish's before you use your dish washer.

[hhranch]

The Star manual recommends running a lubed boolit through the die every 20 to 25 times as noted. I have found that depending on the hardness (or softness) of the alloy that this may or may not be necessary. I doubt that the burs on the lube holes are causing the difficult sizing, but probably should be removed if possible. They most likely resulted from an overly enthusiastic removal of lead shot blocking off the lube hole sometime in the past. Care is warrented here!

Otherwise, although nose first is more convenient (separate punches not needed for different boolit nose profiles), in my experience, the sizing effort is the same either way. If you are sizing down quite a ways, base first probably results in a more accurate boolit, as there will be no fins left on the base that way. (If you are able to hold well enough to notice the difference that is).

[dragonrider]

What they ^ said, run a prelubed boolit or two about every fifthteenth round. I have found that after a while this will not longer be needed. Also I don't clean my dies when I remove them, may wipe off excess around the top rim or the bottom, if any, but do not clean all lube off of the die. Another thing that works is to put a handful of boolits in a baggie and spay in some One Shot case lube, seal the bag and massage it a bit to get all the boolits with a light coat.
After that they will run through your sizer slicker than snot. Good luck.

[bobthenailer]

the larger the bullet caliber and the more sizing that has to be done by the sizer , and bullet hardness, as in your case .454 to .452 you will have to find the sweet spot when to put in a previously lube & sized bullet through the sizer to keep things running up to snuff. certian moulds i have gone to 1 in 5 ratio to keep it running .
I also have used Zambeni red along with quite a few other hard lubes , with no issues !

[FirstBrit]

Hi All,
I have a Star sizer and I'm having some issues. I'm casting Lee 452-228-1r and they are dropping at .454 and sizing them to .452.

I'm using Rooster Zambini lube heated of course. The problem I'm having is at about the 20th bullet, the press will become difficult to size and I'm forced to remove the die and punch out the stuck bullets. The bullets that do go through are being lubed correctly in both bands and look good. The bullets are going through the die base first by the way.

Another observation is that there will be "scratches" on the bullts that line up with the lube holes of the die. Not sure what may be causing this either. of the three lube rows, the lower two are open and the upper one have shot in place.

Do you guys think I'm sizing to big of a bullet or could it be something else?

I'm out of ideas at this point.

Thanks for any insight and guidance!
tim

Hello Tim,

You have already got some good pointers. Regarding the difficultly in sizing bullets I'm assuming that you are using a hard alloy like linotype or certainly with quite a high level of Antimony. Bear in mind that bullets made from these alloys are relatively soft when just cast and final hardness is reached after about 3 weeks. So it's much easier to size and lube the bullets shortly after casting. Usually sizing bullets from simple tin/lead alloys is not a problem irrespective of how old they are. It's the Antimony that makes the sizing difficult. Sometimes spraying the unsized bullets with WD-40 works wonders. Just a very light spray - and if you use the aerosol can product let the bullets sit around so that the excess solvent can evaporate before attemping to size. Too much WD-40 on those bullets has about the same effect as instant glue!

Best regards,

Adrian, Germany.

[MikeS]

For the few boolit I managed to size before breaking the defective Phelps sizer I bought on eBay, I did what I do when I'm going to size boolits with a Lee sizing die, that is I put them in a plastic tub, and tumble lubed them with a few sprays of Hornady's 'One Shot' case lube. Not enough to make the boolits messy to handle, but enough to help the boolits go thru the sizing die. When I get the Star that's heading my way I plan on doing the same with it.

[dnotarianni]

I got my bullets that are ready to size sitting in a tray and I spray them with aerosol case lube, roll them around and hit them again same as I do cases. ran 1000 45s in under 2 hrs . Damn I love this star sizer!!!
dave

[MikeS]

Just wanted to mention that since my last post here I got a new Magma Star, and I've noticed that if I spray the boolits to be lubed with Hornady One Shot before sizing like I mentioned before that it will in fact make the boolits go thru the sizer easier, BUT, and that's a big BUT doing this made the lube come out of the lube grooves much easier than an unlubed (with One Shot) boolit. I now just put a previously sized & lubed boolit thru the sizer every so often (I try and do it every 10 - 15 boolits). This seems to keep the lube in the grooves, where it should be! Also, I'm currently using a blend of NRA 50/50 and a BP lube I mixed up, and I thought it would be harder, but it runs thru my Star without heat with no problems! Even without heat, my lube now seems to be less messy than using just NRA 50/50.

It's amazing how much faster the Star is for lubing & sizing compared to any of the in/out type sizers!