?'s about Star Bullet Sizing Machine...

[Dezynco]

My old man and I are thinking about going in halves on a Star sizer.  Can anyone tell me the pro's and con's of this machine (other than initial cost)?  I know that the machine is approx $250.00, but what do you get in that price?  I realize that I could ask Magma Engineering, but I know that I'll get honest answers here rather than a sales pitch! 

[rbwillnj]

I have three of them, and they are great machines.   What you get is a very high production rate, and the ability to size bullets with bevel basis without filling the bevel with lube.   However, they are a little finicky to setup, so if you are not doing long runs of the same bullet, or if you want to size many different kinds of bullets, this may not be the machine for you.  Also, if you are sizing very long rifle bullets this may not be the best lubesizer for you.  You can find a lot of discussion on Star Lubesizer on the CastBoolets forum.

[D Crockett]

I started out with a RCBS lam 2 it was a good unit to work with but it was real finicky about the lube pressure I spent a lot of time cleaning lube off the bottom of my bullets then I got a chance to get a star talking about difference it was like night and day first thing I noticed I only handled the bullets once where the RCBS you had to handle them 2 times if you add a bullet feed to the star the speed was 2x as fast as the RCBS in my book it a far superior machine to any other D Crockett

[Dezynco]

So would the RCBS 30-180 (30 cal) be too long for the Star?  That is one of my favorites and what I planned to start with initially.

[D Crockett]

I don't think so I do 2 different 30cal 1 is a RCBS 158gr GC with one lube ring 2nd is a 165gr W/O gas checks and 2 lube rings I have no problem in sizing and lubing both of these bullets is is all in getting your nose punch adjusted to where it needs to be and the right holes in the die pluged up D Crockett

[ricktile66]

I use the Star with the Lyman 173g and it works great.  After using a Star I could never go back to Lyman or RCBS sizer.  I did over 500 .30 cal bullets the other day in less than 2 hours.

[Kenneth L. Walters]

I've owned a lot of these.  They're ok but...  I sold most of them and replaced them with Lyman 4500's.  The Lyman is just an easier machine to use, I think.

[haroldclark]

Desynco, The Star is the best lubrisizer on the market.  It is particularly great and the best for Pistol bullets.  It someone has difficulty changing calibers, they probably don't have the Die Puller for changing dies. 

I use mine for 30 and 357s at the present time.  I leave them set up for each caliber. 

I have used the Lyman and the RCBS.  I have a Saeco machine and the two Stars.  Years ago, I sold one Star and kicked myself for 20 years.  I just got another one and never been happier.  I have sizing dies for 30 calibers, 9mm, 357, 41, 44, 45s.  Any sizer is not fun to change over.

My 7 year old grand daughter loves to size my 30 calibers rifle bullets.  She did 300 plus last weekend.  I feed the bullets, nose first and she cranks the handle.  I get nervous every once in a while, when she jiggles that handle when my fingers are close to the punch.

The Saeco machine seats the gas checks better than any other.  With some 30 calibers, I seat the gas checks on the Saeco and lube and size them in the Star. 

Keep your Star or if you don't have one yet, get one.  You will never get rid of it.

Harold Clark

[Dezynco]

So for my initial purchase, does a sizing die of my choice come with the $250.00 price, or do I have to purchase that separately?  I'm still thinking about poping for one of these.

[Lloyd Smale]

comes down to whether you want to spend your time sizing or shooting.

[blue roan]

So for my initial purchase, does a sizing die of my choice come with the $250.00 price, or do I have to purchase that separately?  I'm still thinking about poping for one of these.

Over at castboolits/gunloads.com...a place you ought to be familiar with if you are interested in cast bullets! are two individual called buckshot and lathesmith.  They make high quality custom dies, etc for the STAR lubri-sizer.  There is a ton of discussion on the STAR if you use the search.  I shoot mostly 44...and some 357...got a DILLON 550B set up for each.  I'm kinda thinking along the same lines on the STAR.  Once you're set up, the machine will fly...and it doesn't really take that long to switch.

A serious pistol shooter has multiple 4-to-6 cavity moulds, a STAR lubri-sizer and a DILLON 550B (or other progressive loader)....and he measures his bullet inventory in 3 pound coffee cans full!