Star Luber

[yul b. nekst]

Well you guys talked me into it, and seeing how Magma literally jacked up the price overnight last week to $250, I bid and won on ebay for $167 + s&h. I haven't gotten it yet, but I'm doing research over on starreloaders.com on the forum for their lubersizers. Anyway, being that I haven't yet received it I've got a few questions. I've already ordered from Magma the needed .452 die plus punch. After downloading their manual, am I to assume that a bullet always stays in the die? So, after a lube session, there is going to be one left in? I'm also assuming this luber is going to have hard lube in the reservoir. I've already made some 1"x4" sticks of homemade (my pan lube recipe) beeswax-lard-olive oil lube using a 6" piece of PVC. Wow, after it cools, a hard rap and the stick pops right out. Anyway, what's the best way to get the old stuff out? Heat and drain? Will I need a heater for my homebrew, or will an occasional hair dryer firing warm up the lube shaft sufficiently? Sorry for all of the questions, but this is my largest investment in reloading in four years since I bought a Dillon. It took me that long to re-save for reloading gear I may need!

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Yeah, the last bullet you lube sits in the die, unless you poke it out. They send you an attachment to poke the last one out, but it's a pain to use and I just poke out the last one with a dowel, or a smaller bullet.

I run sticks of SPG through mine and do everything at room temperature, no heat is needed.

When I bought my RCBS lubesizer used a few years ago I dunked it in a big pot of boiling water to get all the old Smokeless lube out. I took the whole thing apart and just dunked the die body into the water. Made a real mess. You might be able to use a hair drier instead. I don't think I would want to dissassemble the Star and dunk it in a pot of water.

[Dick Dastardly]

I just took out the main lube piston and got all of the old lube out that I could get, then I started to lube/size scrap boolits till my Pearl Lube II started to come clean.  I saved the boolits with the heathen stuff and use them for flux bombs when I'm casting boolits.

Yup, a boolit stays in the unit.  Good place for it.  Then no lube crawls into the die.  You will probably not need a heater with any good black powder lube.  The heaters are for the crayon crud they use on heathen fad smokeyless boolits.  In summer I almost need a cooler for my Star.

DD-DLoS

[springfield]

Yul: 250! Glad I have my 3 already. Anyway, on my last used one that I bought it had some BLACK lube that just didn't want to go away. I ran 5 sticks of lube through it and it was still coming out with traces of black. So I just took off the plunger with the seal on it and put the rest of the body into the oven, sitting on a bed of paper towels and a cookie sheet. Set the oven to 150 and let it sit for 45 minutes. Seemed to get everything out just fine, no more black traces of lube. And yes, the last bullet stays in the die if you don't want to use the supplied die remover. But then you will have to remove the die from the bottom with a dowel or some such device. Works OK if the lube isn't too cold. Best thing to do is to convert the press to 2 piece punches, makes life much easier. As for a heater, I do only BP bullets so the lube is pretty soft. Even so , in the winter I have to heat my press. I just use a light bulb mounted in one of those reflector jobs with the clamp on them, that way I can use it on any of the presses. Yeah, I'm cheap, I'm not gonna buy 3 expensive heaters when one cheap one will do.

[Cactus Cris]

I bought my first one used & it had some nasty stuff in it.  I cranked the piston down with my lube in it and took the die out.  I also took my heat gun to it.  The lube will come out of the hole if you hold the handle down so the valve is open.  Took a while but the nasty stuff finally quit coming out and my lube started.  In summer I don't need to heat the sizer, but in winter I use my heat gun to warm the lube a tad.  It has just enough bees wax to make it stiff enough to not make a mess on the Big Lube tm boolits.