Author Topic: New member  (Read 26228 times)

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Frank R.

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New member
« on: January 26, 2006, 04:19:13 pm »
When I punched "Star Machine Works" into the search engine i wasn't sure what I would find.  What a nice surprise to discover StarRealoders.com.  I knew immediately that I wanted to participate, so here I am.  My name is Frank Smith and was an employee at Star Machine from 1962 to 1965.  I began as a general helper in the production side working on various machines.  The place at 418  10th Avenue was just a marvel to me.  I had never seen a machine shop operated with an over-head belt system before. 
Initially I worked for Bill Brenizer, a master machinest, that put me to work on a small metal lathe, drill press, grinders, etc.  With my administrative experience from the Air Force, I was soon given the responsibility of Office Manager (a one person operation).  With the exception of accounting, I did just about everything else including all correspondence, telephone duties, shipping and receiving, including packaging all shipments of machines and parts.

After a while I came to work more for Elard Mock, a mechanical and firearms genius, in the reloader and sizer assembly.  Elard never ceased to amaze me as his interests reached well beyond firearms and reloading.  One time he brought in a "35mm stereo camera" he designed and built from scratch.  Under his supervision I was put in charge of all machine rebuilds that came in from the various police department and clubs.  I would dissasemble them, thoroughly clean the parts and rebuild with new parts where required. 

I have been around firearms all my life and working at Star Machine was an experience I treasure to this day.  Elard was a quite man and always took time to explain to me the many questions I had regarding guns and reloading.  With his blessing I rebuilt two old Star reloaders for my own use.  The first one was a non-progressive unit with 3 stations for rifle ammo. that I set up to load 30-06 with RCBS dies.   Elard said that is was a model they did not produce anymore.  It shared many of the same features and some parts as the Progressive.  The second reloader was a Star Progressive that we set up for 38 Spl., which I am still using.  Star Machine did a lot of business with Krasne's Department store in San Diego which had a full basement dedicated to firearms.  I purchased a new military 1903A3 Springfield from Krasne's and Elard supervised my efforts to rebuild it into a sporterized hunting rifle.  I purchased an unfinished black walnut stock from Royal Arms, installed new sights and replaced all the stamped parts with 1903 rifle milled parts.  A local gunsmith, that Elard knew, turned the bolt down and refinished the Parkerizing.  I embedded the action with a free floating barrel and it still looks great and shoots great.

Well, I find myself getting carried away with these memories, so I will sign off for now.  Please respond if you have questions and I would very much like to hear from other former employees. 

Frank

Kenneth L. Walters

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Re: New member
« Reply #1 on: January 27, 2006, 12:34:10 am »
Any chance of a picture of the three station non-progressive?  Was that ever offered for commercial sale?

Somewhere in Star's history I think that they also experimented with some sort of bullet casting machine or, maybe, experimented with making mould blocks.  You know anything about that?
former progressive press collector

Frank R.

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Re: New member
« Reply #2 on: January 27, 2006, 04:13:59 am »
Kenneth,  my digital camera is a few years old and is not compatable with my Windows XP operating system for downloading.  I will however take a few shots and attempt to scan them and post them that way.  I don't know of any Star Machine efforts to produce bullet mold blocks before or after I left.  While I was there, we always purchased molds (mostly gang molds) from Hensley and Gibbs accross town.  Hensley and Gibbs moved to Oregon about 1963 however.

Frank

Frank R.

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Re: New member
« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2006, 03:11:35 pm »
Kenneth,

sorry for not replying sooner to your request.  I have been trying to attach photos of the Star Rifle Reloader to my post, but have encountered problems.  I have went through the Help section repeatdly and even asked for help from the Starloader Site - all without success or even a reply.  Is there a particular location on this site to ask for assistance?

Frank R.

Kenneth L. Walters

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Re: New member
« Reply #4 on: February 07, 2006, 08:31:40 pm »
Not that I know of.  Could you just e-mail them to me.  My address is in the profile section.
former progressive press collector

Kenneth L. Walters

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Re: New member
« Reply #5 on: February 07, 2006, 08:32:59 pm »
Not that I know of. ?Could you just e-mail them to me. ?My address is in the profile section.
former progressive press collector

Frank R.

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Re: New member
« Reply #6 on: February 08, 2006, 11:30:53 pm »
Kenneth,

just tried sending two separate messages to you and my server said that the address listed in your profile is not valid.  Please advise.

Frank

Kenneth L. Walters

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Re: New member
« Reply #7 on: February 08, 2006, 11:48:21 pm »
Just checked my profile.  That e-mail address is correct. ???
former progressive press collector

Jet22

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Re: New member
« Reply #8 on: August 01, 2006, 03:24:38 pm »
I just picked up a 10 cavity mould at a gun show marked "STAR MACHINE WORKS, SAN DIEGO CALIF". It is also marked "NO. 39 .356 158". I am quite sure it is a H&G manufacture. Did Star mark the H&G moulds this way? There are no other markings on the mould other than ADJ. with an arrow pointing at two screws on the bottom of the mould halves. How common is this mould? I have never seen another Star marked mould, but that dosen't mean much.
Jet22 in Mid Michigan

Kenneth L. Walters

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Re: New member
« Reply #9 on: August 01, 2006, 05:10:45 pm »
There was a personal connection between the two firms that went on for decades.  The two owners were friends and lived near each other.  Still no mould is know with the Star name on it.  Any chance of a digital picture?

Star, incidentally, did experiment with casting machines.  Not moulds but actual machines.  A picture of this would be very interesting.
former progressive press collector

Jet22

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Re: New member
« Reply #10 on: August 01, 2006, 06:15:23 pm »
I don't know how to post pictures but I am sending you an email. Guess I found something neat!! PS: I also bought two Star Universal presses with extra parts and a Star Lubersizer with a bunch of sizeing dies. One interesting note is that there were five Star price lists included: January 1, 1952 - July 22, 1963 - March 1, 1968 - December 1, 1968 - July 15, 1970. The two presses, 38 special and 44 Magnum, are in excellant condition with an extra tool head in 45ACP. All have Perfection carbide sizeing dies. The 44 setup includes a 5/8 inch powder measure with a 21 grain 2400 bar. I have a 1/2 inch 22 grain 2400 bar on another press, but it only drops 18 grains. We will see what this one does. Only one press had a Hulme case feeder. No indexers. Anyway, it was a dream buy.
Jet22 in Mid Michigan

TDO'NEILL

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Re: New member
« Reply #11 on: August 01, 2006, 06:40:02 pm »
Jet22

If you are looking for a case feeder or indexers let me know I can send you information on the ones that I make.

tomoneill [no e-mail]@.net

Tom O'Neill
2706 Chase Rd
Weedsport, NY 13166
TDO'NEILL

Jet22

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Re: New member
« Reply #12 on: August 03, 2006, 07:16:21 pm »
Tom emailed me pictures of the indexer and case feeder. The indexer looks like an improved Brewster and is top quality. The case feeder looks like a Hulme and I am sure is just as good if not better. Anybody interested should contact Tom at the email address above. A case feeder is a must with a Star. A properly adjusted indexer makes life easier also. An argument can be made against using an indexer because it wears the machine, but personally, I load fewer than 5,000 rounds a year on any one machine, and don't see it as a problem. If I loaded upwards of 250,000 a year, I might be concerned.

The mould we have been researching is turning out to probably be one that was made by Star. It is a 10 cavity and casts a round nose 38 cal (.160 as cast) bullet with two grease grooves. I would really like to hear from anybody that has ever seen a Star marked bullet mould. The most unique thing about it appears to be adjustment screws under the sprew plate screws used to compensate for sprew plate or sprew plate screw wear. Another odd thing is that it was machined from bar stock (8" diameter or so) on a lathe to start making the blocks. It still has the lathe turning machine marks on both outside halves of the mould. From my past years as a machinest, I know of two reasons to do this. One is that you don't have proper size flat stock material on hand...the other is that the material you want to use is only avalible in bar stock. Either way, I have machined many square moulds (not bullet moulds) by starting with bar stock in a lathe. I can actually see the center where this mould was faced off in a lathe and can see where the two mould halves were cut out of this slice of metal. This is not a good production way to make a mould, but all the moulds I built were one of a kind and this one may be too! If anybody knows any history of Star moulds, please add...

Jet22 in Mid Michigan