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Messages - rbwillnj

766
Star Reloaders / Re: Dimensions For a Genuine Star 45 Colt Seating Die
« on: February 11, 2010, 07:58:42 am »
Dave,    

My Star 45 LC seating die measures 0.93" from the mouth to the start of the roll crimp.

Bruce



Edited to correct the dimension.   Sorry Dave. ???

767
I get .4516 with mine.  The measurement was taken just below the belling portion of the expander.   Note that the expander is slighly tapered, so the reslults of the measurement will depend upon exactly where it is taken.  

768
Star Reloaders / Re: STAR progressive press powder bar questions ?
« on: December 31, 2009, 06:23:44 pm »
The 1/4" bar is a "0" size powder bar, and the others are "00" powder bars.   Early Star Progressives had "0" size powder slide housings which Star later discontinued in favor of the "00" size powder slide housings.  The size should be cast into the side of the housing...though very early models may not have a designation.   Star offered spacers to convert "0" housings to "00" housings, as well as spacers to convert "00" housings to 1/2" and 5/8" housings.

769
Star Reloaders / Re: New star owner - Universal 38 special
« on: December 30, 2009, 09:21:04 pm »
I think Freeloaders were originally put together with silicon, and I have had several that suffered from the same condition as yours.   I repaired them with silicon.

770
Star Reloaders / Re: CHANCE TO BUY A 9MM TOOL HEAD
« on: December 27, 2009, 05:56:20 pm »
Rich Daniels (barreltester) is the one you want for shell plates.  I think he was selling them for about $100 each, but others would know better.  I've never had the need to buy a shell plate from Mr. Daniels.

 

771
Star Reloaders / Re: Storage of Star Machine Heads
« on: December 15, 2009, 11:54:28 pm »
Art,

I would think that plastic rod would work great and you wouldn't have to worry about moisture transfer. It might be a bit more expensive than wood.  I used 1 1/4" Oak dowel from Home Depot, cut in 5 1/4" sections.  I turned down the top 2 1/2" inches to 1.16"  (about 1 5/32") so it would fit inside the tool head.

Ron,

Sorry, I apologize.

But Ron, your a Master, and I'm a lowly Expert.....and you have your distinguished badge too.  Talk about showin off!!

772
Oh I don't think you will get struck by Lightning for asking that question,  I'm sure there are plenty of Phelps users who visit the forum.   By the way, Welcome to the forum.

I have had four Phelps reloaders pass through my hands.  Of the various Star copies, the Phelps is the truest.  Nearly every part on a Phelps is interchangeable with a Star, and except for the resale price, the differences are mostly cosmetic (and I say this as a devout Star user).   

Phelps made a number small design changes in an effort to reduce machining costs.  Of the four Phelps I have owned, no two were exactly alike, but the changes were not material to the function of the machine.   Phelps made his dies on a screw machine, and the dies don't have the same quality machined appearance as Star Dies, but I haven't loaded enough rounds on a Phelps to say there is any difference in how the dies function.   Phelps also made his own carbide sizing dies.  As to the quality of the Phelps reloaders, I would say they are very close to the Stars, but some that I have owned were maybe not quite as tight as the Stars I have owned.   Whether this was due to manufacturing tolerances or ware, I can't say for sure.

Phelps reloaders typically sell for 1/2 to 2/3rds to price of a Star in comparable condition.

773
I taper crimp my 45 ACP rounds to .469 at the case mouth.   My bullet is a cast lead semi-wadcutter sized to .452 in a Star lubesizer, and I use mostly Federal, and sometimes Winchester cases.

Now I have never tested to see if a tighter crimp would give better results, but I get consistant sub 2" groups at 50 yards with my load, so I'd rather spend my time shooting.

The Gill Hebard sheet recommends .460 to .463 and that seems really extreme.   I have never tried it, but I think it would take a lot of force to get that sort of crimp using hard cast bullets.  Maybe Hebard was using swagged bullets.

774
Star History / Re: Star on Ebay.
« on: December 08, 2009, 11:24:48 pm »
Looks like a good winter project.  I'll see if I can put together a prototype after the holidays.  I like the design of this powder shutoff better than others I have seen.   

775
Star Reloaders / Re: Storage of Star Machine Heads
« on: December 08, 2009, 11:17:38 am »
Just remember to do a good job of sealing the wood.  Otherwise moisture in the wood could cause you some problems.  I used several coats of polyurethane and haven't had any problems with rust.

Bruce

776
Star Reloaders / Re: Storage of Star Machine Heads
« on: December 07, 2009, 04:51:00 pm »
I made up these stands for mine a while back.  Holds the tool head as well as the shell plate.

777
Star History / Re: Star on Ebay.
« on: December 04, 2009, 09:24:59 am »
The powder shut off on that machine is very nice, and should be pretty easy to make.  Does anyone know if this was offered for commercial sale by someone or is it a one off.

PS,  This machine is actually a Phelps with a Star tool Head

778
Star History / Re: Star on Ebay.
« on: December 04, 2009, 09:15:26 am »
OK, Here it is,   But that's a really heavy taper crimp, I don't know that I agree.

779
Star Reloaders / Re: 223 Rem die planned by CH Tool and Die
« on: November 20, 2009, 09:33:16 pm »
I don't know what they will sell a .223 die for, but in the past CH has sold sizing and seating dies with the Star thread for about $75 each.   I contacted them a while back to say I'd be interested in a .223 die set when they make them.   They said they didn't know when they would be making them, but they would contact me when they did,

780
Star Reloaders / Re: Help me understand my 'STAR' Universal please?
« on: November 14, 2009, 01:26:14 pm »
Phil,

It looks like you have an older, but very nice Star Universal machine in 38 Special.   By changing shell plates and dies, a "Universal" machine can load and handgun caliber.   Star also made a "Progressive" reloader which looks very similar, but was designed to load 38 Special only.   

The shell plate on Star reloaders are advanced manually.  With the addition of a case Feeder (which I don't see in the pictures) you can probably load around 400 rounds per hour, so manual advancement of the shell plate is not a big issue.   However, there are after market indexers available, and many on this forum swear by them.   Do a search for Moon Indexer on this forum and you will find several threads discussing them.

The Star dies have a 11/16-24 thread which is unique to Star (so far as I know) it is not the same as the Lyman 310 dies.

From the pictures, is looks like your sizing die might be steel rather than carbide.  If that's the case you should probably keep an eye out for a Lifetyme or RLS Precision carbide sizing.   It shouldn't be too difficult to find one in 38 Special.