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Messages - rbwillnj

901
Survey Says... / Re: Extra Parts
« on: March 07, 2008, 03:31:57 pm »
Having an extra pin for the primer rocker is not a bad idea, but the important thing is to check the pin regularly and make sure it is screwed in all the way.  On some machines they will tend to work themselves out with use.   There is only a quarter of an inch of thread and I have encountered several machines where the pin was allow to work its way out, them became bent when the rocker was putting pressure on the unsupported end of the pin.  The pin was ruined, and difficult to remove.  This situation is totally avoidable.

It's not a bad idea to have an extra locating strap 79U.  These will last forever if the machine is properly set up, but if you adjust the sizing die too low, its easy to break one.   The sizing die should not contact the strap at anytime in the cycle.  I set the sizing die to size down as far as possible, but check with a piece of paper between the die and the strap to make sure there is not contact at any time.

Primer slides and punches and bushings are worth having extras, but if the machine is kept clean they will last forever.  I have three Star Universals for personal use and I have never had to replace a part except for the locater strap because I had the sizing die adjusted to low.   I have purchased and sold a number of other machines, and the rocker pin has been the only part I have had to replace.

902
Star History / Re: star tooling
« on: March 07, 2008, 11:11:14 am »
OK, I will give it another shot, I need some primer magazines.

903
Star History / Re: star tooling
« on: March 07, 2008, 09:40:06 am »
So has anyone been in recent contact with Bill Cunningham.  I sent him and email about a month ago looking for a taper crimp die and never got a response.   I ended up buying one from CH tool and Die.

904
Star Reloaders / Re: Primer tube follower question
« on: February 28, 2008, 09:04:41 pm »
I think the plastic end piece used in the primer follower rods, in at least the later machines, is probably Nylon 6/6.  I have used this material to replace damaged and lost pieces and to construct new follower rods.  I obtained it from McMaster-Carr  http://www.mcmaster.com/ and it is product number 8541K12.  It's just $0.33/ft

905
Star Reloaders / Re: Star Powder Tube Thread Size
« on: February 26, 2008, 03:21:40 pm »
When you say converting over to 7/8 -14 dies, I assume you mean drilling and tapping a tool head to accept standard dies.    It can be done, but there is more involved than you might think.   The end of the sizing die needs to be turned down so it will fit into the recess in the shell plate.  Otherwise you won't get full length sizing.   Once you drill and tap the the seating station for a standard seating die, there isn't much clearance for the seating die because of the powder slide housing and the tool head anchor screw.  On the ones I have done, I have had to reduce the diameter of the top of the die, and also had to shorten it so it would fit under the anchor screw.   You also need to think about where you are going to do your case expanding and flaring.  It's best if you use a Star expander plug and do it in the priming station.  If you don't have one of those, you will have to use an expander die, which probably means expanding in the seating station, and seating in the taper crimp station.....but then you don't have a separate taper crimp station.

I had one tool head that was drilled and tapped for 7/8-14 dies, and I did use it for loading 9mm and 40 S&W for a while, but I sold it once I was able to acquire Star parts.   It took a lot of work to get everything set up and working the way it should.

Richard Daniels, I think the same guy your talking about can also turn down dies to standard Star dimensions, though I don't know if he will work with yours.

You can also buy new Star dies from CH Tool and Die.   They recently completed about 50 sets of dies in various calibers.

906
Star Reloaders / Re: Parts list, drawings
« on: February 20, 2008, 10:59:10 pm »
The sister site to this one has a downloadable pdf of the instruction manual which includes the parts diagram.

http://www.starreloaders.com/

907
Star History / Re: star tooling
« on: February 20, 2008, 10:55:59 pm »
I talked to CH Tool and Die the other day.  They are in the process of finishing up about 50 sets of dies of various calibers.  That is to say a few sets of each of many different calbers.   No Shell Plates, but they mentioned something about someone in Conneticut was going to make some shell plates.   I have no idea who that might be.

908
Star History / Re: star tooling
« on: February 20, 2008, 01:51:43 pm »
I don't think you have to worry.

909
Star Reloaders / Re: star lubricator and resizer parts 101,102,134
« on: February 12, 2008, 11:22:27 am »
Magma Engineering They still make the Star Lubrisizer.   As far as I know, they only sell flat punches for nose first sizing...but they work very well for most bullets.

 http://www.magmaengr.com/

910
Loading Data & Reloading Procedures / Re: powder data
« on: February 09, 2008, 01:08:49 pm »
I prefer to use the original powder slides, but I have found that you can't trust the markings, both because some powders have changed over the years, and because many of the original powder slides have been modified.  I find that Bullseye powder slides always drop .2-.3 grains more than what's marked on the slide.

I have measured the hole size on all of my powder slides and calculated the volume of the hole.  I then look up that volume on the Lee Auto Disk chart to see how much powder of any particular type that slide should drop.  I comes out remarkably close.  http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi-data/instruct/AD2302.pdf

Star powder slides tend to have tapered holes, so I measure the diameter at both the top and bottom of the hole and take the average.   

                                         Hole Diameter               
00 Powder Slide   Top Diameter   Bottom Diameter   Average Diameter   Height   Volume Cu In   Volume CC
231 1.9                    0.205                0.201                   0.203          0.312       0.0101        0.165
BE 2.0                    0.230                  0.224                   0.227         0.312       0.0126        0.207
BE 2.2                    0.243                  0.237                   0.240          0.312       0.0141        0.231
BE 2.3                    0.259                  0.254                   0.257          0.312       0.0161        0.264
BE 2.5                    0.266                  0.260                   0.263          0.312       0.0169        0.278
231 3.1                   0.273                  0.259                   0.266          0.312       0.0173        0.284
BE 2.7                    0.275                  0.270                   0.273          0.312       0.0182        0.298
BE 2.7                    0.274                  0.267                   0.271          0.312       0.0179        0.294
BE 2.8                    0.279                  0.273                   0.276          0.312       0.0187        0.306
BE 2.9                    0.284                  0.278                   0.281          0.312       0.0193        0.317
BE 3.0                    0.290                  0.285                   0.288          0.312       0.0203        0.332
BE 3.2                    0.303                  0.294                   0.299          0.312       0.0218        0.358
700x 2.6                 0.305                  0.298                   0.302          0.312       0.0223        0.365
BE 3.3                    0.306                  0.302                   0.304          0.312       0.0226        0.371
5066 3.1                 0.310                  0.310                   0.310          0.312       0.0235        0.386
BE 3.5                    0.317                  0.311                   0.314          0.312       0.0242        0.396
BE 3.6                    0.320                  0.314                   0.317          0.312       0.0246        0.404
700X 3.2                 0.322                  0.316                   0.319          0.312       0.0249        0.409
BE 3.7                    0.323                  0.316                   0.320          0.312       0.0250        0.410
BE 3.8 (mod.)           0.342                 0.343                   0.343          0.312       0.0287        0.471
BE 4.0                    0.331                  0.325                   0.328          0.312       0.0264        0.432
BE 4.2                    0.332                  0.337                   0.335          0.312       0.0274        0.449
BE 4.4                    0.345                  0.339                   0.342          0.312       0.0287        0.470
BE 4.5                    0.346                  0.342                   0.344          0.312       0.0290        0.475
BE 4.6                    0.352                  0.347                   0.350          0.312       0.0299        0.491
BE 4.7                    0.355                  0.349                   0.352          0.312       0.0304        0.498
700X 3.9                 0.362                  0.356                   0.359          0.312       0.0316        0.518
BE 5.0                    0.365                  0.359                   0.362          0.312       0.0321        0.526
231 6.7                  0.383                  0.379                   0.381          0.312       0.0356        0.583
BE 5.5                    0.391                  0.378                   0.385          0.312       0.0362        0.594
Unique 7.0              0.429                  0.421                   0.425          0.312       0.0443        0.725




911
Star Reloaders / Re: 45 Long Colt
« on: February 04, 2008, 11:52:56 pm »
But seriously,   You need a 45 LC Shell plate,  Or at least a 45 Auto Rim Shell Plate (not ideal but workable)  If you are loading for one of the newer 45 LC guns that uses .452 bullets rather than .454 bullets, you can use the 45 ACP dies, but you will have to modify the expander.   If you raise the 45 ACP expander to where it has to go to expand a 45 LC cartridge, it will interfere with the powder slide.  You will have to cut some of the top off so it doesn't interfere with the powder slide.  I'm not sure if you will still be able to use it for 45 ACP if you make this modification.

As for the Powder Slide... If you use a 00 powder slide, you would need approx. a .470" diameter hole to get a charge of 8.1 grains of Unique... the load I use for 45 LC.  You would need a hole diameter of approx .476" to get a charge of 8.7 grains of Unique.

912
Star Reloaders / Re: 45 Long Colt
« on: February 03, 2008, 10:32:50 pm »
And the Shell Plate

913
Star Reloaders / Re: Auto ejection
« on: January 21, 2008, 10:00:52 pm »
Yes, the Safety Cam pictured is an original Star part.   That particular one was marked 38, but I was able to modify it by making the hook portion a little shorter so a 45 case could clear it.  It works very well.

Yes, technically you could shorten the die, but that would mean cutting off the knurled portion, and also part of the die that is beveled on the inside that helps to guide the case into the die.  I'd prefer to find a solution that didn't require such drastic measures.

Actually, another member made me a case ejecter that works on the same principle as the Star ejector, but without the safety cam.  In both cases, the case coming out of the case feeder actuates a spring wire which becomes loaded while a loaded round is in the taper crimp die, and flings the loaded cartridge out as the taper crimp die clears the case.  If you look closely at my picture, you can see the spring wire. 

914
Star Reloaders / Re: Auto ejection
« on: January 21, 2008, 01:04:26 pm »
Nice concept Ray.   Only problem I see is that some taper crimp dies must be adjusted all the way down to the shell plate to get proper crimp.   I have the same problem with the Star Safety Cam/ejector that I have.  It works fine for Star 45 ACP Taper Crimp dies but interfears with some of the other taper crimp dies that I have.

915
Star Reloaders / Re: safety cam spring
« on: January 21, 2008, 12:25:31 pm »
Kind of hard to describe, but there is a small pin prick of a hole in the base of the loader that is just below and to the right of where the knurled pin is inserted.   Place the point of the spring into that hole, swing the safety cam clockwise and insert the knurled pin.   Of course you can't use the safety cam with a taper crimp die, but you know that.  If you have any problems, I can probably take a picture and post it.