Messages

1

Star History / Re: Star Price History

« on: October 09, 2006, 05:44:44 pm »

Found the other two parts list/diagram manuals I have. They are undated and unpriced however there is a price list dated April 1, 1981 with them. The price is as follows:

Universal Reloader $1110.00
Extra tool head $425.00 (with Carbide dies and shell plate)
Set of Carbide dies $185.00

This matches your info already posted.

2

Star History / Re: Star Price History

« on: October 09, 2006, 04:42:18 pm »

They are both Star dated price lists. I have both the March 1 and December 1, 1968 price lists and the March is the same price as your March price list. I also have January 1, 1952 and July 22, 1963 price lists but they do not include complete loaders. The tool heads were $34.50 with dies and shell plate (not carbide) in the 1952 list and $60.00 in 1963. A carbide die tool head with shell plate was $77.50 in 1963. I have a few more catalogs but I will have to locate them. I believe I have them filed away with other loader instruction manuals. I do not remember them being dated but I have not looked at them in some time so I guess I should find them.

3

Star History / Re: Star Price History

« on: October 09, 2006, 04:22:44 pm »

Dec 1, 1968           $ 262.50   (with carbide sizing die option)
July 15, 1970           $ 287.50   (with carbide sizing die option)

4

Star Reloaders / Re: How do you tell a Star from a copy?

« on: September 08, 2006, 09:04:39 am »

Below the Powder Slide Housing was a ~7/8" unthreaded hole for mounting a standard powder measure.? ?I have a Berdon tool head, and it came with a 1/2" cast iron powder slide housing.

I also have a head with all of the features above. It has a lathe turned flange and is not bump ground* like the Star. Phelps heads are also bump ground. It does not say Berdon but it is also blue, just like the Star. It has never been on a press. I took the powder slide off this morning looking for a name and there was still factory grease under the powder slide!


*Bump Grinding is done by placing the tool head on an arbor between centers and bumping the side of the grinding wheel up against the flange of the tool head. The arbor is OD ground to run perfectly true so the ID of the part (tool head) ends up perfectly square with the flange that is bump ground. That is what gives the flange on a Star head the crosshatch pattern. Thickness and squareness can easily be held to .0002 but .0005 is more common. I broke into the machining world as a "bump grinder". It is now becoming a lost art.

5

Star History / Re: New member

« 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...

6

Star History / Re: New member

« 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.

7

Star History / Re: New member

« 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.

8

Star Reloaders / Re: The Perfect Progressive

« on: December 29, 2005, 11:57:15 am »

Ken: Sorry you didn't like the RL1000. Sounds like I like mine as much as you disliked yours. They do have bugs in them and it took me 100's and 100's of rounds to to get them to operate flawlessly. I am a retired machinest and mould/machine designer. Working bugs out of production machinery is what I do best. I guess I'm somewhat of a collector of progressive reloading equipment too, although I didn't set out to do so. At the present I have 3 Star Universals (with 5 extra toolheads in various calibers), 2 Dillon RL1000s (one extra toolhead), 1 Hornady Projector, 1 RCBS Ammomaster, 5 RCBS Piggybacks, 1 CH Autochamp MK IV and a Cougar & Hunter Micro Pistol Master. I would love to find a Star Rifle machine for a good price. A friend has both the Star Rifle machine (he says they made 36 of them) and a Star inline!! I'm afraid to ask him what he wants for them.

As far as ease of operation goes, I do believe the Star is probably the easiest progressive out there to set up and operate. There just isn't much to go wrong. Even with the Hulme case feeder and Brewster indexer (which all of mine have), set up correctly, they run flawlessly. Like an old Ford tractor, they just keep going and going.

9

Star Reloaders / Re: The Perfect Progressive

« on: December 28, 2005, 09:40:56 pm »

One other thought.? Mike Dillon's first machine, the RL 1000, was his answer to your suggestion.? Didn't sell well.? Almost drove him into bankruptcy.

If you haven't, examine a Dillon RL1000 (not the RL1050 economy version). Its possibly the best mass produced hand operated reloader ever built(also was the most expensive). At $3200 each 25 years ago you can see that he might have had a limited market. Even at that, I know one guy that has 13 of them and another that has 35 of them!! I am lucky enough to own two with a lot of extra parts. RL1000s have been coming up on Ebay but they generally don't get bids over $700-$800. I guess everybody thinks the RL1050 is an improved RL1000. It is if your main goal is to build a top machine a cheaply as possible. The RL1000 was built with the best of everything. It was just too expencive to produce and only about 1100 of them were ever made. Still, if you like the Star (and I think we all do), you will love the RL1000 cause its just a big Star!

10

Star Reloaders / Re: Powder Bar Chart

« on: December 28, 2005, 08:54:06 pm »

I have a CPM 00 charge bar with interchangeable bushings and some of the bushings are close to the sizes you list. They are:

No. 8 (about .275) Bullseye=4.4? Unique=4.5? 231=5.3? 2400=NR? 4227=NR
No.11(about .302)? ? ?"? ? ? ? 5.2? ? ? "? ? ? ?5.4? ?"? ? ?6.4? ? ?"? ? ?NR? ? ?"? ? ?7.5
No.12(about .214)? ? ?"? ? ? ? NR? ? ? ?"? ? ? ?5.8? ?"? ? ?6.7? ? ?"? ? ?7.9? ? "? ? ?8.0
No.13(about .327)? ? ?"? ? ? ? NR? ? ? ?"? ? ? ?6.5? ?"? ? ?7.6? ? ?"? ? ?8.7? ? "? ? ?8.8

This may give you some idea of what your bars will throw. There used to be a CPM chart on this site with the photos and I'm sure it will be there as soon as the photos are up and running again. The chart is a little incomplete as they don't list Bullseye charges any higher than the 5.2 grain charge for the no. 11 bushing and thats about my starting load for the 45acp with many bullets!!


UPDATE

Oops! I told you wrong. This is for a 00 measure with a .1875 riser. The total thickness of the bushing is .500 inch. You would have to multiply these charges by .625 to get close to a 00 bar. This is assuming your bars are .3125 thick.