This applies not only to stars but what ever equipment you also may use.
..............The brass was flared and bullet seated square but it still shave lead every time! I replace my 38 spl seater die with a flat stem 45 acp seating die and it STOPPED. My bullets seat straight and no longer shave and my over all length is to within .005 with lead cast bullets.
Sounds like you have solved the lead shaving problem, but thought I would share this.
When loading High-Tek coated bullets (
https://www.brazosprecision.com/9mm-147gr-Flat-PointBevel-BaseNo-Groove-700ct-0066bullet_p_74.html as an example), I started chamfering the inside edge of the case mouths as part of my brass prep. Yes, I know it's a pain in the butt, but it's a one-time thing if you know what cases you have already prepped this way. [And, I had told myself that I would
never chamfer bulk pistol brass. Lied to myself, again.] It does keep from inadvertently scraping through the High-Tek coating when seating or crimping. I separately taper crimp all semi-auto ammo, but roll crimp at the seating station for all revolver ammo. I also flare the cases just a little more when loading coated bullets, in addition to the chamfering.
I think your solution has worked because the body of the caliber specific seating die can remove too much of the flare while pushing the case up the die to seat the bullet. This is not a crimping action, but just squeezing the flare back to near nominal case diameter. I've encountered this even when the seating die is backed off a considerable amount to ensure no crimp is applied. I've thought about trying the next bigger caliber seating die, or having the true seating die reamed out a little bit, but haven't done either. Just went with the inside case mouth chamfering for now. I also realize that seating and crimping at one station can deform the bullet slightly, or shave a little lead. I haven't seen enough of a problem on my revolver ammo to change to a taper crimp, and it's mostly "general blasting" ammo anyway.
I have also tried a Lyman M-Die 9MM expander plug (on my Star) when loading 9's. Never got any happiness using it. The 9MM cases would bulge or buckle in their mid-section (about 85% would do this). Trying the M-Die expander in the original Lyman body on a single stage press got me the same unsatisfactory results. My 9MM M-Die expander plug seems way too long for 9MM bullets, and more appropriate for bullets the length of .38 wadcutters. Maybe I'll try it loading some .38's on the Star. Maybe the Lyman 9MM M-Die had the wrong expander plug in it??
Anyway, thanks for sharing your experience and solution. Keep on cranking 'em out!
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