Well, I finished a partial restoration and, although it could still be cleaned up a bit more, it's back together, and it's working. Reloaded about 100 rounds on Friday. Shot them on Sunday at the range. OAL was 1.255. 33 of the rounds wouldn't fully chamber. My RIA 1911A1 wouldn't go into battery. Sunday and today I reset the seating die to give me an OAL of 1.234. Reseated and re-crimped those 33 and reloaded another 49 rounds. Ran them all through a Dillon 45 ACP case gauge. Successfully dropped a random sample into the RIA's barrel. Will shoot them tomorrow.
>>tony barone wrote "I would contact Star Machine Works as
>>I understand he does restoration work on Star Machines. "
I emailed Star and got a quote of $250 to restore the machine.
I couldn't afford $250, so I did it myself. All the parts were hand de-rusted with a wet 3M scrubby and Bar Tender's Friend cleaner, wire brushed with a Dremel tool, then baked to dry them. The small parts were treated in a boiling lye & zinc oxide solution to neutralize the rust. Those small parts were blackened by that treatment. Although some of the big parts still show rust, all the parts have all been baked after treatment with Amsoil Metal Protector so the surface rust is gone (hopefully never to return). I wanted it to look new, but I was anxious to get reloading. I settled on function vs pretty.
My first time reloading ANYTHING and it was fun & easy after I got it calibrated. Sweet machine!
Still open to any suggestions from you masters.
