Hard down stroke?

[Swarfmonger]

Hello,
          I am new to this forum and for that matter new to Star reloaders and I have a question: how hard is the typical downstroke pressure on these presses. I tried loading my first 50 rounds on my recently acquired Universal in .45 ACP and all went well with the exeption that I thought the downstroke required a lot more pressure than I had envisioned! I would say it took at LEAST double the pressure to cycle than my Dillon XL650 loading the same cartridge. I tried messing with the expander adjustment to no avail. Is this typical of these presses of are there other things I should be looking at? Any and all thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
                                     Thanks,
                                           Dave

[Hugh Tyer]

Dave
My experience is that that the greatest point of friction is the sizeing die. Do you have a carbide sizeing die? If not you may have to lube the cases or acquire a carbide die.
Hugh 

[rbwillnj]

There are a number of things that can contribute to need to use excessive force to cycle a Star, and they can all be additive.   The first thing to do is to check for any binding when the machine has no rounds in it.   You should only be able to feel the force of the spring until you get to the last bit of travel when you will also feel the force of the primer punch spring.   If you feel any binding, you need to find out where it is and fix it.   Common areas are the dowel pin, and the primer mechanism.

After you are sure that there is no binding with no ammo in the machine, then checking each station by itself.

Also, if you are using new brass, it can be a lot harder to size the first time.   I find new Star Line brass very hard to size the first time, but after the first time, no problem.

[rangedog]

Yes, I have had the same experience with Starline new brass.
From memory, their website acknowledges this and offers to modify the expander die to suit their brass....but the problem is solved after the brass is once fired so I never saw the need.

[Swarfmonger]

Thanks for the replys.I think have figured out what the problem is: the crimp die. When I first got the press the crimp was set a little on the light side of what I have been taught so I adjusted to the desired .468 and when backed off to .472 it feels pretty good! Are these dies known for wearing out? It is unmarked. The carbide sizing die is marked "perfection" I don't believe the seat and crimp dies came from the same set as the sizing die is blued and the other 2 are in the white. Any thoughts?

                                                   Dave

[fc60]

Greetings,

Perfection is the only sizing die that I have seen blued. The Lifetyme sizing die was flash chrome plated. The remainder of the dies are their natural color after being heat treated.

Cheers,

Dave

[rbwillnj]

Swarfmonger

It sounds like you are crimping a 45 ACP in the seating station.   If so, you really should buy one of fc60's taper crimp dies and crimp in the crimping station.   Then you can get the crimp you want without the extra force, and without creating a bulge in the case.

[Swarfmonger]

No, it's set up like yours with the separate crimp die in the final station. Its really strange to me the huge difference in pressure going from .472 to .468 ! I don't know if the die is worn or not. Do you have the contact info for the gentleman who is making new ones? What is he charging for them?

Thanks,
Dave

[askimball (Doc)]

He is 'fc60' on this Forum (David Wilson)

He DOES FANTASTIC PROFESSIONAL WORK  

I'm Attaching a Picture of his Dies compared to Star Dies.......

Bottom row are his dies, last die on the right is a Taper Crimp Die.....

He also at one time made a stemmed Taper Crimp Die (3/8" Shaft)..

[rbwillnj]

Actually that is one of Daves taper crimp dies on the machine pictured above.

Have you looked inside the taper crimp die.  I have had a couple of original Star taper crimp dies that have a ridge in them that catches the edge of the case.   I don't know if the ridge was a product of wear or if it was there to begin with.   I replaced them with Daves dies.