Star Lubrisizer for BPCR bullets

Almost three years ago an article of mine titled, Pan Lubing Bullets My Way, was published in the July 2018 edition of this magazine. Pan lubing is fast and works great with most BPCR bullets but may not work well with bullets with wide shallow grooves. Depending on the groove dimensions, type and consistency of the lube, the lube may have a tendency to roll out of the grooves as the bullet is being “punched” out of the lube cake. For those bullets I’ve been using a SAECO lube sizer (aka lubrisizer) which is rather slow but gets the job done. To speed up the process I decided to purchase a Star and use it for only lubing since I shoot bullets as cast. The Star has a great reputation for quickly and efficiently sizing and lubing cast bullets, but I was not prepared to spend well over $300 for a new unit knowing that the necessary dies and accessories would likely cost as much as the Star. At the time I was fortunate to find a used Star for less than half the price of a new one. After cleaning it up it appears to be in close to like new condition. See Figure 1. Although it works quite well and is fast when sizing and lubing most cast bullets for handguns and rifles it has some limitations and negatives when using it to lube BPCR bullets. But first a few comments on how it functions.

Dies are purchased for the caliber, desired sizing diameter and lube groove spacing. The bullets are pushed through the die nose first with a flat end punch. Depending on the bullet diameter (caliber), a punch is required for each caliber. The punch is adjusted for each bullet length and groove locations. Once everything is setup for a specific bullet, sizing and lubing is fast. The bullet is inserted nose first into the die. Using the lever the punch is lowered, pushing the bullet into the die. The lever is then fully compressed, activating the lube pump and forcing lube through the die holes into the lube grooves. The driving bands and base band act as a seal preventing the lube from leaking on to the nose and past the base band. The process is then repeated with the next bullet which pushes the preceding bullet out the bottom of the die.

The Star works great with the style of bullets pictured in Figure 2 - conventional bullet with nose diameters the same size as the driving bands or with nose-riding bullets that have a full-size driving band forward of the 1st groove and with all the driving bands the same diameter.

The Star does not work well with the type of bullets displayed in Figure 3. These bullets have reduced diameter forward driving bands or have a lube groove prior to the 1st driving band. It will certainly lube them but the reduced driving bands or lack of a forward driving band does not prevent the lube from squeezing out on to the nose, resulting in a messy lubed bullet. Since the nose diameter of nose-riding bullets is less than the driving band diameter the nose cannot act as a seal.

For “problem” bullets with shallow lube grooves I will continue to use a SAECO lubrizizer and either use the Star or pan lube the others. By the way, there are a couple of advantages to using a lubrisizer, whether it’s a Star, SAECO, RCBS or Lyman brand. Lubrisizers work with relatively small quantities of lube whereas pan lubing requires a large quantity of lube to form the lube cake. Once set up, lubrisizers may also be faster for lubing small quantities of bullets.

Wishing you great shooting,

Wayne