Lube sizer advice, anyone use a magma?

[musketnut]

I am looking to buy a lube sizer and was curious if anyone has any advice on which works best and why. I was looking at the magma star with heated base, if anyone has used one of these I would love to hear about your experience with it.

Thank you,

Jim

[hawkeye2]

Lyman and RCBS dies and punches are interchangeable with each other and some sutlers make custom size dies for them. I believe the Magma is all by itself and with no one making aftermarket dies for them.

[bobanderson]

I am looking to buy a lube sizer and was curious if anyone has any advice on which works best and why. I was looking at the magma star with heated base, if anyone has used one of these I would love to hear about your experience with it.

Thank you,

Jim

The Starr sizer, sold by Magma Industries, is a high quality, two stage sizer and lube pump. I think it's strong point is the push through design. The bullets go nose first so no deformations on the nose. The dies also can be tailored so the lube ports can be aligned with the lube grooves in your bullet. If you have a lathe you can make your own dies. I used mine when I shot Black Powder Cartridge Silhouette. I made the dies to fit the long, heavy bullets necessary to shoot tight groups on those 500 meter rams. Great tool, but pricy. If you're a tinkerer, you'll love it.

Most skirmishers use push through dies, which leads some to think they aren't all that concerned about accuracy. I disagree. It's an uncomplicated approach, sufficient to the task. They are also easy on the wallet.

My every day Lubrisizer is a Lyman 450. Easy, precise and works great with the light lube I make.

[Kevin Tinny]

Hello, Jim, on lubrisizers:

I have used Star lubrisizers for a long time. They are well made and efficient, IF:
The sizing die sizes the specific metal TO the desired diameter.
The lube holes in the die align well with the lube grooves in the bullet.
Seems aligning multi lube grooves of minie's is tricky for me with Star's.
Single lube groove bullets are easier.

Lately, even with supplied samples in a specific alloy such as 20:1 or even pure lead, Magma often sends a die that is off up to a thousandth. I know how to measure; sorry.
Sometimes nothing I do will align the bullet lube grooves.
I spent more time fiddling and having oozing lube issues.

For MINIE'S, I prefer a 7/8" X 14tpi threaded die and a square faced plunger that is .001" smaller. The round tip plungers are apt to cock a minie.
Sizing dry vs. lightly lubed can change OD a few tenths.

To save time, I order dies in sets of three, one .001" under, one at the OD, and one .001" over desired OD. Yep, I have lots of them.
I size pure lead minie's with a very light coating of the shooting lube and then dip them for full lube when seated in the soft tubes.

If you go w a Star, skip the heater. It won't matter with our relatively soft lubes.

Hope this helps, Jim.
VR/ Kevin

[Rob FreemanWBR]

Hands down RCBS - great equipment and very generous return/exchange policies.

The heated baseplate isn't needed for the lube that skirmishers typically use.

They aren't cheap, but I am. If you look around on eBay, local gun shows, estate sales, etc you can find them at greatly reduced prices.

Once you get one and set it all up, you'll wonder how you got by without one before.

Some, like myself, get a lube-sizer for each piece and set each up specifically to suit the particular ball - thus making beautiful, consistent ammunition with very little effort.



My two cents, results may vary...

[rcbloom2]

Lyman and RCBS dies and punches are interchangeable with each other and some sutlers make custom size dies for them. I believe the Magma is all by itself and with no one making aftermarket dies for them.

Magma will make you any size die you desire so it really does not matter if anyone else is making dies.

[rcbloom2]

I have 3 of them. Nothing else comes close.



I am looking to buy a lube sizer and was curious if anyone has any advice on which works best and why. I was looking at the magma star with heated base, if anyone has used one of these I would love to hear about your experience with it.

Thank you,

Jim

[Kevin Tinny]

Hello, RC:

I use Star's for square/flat based bullets. All fine w those.

Have you used your Star's to both size and lube hollow base 58 caliber diameter minie bullets, please?

Tx. Kevin Tinny