SOme might argue that but I've done both for a heck of a long time and hopefully I have enough dies I will never have to pan lube again. There's no comparing the ease and simplicity of a sizer/luber to pan lubing. A few months ago I ordered a custom sizing die from Buffalo Arms and now I don't HAVE to pan lube anything. I've pan lubed a bunch of bullets and, I only had one left I HAD to pan lube. BP lube is soft enough I've never had any difficulties. I only have to do that in the dead of winter, like this morning when I lubed some 9mm rifle bullets. I've thought about adding one of the heaters but if I set a propane heater in front of my smokeless sizer/luber for about 5-10 minutes, it works fine. You will have a mess and you may ask how I know.as if it needs explained. You do not melt it and pour it into the reservoir. The same can be done with smokeless lubes, I've just never done it. I make my own BP lube and sort of spoon it into the sizer reservoir. With mine you can seat gas checks in the same operation. I've never seen or used a Starr sizer so maybe it is necessary with them, I don't know. If you adjust your stem so it stops only as deep as you need to get lube in all the grooves, the rod of the die blocks the other holes. I've read about that but of the 100 or so different kinds of bullets I've sized it's never been necessary. With my sizers I have never had to plug any of the holes with shot. Some of my dies have 3 rows of holes, some 2 and some have them 180 degrees apart and others 90 degrees apart. Neither of mine are difficult to adjust.they're like everything else in handloading, you fiddle with them a little till you get it right. They all work in the manner howlin' described. Lyman and RCBS dies are interchangeable, Starr is proprietary. When I got my lathe I stopped buying top punches, I can make the for next to nothing and get it right now. I think Lyman's current tool is the 490 and, is completely different from the old 49.Īll take separate dies for each caliber and top punches to match and center the nose of the bullet which helps center it in the die. It can be done and I suspect once is enough for anyone. There is no end of grief in cleaning out a sizer/luber. If you shoot both powders and need to size/lube both kinds of bullets, two are about a necessity. I keep the Lyman filled with smokeless lube and the RCBS is filled with BP lube. I have two, an old Lyman 49 and the RCBS Lub-A-Matic. Wow.howlin' has the Cadillac of sizers!! Good stuff for sure! They don't lube but for just sizing, inexpensive and easy to set up. Honestly, if I had to buy one, it would probably be the Lee. You can just size and then pan lube or powder coat and then size. Every now and then you give a little turn to the tee handle to keep pressure on the lube stick. It's a pain to get set up, but once it is, it's so easy to use. After the punch has reached the bottom of its stroke an extra little push on the handle injects the lube. You then adjust the punch up and down until you get the bullet to stop with the grooves lined up with the lube holes. The lower row is plugged with a piece of lead shot for lubing single groove bullets, you push the shot out for 2 groove bullets. It also has two rows of holes for bullets with two lube grooves. The die goes in and a set screw holds it. As far as parts to it mine only requires a sizing die and the punch and pushes the bullet down through the die so the punch has to match the bullet profile. I do not have a heater but I hear that it does make the lube flow easier. Mine is an antique but still works great. The dies and top punches were too danged expensive and gave me no advantage over the RCBS unit.While pan lubing is about the simplest way to lube, lubesizers can be a lot less effort. I had a Cramer (early SAECO/Redding) and got rid of it. I own four sizers, 2 Stars, a Lachmiller (early RCBS) and an RCBS. That being said, it's a fine machine and fun to use but it has not practical advantage over the RCBS. The reason being is that dies are no easy to come by, the damn machine is expensive and its handle does not give you much leverage. Now, so far we have not mentioned the Redding/SAECO. The Lyman machine is ok but it's not as sturdy as the RCBS and tends to leak lube at the base. All Lyman dies will interchange and the dies are easy to find and relatively cheap. Now, that being said, for the casual sizer, the guy who does bullets in lots of 150-200 and changes calibers a lot, the next best choice is RCBS. Sizing nose first is a much better way to do things. There simply is none faster nor more accurate. If you are doing a huge volume and you want speed, then a Star is the way to go.
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