Heard great things about the Star, and good about the RCB and Lyman

any experienced based recommendations

I've got multiple cals (45, 44, 40, 357, 9mm) and probably only shoot 2-1,500 of each a year.


I'm also guessing I need to slug the barrels before I start buying lube / size dies -

The Star is the Cadillac of luber/sizers, but the RCBS and Lyman are excellent too. Go with the Star if you can afford it, or close your eyes and pick one of the other two.

This is my original Lachmiller lube sizer. RCBS bought them out years ago and never changed much guess they were that good,and they are.Probably lubed thousands of bullets since the mid 70's and it finally gave up the ghost.Called RCBS and they replaced all internal parts free so now we're back in biz.The new model is their Lube-a-matic and wears green paint but internally identical to mine.These as with lyman are hard to beat in this price range and will give you years of service.

The Star needs its own special sizing dies which are a good bit more expensive than the RCBS and Lyman sizing dies. The RCBS and Lyman sizers both can interchange each other's sizing dies.

Star is indeed the Cadillac of loaders but you will pay Cadillac prices for it. I've been using an RCBS lubrisizer for 36 years now with no complaints.

To say the star is a cadillac misses the features that it offers. The advantage of the star is that it pushes the bullet through from the base, and is significantly faster than an rcbs or lyman. Add a feed tube and pneumatic lube feeder and you'll be able to size bullets 3-4 times faster than an rcbs/lyman. It's like comparing a progressive press to a single stage. If you want to lube size 1000 bullets in an evening, the star is hands down the way to go.

The advantage to the rcbs/lyman is that it is much less expensive, and used sizer dies are easy to find so it's less expensive if you size many different sizes of bullets.

The star also pushes from the bottom of the bullet vs. the others the nose so I think the RCBS is the way to go based on the Warranty, and if a guy wants to do gas checks

star is a good one.

the weak point on the lymans is the threaded nut you use to hold the sizer die in. You strip those threads on the sizer and unless you have a friend with a lathe you're resigned to buying an NEW one.

ask me how I know this...

The Star isn't very flexible for multiple moulds or calibers and its downfall is anything longish and especially heat treated.

I find it is more of a specialized contraption.

The nice thing about the RCBS is that it can be modified to do multiple bullets when they are pre-lubed and can also push bullets from the base.

I imagine the Lyman can do the same as well, but they don't appear as durable for the heat-treated big stuff.

Should note the Star collects dust (its also broken) and I run two LAM II's....

How much of a pain in the butt is the handle to put pressure on the lube?

For the price of 2 you could have bought the star model

For two LAM II's (one set up with steel top punches as a cup, the liftout plug as a punch, sizing nose first) you can avoid a Star.

You don't even need the liftout plug to size flat nose pistol bullets.....

not hard at all

I have both the Star and the RCBS.

I prefer the Star for large quantity sizing as it is very fast. It seats gas checks just fine and you can get any size die you want, with as many lube holes in it as you want. It sizes hard cast bullets without a problem. I do use a little spray lube to start but after it is up to temperature and running it works without any problems. The air attachment for the lube feed is flawless as is the bullet feeder setup. Yes they are expensive but it suits my needs. You can contact Magma Engineering today and talk to knowlegable friendly people that will ship any part you need.

I use the RCBS with SPG lube for my black powder cast bullets and it does the job.

I Started with a Lyman 45 years ago and it worked well until it could no longer be repaired. The dies on the other hand are still working fine.

I have not tried the Saeco but I would imagine that it would work also.

I have used the Lee brand push through type and they worked although they are for the liquid alox lube which I have moved away from.

As a side note, some molds will cast bullets that do not require sizing. In this case you can try the Pan Lube method. This was discussed in detail on the BPR thread.

Good luck! John

It's either going to be a RCBS or Star, just not sure which one yet.

It's the Star which makes me smile.

I have had the Lyman for years and have gotten good service out of it. If it ever fails and can not be repaired, I will look seriously at the Star. Magma makes some nice stuff! Lightman

I have a RCBS + Lyman. I have a friend who has a star + it is MUCH faster. I will buy one at some point due to its speed of use. I keep putting it off though due to the volume + cost of all my sizing dies + top punches purchased over the last 40+ years. For someone starting,get the star.