Tell me if this is a good deal on three Star Progressive presses.

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El Rojo

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I am getting ready to start my FFL. Well in our little sleepy town my partner has a lot of contacts and he says a guy is interested in unloading his three Star Progressive reloaders (.357, .38, and .45) on us. He says he will trade all three for a .17 HMR. I just looked on eBay and it looked like a guy easily got $600 for just parting out a Star Progressive press. I am thinking this is going to be a heck of a deal, can anyone confirm it for me? Thanks for your help and no I am not going to give anyone his number. :evil:
 
While I'm not a big fan of the Star Reloader, since the technology has been surpassed by the newer progressives, that is one hell of a deal on three of them. You could make your money back by just selling one of them.

I have four of the Star Lubrisizers, and wouldn't trade them for the world. If he has any of those, you should grab those up, too. The average price on a Star luber on ebay is around $135, more if they are in great condition, or have any sizing dies with them.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
El Rojo,

I retired from Kern County in 1995, but I lived at the other end, in Kernville. Good luck with your new business. Used to patrol Elk Hills at night for extra pay when it was still the Naval Petroleum Reserve, before Clinton sold it to his chronies.

Sheldon,

There used to be a reloading shop in La Puente in the early 1960's, called Alexander's Reloading. You could go in there and rent his loading presses by the hour and take your coffee can and buy powder in bulk. Old Alex was a real curmudgeon, but he helped get me started in reloading in 1963. The shop is long gone and old Alex probably is, too.

Fred
 
El Rojo:

Good luck with the new business. I have heard good things about the Star reloaders, though have not used any & only seen one.

Supposedly, the Dillon 1050 is the up-to-date version of the star & it goes for in excess of $1000 new.
 
Star Reloader Mentor

I was the top Star Dealer in the 70's and their Reloader Reconditioning Center and Star referred customers to me. I Also sold Fitz Pistol Grips, California Saeco Match Winning molds and C-H tools.

I still have about ten thousand dollars in Star parts available that I am selling off due to my age.

I have a 2002 web site for Star owners to assist each other and many I sold them Stars back in the 70's so they are highly experienced. There is no current presses matching the Star materials and quality.
 
Paul I get the feeling like you think it is a conflict of interest to post your website. I don't think it is. Post a link for me! I appreciate any info you can give me. If you still don't think it is appropriate send me an e-mail or PM.
 
Star Machines

El Rojo, I have loaded with a Star progressive for 25 years in .38, .41, .44, and .45. I feel they are the best. Paul Jones is a fair and honest man and knows the Star machine as anyone, I guess. Check the condition and for abuse of the machine it will serve you well.
Oscar
 
Star Reloader Help

I am the retired top 1970's dealer for Star reloaders and formed a web site for Star owners in 2002 that raised the value of Stars from the web site and my self and highly experienced Star owners available to help many I sold Stars to in the 70's.

Any Star owner can join the list and ask for help and have their questions answered.

Send me pictures of your Star and I can tell you about it and I regularly answer questions about Stars appearing at auctions as my eyes are very experienced having reconditioned hundreds of Stars making them as new with Star supplied paint and even Star Decals for the ones I personally reconditioned.

Due to my age of 70 and poor health I am selling my personal Star tools collection and thousands of original new parts with a half dozen new heads, powder slides, small parts, new clear heavy duty powder reservoir tubes, sets of 6 clear 3 foot hulme case feeding tubes, Hulme top plates, Brewster indexers, clear primer pick up tubes and many other parts.

I have really enjoyed the Star reloader that is said to be very overengineered and of extremely better quality than any reloader produced today. Many reloaders have copied Star reloader features but not Star accuracy and smoothness of machining..

The Star was first produced in 1931 and patented in 1933 and is the reloader that coined the word "Progressive".

The Star while produced was always the most expensive Reloader and thousands are still in use by top competitors and professional people who could afford the best reloader ever made.

The Star can be passed down for generations in a family with only several primer feeding parts every 300,000 rounds being needed with extreme cleanliness being needed to reach a life of 3 million rounds.

Email me for an invitation to my star list for Star owners and competitors who would like to be Star owners.

It is worthwhile to search and read our extensive list archives.

Paul Jones [email protected]
 
Not meaning to dime in way past the drop dead date, but if you need to off one of the Stars to make up for the 17 the guy wanted, let me know, I'd be glad to purchase one from you. I learned to reload on a Star, and have a Universal and a Lubrisizer amongst my many presses. I used to frequent the Star factory in San Diego, when I was stationed at 32nd Street.
If you would like to be shut of one, please let me know. If not, I think the fellow in Pioneer is still doing overhauls. If you want/need the number for him, I have it, email me.
 
Star

The Star was introduced in the late 20's. Designed by Ellord Mott, it was a downsized copy of the Winchester reloading tools of the 1890's. Star's have been known to withstand 50 years of heavy use with little or no problems. Though they have been replaced by newer models, the quality of their construction and their life expectancy have never been equalled. A fair price for a used Star in excellent condition is $450 though you quite frequently see people asking for more.

The last year or so that Star was "in production" was after Ellord had died. Up until his death he assembled every single one of them. After his death quality virtually disappeared. Though there is a current owner of the firm, his workmanship is, well, VERY unfortunate.

Star made several models. The non-Universal could only load 38 Special or 357 Magnum. Nothing else. They aren't all that desirable. A Universal could load just about any pistol cartridge. Those run $450. Though most were made with Star's only unique kind of dies, some do use a slightly modified 7/8x14. Then there is a Star pistol/223 machine. Rarely encountered those are worth FAR more. And there is a rifle only machine. $1500 would be about right for one of those but they are so rare I've only ever seen one. The Army made Star make those for use by the Cambodians. The rarest Star of all is a straightline. The only one I ever saw Ellord Mott gave me.

So three machine for $600 is a no brainer. A better progressive has never been made. Cheaper ones, yes. Very good ones, yes. But better, never.
 
I will be selling out my Stars and parts all Mint

I have three of my own reconditioned Stars in .38 and .45 caliber. From when I reconditioned Stars in the 1970's I no longer need dozens of new reloader operating handles, hundreds of brass primer pick up tubes, brass primer magazines, a half dozen new heads, a new set of .30carbine caliber changeover dies and shell plate. A hundred new powder slides, new Star catalogs, copies of all Star printed material, Star luber dies, Hulme case feeder top plates. While they last.

All the members of my helpful Lists have obtained the original parts they desire so I plan on listing everything remaining on ebay til they are gone.

I am too old to continue holding onto all this original mint material.
 
This is a teaser. I have the three presses and am going back up to the shop to clean them up and take pictures. Any help you guys can give me identifying the machines and making sure I get my descriptions right would be highly appreciated. I plan on eBaying them possibly tomorrow afternoon. Look for my post in an hour or so.

An hour or so later: I have the pictures. I am going to type out an eBay description and then post that along with the pictures. If you guys could let me know if I have anything wrong, I would appreciate it. Thanks.
 
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OK, here is what I have. Critique me please.

Star Progressive Universal Reloader 9 44 45 *dillon lee

You are bidding on a Star progressive universal reloading machine complete with 9mm, .44 Special, and .45 ACP tool heads, dies, and other goodies (All parts are in Picture 9). I removed this reloader myself from a die hard reloader’s reloading room. It has been well taken care of and he claims to have reloaded thousands of rounds with it. I have never owned a Star reloader (but I have a Dillon), but I am going to try my hardest to describe it the best I can. Feel free to ask any questions and I will answer them as soon as possible.

1st: This is a Star progressive universal reloading machine (Pictures 1-4). Already installed on the machine is the .45 ACP tool head complete with sizer/deprimer, seating die, crimp die, and shell plate. Also on the press is an adjustable grain powder measure and OO powder housing. The machine will come with three plastic brass feeding tubes and a small and a large pistol primer pick up tube. Not pictured but added is the Safety Cam assembly that I once had removed (it is #5 in Picture 6). However, the Safety Cam Stop Pin (Part #43) is still missing but can be replaced with by a 1/8 drill bit. Note that the distinguishing factor between the original progressive press and the universal press is that the universal press has the Shell Plate Locating Strap (Part #79U) for securing the different caliber tool heads. You can clearly see Part #79U in Picture 5. http://www.starreloaders.com/faqs/faqs.html

2nd: Included is also a .44 Special tool head complete with sizer/deprimer, seating die, and shell plate (Picture 6). It also has an additional spring attached to it.

3rd: Additionally you get one more tool head with a 9mm sizer/deprimer, seating die, crimp die, and shell plate (Picture 7).

4th: You will also get some extra parts to go along with this machine. Please look at Picture 8 with the parts on it and I will reference them by number. 1) Primer slide; I don’t know if this one is large or small, I would assume it is the opposite of what is already on the machine so it is probably the small version. 2) Small primer seating punch. 3) 3 grain powder measure head. 4) 9mm cartridge feed block. 5) Safety cam. 6) Machine tool.

This press is being sold as is with no returns or refunds. As you are probably well aware, Star Manufacturing is out of business so there is no technical support and no more part orders. However, there are still parts floating around on the Internet and eBay and from my understanding these are quality presses that rarely break and are well worth the money. From what little I have researched, Star progressives are universally praised for their consistency and reliability. When comparing this to my Dillon it looks like it is a quality reloader. Go to the http://www.starreloaders.com/ website for more information. That is where I receive my information from.

You pay actual shipping from Taft, CA 93268. California residents please add 7.25% sales tax. You have 3 days to contact me after auction’s end and 10 days for me to receive payment. Pay with Pay Pal and I will ship the press as soon as the payment is received. You can also pay with a money order (it saves me Pay Pal fees).

If you have any questions at all, please ask. I will post responses to all questions on the auction site. These are my first sales under my new business so I will do my utmost to keep my feedback spotless. If you need further reference check my feedback for elrojo14. Thanks for looking and happy bidding. Don’t forget to check my other auctions for other Star Reloaders and your other shooting needs.
 

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