[marchboom]

I have several recently found die sets that have light rust on them. No pitting yet. I am thinking about putting them in my tumbler until the rust is gone. Does anyone else have any other ideas?

Thanks

[W.E.G.]

Rust on the outside does no harm.

Bronze wool wrapped around a bore brush and chucked in a hand drill to buff the inside of the dies.

[GearHead_1]

Wire wheel on a bench grinder or dremel no matter, will make the outside of a rusty die look brand new.

[The Bushmaster]

Oh well...I can see I'm not needed here. the above two posters already covered it just fine...Just inspect the inside of the die to insure they are not pitted...

[ReloaderFred]

I've run several sets of dies through the tumbler to thoroughly clean them up. Just completely disassemble them and do one set at a time, so they won't bump against each other and get dings on the outsides.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Chief-7700]

Ditto to what Fred said.
Chief-7700

[Lariatbob]

spray them all over with a good quality gun lube after cleaning. wipe them off. helps keep the rust from forming in the first place. WD 40 works ok, but as long as you've got spray cleaner/lube in your gun stuff, might as well use it....

[mallc]

0000 steel wool and a little laquer thinner does the trick. You can twist the steel wool into a rope and pull it through the inside of the dies.

Wire wheel screw threads if needed; but be careful as wire-wheeling can easily remove annodizing and brite plating.

I finish with Hoppes gun oil applied with a finger and a Q-tip for the inside - don't over do it.

Hope this helps.
Scott

[marchboom]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I disassembled a set of dies and put them into my vibratory tumbler, with new corn cob media, and let it run for 10 hrs. Turned out great. I will definitely keep a closer eye on them in the future.

[ReloaderFred]

I"m glad it worked out for you. That's the way I clean dies that I buy used that need a little TLC. Just be sure to clean them out inside to remove any corn cob dust before you size any brass in them. And if you use spray lube on your brass, be sure to spray the inside of the sizing die after you clean it, or you'll end up with a stuck case.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Sport45]

I don't worry about rust on the outside. In a Houston garage it seems unavoidable. I spray the insides of the die with silicone lube and wrap in a shop towel before storing the complete 550b toolhead in an ammo can. I've left a couple Dillon powder funnels (expanders) out and they pitted. Not really a problem since the pits don't seem to affect their function. It's the high areas that do the work.

[Clark]

Maybe it is a hangover from my solar home-organic garden days, but I have a thing against Lacquer thinner, oven cleaner, bug spray, and burning treated wood.

Keep it away from my gun stuff.

[Deavis]

GEM lightly applied with a q-tip, never deal with it again. Keep away from internals.