usmc0811
Member
Hello all, like the title says I am cleaning and removing surface rust from my reloading dies. I currently keep all of my reloading stuff out in the shed where I reload since I do not have any spare room in the house at the time. I have been reloading out there for several years now with not too much of a concern just a little surface rust here and there. However this past summer has been extra wet and humid and they are looking worse and I decided I need to do something before they get ruined. So after several searches online to see how others have done so with their cleaning of dies I decided to give it a shot. There were all sorts of recommendations to try but this is what I did. First I took them apart and coated all the external and interior surfaces with 3 in 1 oil I had in the shed. I then scrubbed them with a nylon brush and hit the trouble spots with a green chore-boy pad. Then to remove all the oils from the dies I lathered them up with hand soap and scrubbed them again with the nylon brush under water to remove the soap and oil. Now this next step I dont know if it was needed or a good idea but this is what I did, I placed all the components in a thing of boiling water to heat up the steel and then after several minutes removed them, patted dry with a towel and ran a paper towel through the inside to get the excess drops of water out and then allowed the hot steel to evaporate any remaining moisture that I might have missed or couldn't reach with the paper towels. Good/bad idea? I dont know but that is what I did. I continued this process with all of my reloading dies (.40cal. .38/.357 .40cal. .380acp .45acp .9mm 30/30 and resizing dies). They all look 100% better and shine like brand new. It took a long time and my back is killing me from standing at my kitchen sink for the duration, but I am glad I did, well worth it. Now I think I am going to keep my dies in the house in ammo cans with them Silica Gel Desiccant Packet to keep things good to go. Any advice, feedback is welcomed. Thanks for reading have a great day.