How to clean Reloading dies

I disassemble and put them in the ultrasonic with parts cleaning solution. One alternative would be to run a patch with Hoppes from your cleaning kit through them.

.40

No clue as I’ve never cleaned them in 60,000 rounds loaded. Clean, lightly lubed (with one shot) pistol brass goes in. I don’t see how they could get dirty enough to hurt anything. I could be wrong.

I guess if you seat and crimp a lot of coated lead bullets the dies could get dirty. I mostly shoot plated/FMJ or hi-tek coated lead bullets.

rifle sizing dies only see cleaned brass lightly lubed with Imperial sizing wax. Haven’t cleaned them either.

Lo tech way is disassemble and clean with paint thinner, charcoal lighter fluid, brake cleaner, or such and bore brushes There are lots of high tech ($$) ways.

Brake Cleaner.

I just use Hoppes with either a cotton swab or a coffee stirrer wrapped in a paper towel. I dislike disassembling my dies once I have them set.

I use rubbing alcohol and a soft brush. They never seem to get to dirty.

jhansman said:

I just use Hoppes with either a cotton swab or a coffee stirrer wrapped in a paper towel. I dislike disassembling my dies once I have them set.

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I do the same, a Q-tip and Hoppes to clean my seating and crimp dies. Lube build up from using lead boolits. Dillon dies have a clip that you pull. Remove the insert, clean and re-assemble.

Bill

Spray them out with Walmart's carb and choke cleaner, then blow dry with compressed air or you can just lay them out to dry.

Hornady one shot cleaner and gun lube. Works great and leaves them with a light coat of protection to prevent rust.

I was on YouTube the other day watching some reloading advice and the guy said that he used a BoreSnake to clean his dies and I thought that was a good idea.

1KPerDay said:

No clue as I’ve never cleaned them in 60,000 rounds loaded. Clean, lightly lubed (with one shot) pistol brass goes in. I don’t see how they could get dirty enough to hurt anything. I could be wrong.

I guess if you seat and crimp a lot of coated lead bullets the dies could get dirty. I mostly shoot plated/FMJ or hi-tek coated lead bullets.

rifle sizing dies only see cleaned brass lightly lubed with Imperial sizing wax. Haven’t cleaned them either.

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Same. I use plain lead handgun bullets with soft lube. A little of the lube gets into the seating die, but it rarely builds up. Every once in a while I will have to wipe some excess lube off of a newly loaded round. So I'm a bit surprised to learn that regularly cleaning dies is a thing.

I wipe mine once in a while with a q-tip, or a pipe cleaner for tight spots, so I don't have to disassemble and lose my settings. Then maybe a shot of Hornady One shot to prevent rust.

chris

Hi...
I generally clean my dies about once a year with GunScrubber and let them dry in the sun. Then wipe them off with an oily tag.

Lately I have decided it makes better sense to just spray them off with Hornady One Shot cleaner and lube,since I have switched to coated lead bullets rather than lubed lead bullets. The dies just don't get gunked up with coated bullets like they sometimes do with lubed bullets.

Reload only clean brass. The only die I use before cleaning is a universal decapper.

The dies will still accumulate some fouling over time. The seater gets some copper jacket shavings that the case mouth scrapes off the bullet. I'm not adjusted for too much neck tension, but after thousands of rounds there is some copper dust. Resizers can also get some case lube build-up. I've used aerosol non-chlorinated brake parts cleaner followed by a fine mist of Rem Oil. A little Hoppes #9 on a patch. Nowadays I'd just spray them with Hornady One Shot (the cleaner, not the case lube), and run a dry patch through them.

Carb cleaner and nylon brush.

Starting fluid. Outside.
The pleasing aroma is half the point.

When build-up is visible, I disassemble them, spray out with brake cleaner, scrub with a brush, brake clean again, and blow out with compressed air. I have dummy rounds made for each die/step, so I can reassemble to the same settings.

Skeptic13 said:

I use rubbing alcohol and a soft brush. They never seem to get to dirty.

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I agree 100%. That is how I have done it for the past 35 years, or so.....time gets a little blurry after the first 25 years.

I'm also in the camp of taking the dies apart and generously spraying with carb cleaner. That removes all dirt and grime quite nicely...

Bayou52

Carb cleaner or alcohol

entropy said:

Brake Cleaner.

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Ditto

Brake cleaner, or about any common gun cleaner, then a very light coat of oil.

Cleaning reloading dies...what's that?

Like several have already mentioned, I use Hoppe's and clean the die pretty much like a gun. Other than cleaning out the vent hole on bottleneck dies, I haven't found dies to need a lot of maintenance. Still, I try and make sure to give them a cleaning each decade.