Cleaning Dies

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AgentAdam

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My carbide dies get a little dirty since i don't clean or lube my once fired cases and i was wondering if i should run a bore brush with carb cleaner and then oil them from time to time. My seater dies also get allot of wax buildup around the bullet plunger and im afraid the wax will fill the whole die after 500-1000 rounds and start to seat the bullets deeper.

The only thing i dislike would be having to reset the decapping pin and bullet seating plunger settings each time.
 
Start cleaning your brass. It's necessary or you'll end up with scratched dies. Tumblers aren't expensive.
"...wax build up..." That's cast bullet lube. Clean your dies with the same solvent and tools you use for your firearm. No brush or oiling though. Not required. Sometimes you'll have to scrape out the lube. A bit of wood or plastic will do nicely.
 
I agree. You should tumble your brass even with carbide dies. Any die can be scratched.

To answer your question, clean your dies like your barrel. Run some Hoppes in it, swab it out, then a light coat of gun oil. Hopefully you pollished them when you got them. If not hoppes, rubbing alchol will work. Metals need to be seasoned with oils so make sure it's cleaned and lubed.
 
I will start tumbling ,especially on the cases 2nd time around but i figured 500 rounds of once fired WWB wouldn't hurt since they brag in the manual about how they need no cleaning or lubing of the cases on the carbide dies. I did tumble them for a minute in an old t-shirt rocking them back and forth.

How do you polish with rubbing alcohol ? Perhaps run an alcohol soaked cotton bore patch on a cleaning rod threw the dies. Should i do this up and down or circular and by hand or with a drill?
 
"...Metals need to be seasoned with oils..." Don't be daft! Reloading dies do not need to be seasoned. Cast iron frying pans and pots need seasoning, but not any reloading kit. Geezuz!
Rubbing alcohol doesn't polish anything. Neither does rocking in an old shirt.
Evidently, money is an issue? S'ok. It is for everybody. You don't have to buy any reloading kit new. And a tumbler can be made, if you have the time and skills. The media(crushed corn cobs or walnut shells) can be had in a pet supply shop, cheap. It's sold as small animal bedding. A big bag runs less than$20.
Plan 'B' is a liquid. Not Brasso or anything with ammonia in it. Ammonia is bad for brass. Midway sells a gallon of liquid case cleaner for $29.99. A quart does 2,000 cases. Soak, rinse and dry. The cases on a cookie sheet in an over set on the lowest setting for 15 minutes or so will be dry. Don't touch 'em right out of the oven. Used a liquid myself long ago. Works just fine.
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=623467
A new tumbler from Midway starts at $50. Midway isn't the least expensive supplier though. Hit some gun shows and talk to other shooters.
Most reloading kit makers stand behind their stuff. Period. RCBS for one, will fix any issues with their products even if you do buy used or you caused the damage. No questions asked other than your mailing address.
 
You don't polish with rubbing alcohol, use Fritz polish and a cotton shotgun swab. Only takes a minute or so with a hand drill.

Daft, hmmm. Don't season metals... Ok Sunray, stop using oils and see what happens. One of my hobbies is forging and irregardless of the hardness of a metal, if you don't keep it lubed (seasoned) it will rust and bind. Your obviously thinking of seasoning pots for cooking. They are very porous and need this. What do you thing cold/hot blueing does? But I guess stainless is too hard to accept the chemical... Or I guess you don't 'season' a brand new barrel either...
 
If i polished them i would use mothers, but i don't think that is needed right now as they are brand new.
 
O K gentlemen...Ease up a bit...For the record I have never oiled the inside of any of my dies. The only lube I use is for rifle cases and when I clean my dies it's usually with a clean dry rag. I completely disasemble the die and wipe it clean and reassemble. You probably do not need to oil the inside of the die. I don't and I have been loading for over 20 years with the same dies. I do wipe the outside of the die with an oily rag as I live in a humid climate.

Some [porous] metals do need "seasoning" in that they do need some oil to enter the pores of the metal, but not carbide loading dies...

It is highly recommended that you tumble, or otherwise, clean your cases before you resize/decap them.
 
I clean my dies after every loading session using Q-tips and Rem oil. It only takes a minute or so.

As far as the re-sizing die.......I take a paper towel and fold it many times. Put the Q-tip inside the folded paper towel and flatten the head with a hammer. This way the dirt from the floor and hammer does not get on the Q-tip. You might need to experiment a bit as you can't beat the crap out of the Q-tip as the head will break up.

This process avoids disassembly of the die.
 
I don't clean my dies that often. If I check them and see that they've got buildup on the inside, I take them down to the garage and I hose them out with gun scrubber or brake cleaner. Then I'll usually wipe them down with LPS or RemOil before I put them away. Let's not overcomplicate this.
 
since they brag in the manual about how they need no cleaning or lubing of the cases on the carbide dies.

Methinks you need to re read that 'manual'..I"ve never seen a die set that said you don't need to clean the brass.Heck,just wiping them all down with a rag is better than nothing.
 
My first die set is over 20 years old. I cleaned them once, when I got them. I tumble my brass and never run a dirty case through my dies.
 
+1

I disassemble & clean my dies once a decade or so, whether they need it or not!

Packed bullet lube in seating dies can be cleaned out with a wooden stick.

I keep a 1/2" nylon bristle brush hanging up over the press and run it through my sizing & depriming dies occasionally to knock out the crap that collects in them.

A light spritz of Rem-Oil or WD-40, or something, then wiped off for long-term storage.

rcmodel
 
I clean my dies every 500 rnds or so, they may not need to be, but I find some caked up lube in my FL dies and I feel better knowing they are clean. The neck sizers and mandrels inside get brass powder build up once in a while, so I wipe them down with a dry and clean rag. I use one-shot for FL sizing .223, and I will relube that die again.
 
I Keep my brass clean, and occasionally ****** out the dies...but they have never given me trouble.

"irregardless" is not a word.

"Ir" and "less" are both negatives.

:)
 
I tumble clean my brass every time, but still have to clean the seating die occasionally due to bullet lube interfering with seating depth. Every once in a great while, I'll clean out the sizing die.

And now we have an English teacher present...Oh wonderful...
Click to expand...

Do you have so much reloading knowledge, that you have no room left for grammar?

Andy
 
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