Cleaning new Hornady dies of factory grease?

[ny32182]

I see in the manual that comes with my new "Hornady custom grade new dimension" dies, it says that factory grease must be cleaned out prior to use.

I assume I can just unscrew/remove the internals, and then clean all the parts? What cleaner should I be using for this, just normal Hoppes? They should be dry of cleaner or any other lube or liquid before reassembly, I assume?

 

[Shoney]

Acetone is the best organic cleaner, available in most paint departments.

More convenient would be a spray can of non-ammonia brake cleaner, from the automotive department.

In either case, do the cleaning outdoors.

 

[ny32182]

Is there some particular reason to not use Hoppes? The current iteration of it is ammonia free, right? (I think... and all my Hoppes is new.)

 

[ClarkEMyers]

Personally I degrease by boiling in dishwashing soap. Dishwashing soap is forumulated to rinse clean and boiling water evaporates nicely with no harm to the environment or to my liver. Otherwise I like soak in Dawn and a toothbrush. I used to like the smell of Hoppes but in those days it still had benzene in it - worked better too. Sadly anything strong enough to help is strong enough to hurt.

 

[tasco 74]

i've had the same little jar of hoppes #9 for a little over 20 years (i don't get to shoot enough) should i get a new one ? i always oil my guns from time to time anyhow... is the ammonia in hoppes something i should worry about? as for cleaning dies i'm thinking brake clean might be the best way to get dies clean...

 

[Shoney]

Hoppes is for cleaning gunpowder residue and lead/copper alloys from weapons. How many rounds do you suppose were fired thru your new dies?

Use an organic solvent to remove tough coating of oil/greese. The crack of Dawn sounds good too.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Cleaning dies...

Don't wish to be argumentative here, but IMX, Hoppe's and other gun cleaning solvents are good for removing cruddy, dirty lube from firearm workin's, as well as powder residue, fouling, etc, etc.

Unless we're dealing here with some REALLY tough, caked, dried, grease, or 50-yr-old cosmoline or some such, I'd expect any gun cleaning solvent to make short work of it. New factory grease on a brand-new die should be easy.

I would not bother to use acetone nor brake cleaner nor any other toxic chemicals until after I'd tried the lesser cleaners and they had failed. Just no need.

Gun cleaning solvent works fine for me to remove bullet lube from my seating/crimping die. Use whatever is to hand: Hoppe's, Butch's, anything similar.

 

[strat81]

Hoppes, Breakfree, Remoil, acetone, brake cleaner, or soapy water should work.

Whatever you use, give your dies a *VERY LIGHT* coating of Breakfree (or similar) to keep them from rusting. I usually spray some CLP on a rag and just give the dies a good wipe.