Complete Newbie--scratched full length resizer die????

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bantam9

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I've have a RCBS rock chucker press for believe it or not over 15 yrs and never set it up before last week. Finally set it up, and after extensive reading started to move ahead.
I tumbled 150 pcs .308 Win once shot brass--after cleaning them off, hit them with a shot of Hornaday One shot lube. I let lube dry, and proceeded to cylce some through a RCBS full length resizer. Not really knowing the "feel" of the press I continued for about 20 pcs of brass. Inspecting each casing as i went, all seemed fine. I guess I got cocky, and proceeded to resize a set of 50(obviously not having inspected as close as I thought I had).

Tonight I thought I'd knock out a few more. As I was resizing the very first case tonight, it felt like something was caught on the case as I was bringing the case out of the dye. Upon inspetion I noticed a scratch on the casing. Not terribly deep, but enough that your fingernail can detect it. Looking inside the case i can see a streak where i presume is the trouble spot. I'm guessing dirt of some sort got in there, because I went back through the first 50 I did, and can see right where I started to get a light scratch.

Without a pic, would anyone guess the status of the very lightly scratched cases? Should they be pitched?? What would to deep of a scrtch be?? Is the dye now compromised and presumed scrap??
 
I mostly use collets that resize the necks only but also full length resize. I've personaly not known unpolished brass with light surface scratches to be a problem (i.e. they start looking frosted). It's if the case get's a scratch deep enough to be a "score", then I would worry about the case splitting. I'll be 44 in April and have handloaded since I was 10. My pet loads through the years will put bullets in the same hole at 100 yards and I have blown a pronghorn's heart in half at just under a quarter of a mile, exactly what I was aiming to accomplish. I really do not see a light scratch a liability.

Cheers,
Royce
 
Are your cases brass or nickle. Sometimes nickle will gall on the die and create scratches.

Its also possible to polish out the inside of the die with very fine wet/dry sandpaper like 600 or 800 grit. DO NOT OVERDO THIS. Just enough to polish out the galling.

I had this happen with a steel die and nickle .38 spec. cases. I polished it out and it worked fine for 100's of rounds till I stumbled into a box of reloading misc. at a gun show for $5.00. Among other goodies there was 2 sets of carbide dies for .38 spec/.357 mag.
 
The cases are all brass, and I would say a couple are probably what one might consider "scored". When I look in the die, it's hard to believe that such a small imperfection could cause this scratching?????
What a way to start off
 
Steel dies are easy to restore when they start scratching. Varmint Al has a section on this on his website.

Here is the quote from his page:

POLISH THE DIES.... I polish the inside of my rifle reloading dies. Most die manufacturers leave the die bores smooth but not polished. A polished die will resize with much less axial force than one in the as-received condition. I disassemble them and put a little Flitz on a cotton bore mop held in a drill motor and polish each one for 30 seconds or more at a 300 to 600 rpm speed. Sometimes I have to wrap a paper towel around the swab to get a good fit. Then I clean all the polish out with hot water and dry with a paper towel wrapped around a clean cotton swab. The polishing process does not remove a measurable amount of material, but results in smoother operation, minimizes the scratching or scoring of the brass, and minimizes crumpling problems when I use them while forming wildcat brass.



Flitz is slightly more aggressive than JB. I took a piece of mild steel with a reasonably smooth finish and polished it with Flitz and JB. The left end was polished for about 2 minutes at 500 rpm with Flitz and the right end for about 2 minutes with JB. There is no detectable decrease in the diameter on either end measured with my high-precision Mitutoyo Micrometer. It was a very easy test. Try it for yourself.

And here's the link: http://www.varmintal.com/arelo.htm#Polish

Don't worry, you haven't ruined the die, and unless the scratch is really deep, the brass isn't ruined. Tumbling will usually remove any grit that will cause scratching, too.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
I've restored a couple dozen steel dies for myself and friends using Varmint Al's advice. One friend had three .223 sizing dies he was going to throw away, and it only took me about half an hour to restore all three of them. He's been using them ever since.

Some dies I'll polish when I first get them, but on others I'll wait until they start scratching. I particularly like Flitz for this job, but J-B also works, just not as fast.

Just be sure to completely clean and degrease the die before you polish it.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
The spot started with dirt or dust on the case, as more cases were run into the die, it kept building up to the point it scrached the brass. It's just a spot of galled brass stuck in the die.
You can use an exacto knife to scrape the large part loos, then use a GOOD copper remover to remove it.
Wrap a patch around a /5 bore brush, and saturate it with the copper remover, and run it with a drill.
Borg
ETA Don't forget to wipe the dust off your cases.
 
And I use a paper towel on a dowel to clean the inside of the die. FIRST.



F. Guffey
 
As others have noted, the die itself is not scratched.

What you have is brass galling from insufficient case lube on one or more cases.

The little chunk of brass tears off the case and becomes "welded" to the steel die. It then scratches all the rest of the cases run through the die from then on.

Just polish it out and all will be fine again.

I generally use a flap of 600 grit black paper on a slit dowel rod in a drill.

Die bodies are very hard and the fine grit paper will quickly remove the galled brass but won't hurt the die in the least.

rc
 
As others have noted, the die itself is not scratched.

What you have is brass galling from insufficient case lube on one or more cases.
Click to expand...

This is what happens when using "one shot" case lube. You're lucky you didn't get a case stuck in the die, if you don't stop using it, you WILL.

One shot is a wax suspended in a solvent. If you don't get a complete coating all around the case, then you have the potential to get that case stuck in the die, or to stick a chunk of brass to the die surface like you did.

Then, anything you use to stand the cases up to spray, gets an ugly coating of white garbage on it. I have a couple of loading blocks that I used when experimenting with it. I keep them to remind me to never be tempted to ever use it again. Also, if you use a loading block that is fairly deep where it holds the cases, the one shot can't coat the base of the case, where it's most important to have lube.

I was working for a gunshop that was Hornady direct. The boss gave me a can of that crap to try out. After dismal results. I took the remainder back to him, said "here you use it, I'll pull the stuck case out of your dies when it happens to you.
 
snuffy,
I do have RCBS lube to use with the RCBS roll on pad. Would this be a better option?? I liked the idea of the spray, but if this is what it gets me--heck with it. What's a better alternative??
 
I'm going to try to find some Flitz today
Click to expand...
You are going to be Flitzing a long time before you get it to remove galled brass from inside a die body!

Try the 600 grit Wet & Dry paper on a dowel rod and drill.

rc
 
On the contrary, it only takes about two to three minutes using Flitz to polish a steel die. I've done over a dozen of them and it works very well.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
RCBS Case Lube II works very well bantam9. I use it. I also use Imperial Sizing Die Wax for tougher jobs and times where I need to just wipe off the lube, load, and go.
 
On the contrary, it only takes about two to three minutes using Flitz to polish a steel die. I've done over a dozen of them and it works very well.
Click to expand...

+1. Lots of other things work well too.

I run my range pickups through EGW U-Dies before use and recently noticed some scratches on loaded rounds. The problem turned out to be from the Dillon sizing die which although was serving no real purpose other than keeping all stations full, was still installed in the press.

Bottom line, popped it out and had some JB BORE BRIGHT sitting out so used it instead of digging out the Flitz. Put a little oil & JB on a patch, chucked the right size dowel rod in a cordless drill and buffed it out a few minutes. Cleaned up the residue, popped it back in and its slicker than the day it was made.
 
Actually went with a split dowel and very fine steel wool in the cordless drill. After several minutes I can't see the galling any longer. Looks like a lesson was learned here. I think I'll go with the RCBS lube + pad. Thank you all!!!!!!!
 
Imperial Sizing Die Wax is all I use these days. I would stay away from those spray lubes. I also dip each mouth in white motor mica, then clean it off with a little brush when resizing rifle cartridges in steel dies.
 
Plus 1 for Imperial Sizing die wax. I've experimented with all kinds of slick stuff from dish soap to spray teflon, and always end up back at Imperial.

Only kind I happen to like as well is Mink Oil for boot waterproffing. It contains lanolin which is probably why it works.
 
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