Did I just ruin my Lee .380 sizing die with nickel brass?

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I've reloaded probably 4K .380 rounds with zero issues, including about 10% nickel plated brass with no problems. Yesterday I was reloading a batch and one case took about double the usual effort to size and made a kind of grunching noise. I usually give handgun brass a few spritzes of One Shot (the only thing it's good for, IMO) and it does reduce sizing effort considerably.

Anyway, after sizing I had a look a the brass and it had tons of tiny scratches everywhere the sizing ring touched. I can't figure out why it all of a sudden started scratching cases. Is it possible that ONE nickel case could do that much damage? I'd sized hundreds of nickel cases before this one. I don't get it.

Speer gold dot case. far left is the un-scratched round I completed just before the nickel one in question, then the nickel, then the two brass ones following.

I removed the decapping pin and had a look and it appears the sizing ring was either scratched or a bunch of brass/nickel debris had embedded itself into it. I cleaned it with some solvent then snapped the pic without gloves.
I then wrapped a bit of cloth around the top of the decapping pin, chucked it in my drill, and used some chrome/metal polish to attempt to buff out the scratches. It seems to have helped considerably.

Anyway, I found this very weird. Ideas/comments?

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If that's a carbide die ring, which it appears to be all the brass/dirt and whatever else has built up there needs to be scraped and polished off.
 
I've had a carbide ring end up with surface stress cracks in years past. This can happen to carbide if over stressed. If it does not clean past I just have the mfg warranty the die. I have used nothing but nickle plated brass in my 357mag for 35+ years and never a problem. If the carbide is damage with nickel plate the dies are not worth the weight in scrap metal.
 
Take some 400 and 600 grit emory cloth and polish out the built up material.

If you do not clean the cases before resizing, you might consider it. A light spritzing of lubricant on the nickel cases can help as well.

With debris build up, once it starts, it usually gets worse if it is not polished out.

Hope this helps.
 
If that wasn't a brand X die I would tell you to call RCBS. Since it is, follow Chuck's instructions with the 400 & 600 grit paper, except I would use either very light oil or water with dish soap. The lubricant carries away the dirt, so you don't imbed it in the die again.
 
Those carbide dies are extremely hard and would be nearly impossible to scratch. But, something I had happen with a 9mm carbide is fracturing one. If you stress them by over camming them against the shell holder, they will crack / fracture, the carbide sizing ring is hard and brittle. And unlike standard steel dies, I can't see how anything could embed into carbide, around it yes, definitely not into the surface though. They might look like scratches, but I'll bet those are fractures.

Do you cam off the shell holder when adjusting the sizing die? Many carbide dies come with specific instruction to not let them make hard contact with the shell holder as you do with standard sizing die, for this very reason.

GS
 
It's neither fractures nor debris embedded into the carbide, which is practically impossible. It's brass buildup on the surface of the carbide insert, which needs to be removed.

I normally use some Flitz on a tight fitting swatch of T-shirt material wrapped around an arbor, which I've chucked into a cordless drill. It takes about 2 to 3 minutes to buff the material off the carbide, and the process also works on steel dies. After buffing with the Flitz "mop", remove all polishing residue from the inside of the die, or the residue itself will also cause very fine scratching.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
ReloaderFred has the answer. It is brass galling inside the die. I will polish my dies (especially carbide) every so often to stop this from happening. Much easier to do when you see a bit of brass in the carbide insert than wait until when it tears up some brass first. That type of inspection is one of the things I do before screwing in the die EVERY time I use it. I have purchased a couple die sets that the owners thought were ruined and cleaned them with a combo of 600 grit emery and polish so that they are now fine to use. Both were regular dies, not carbide BTW. The regular dies are really hard also. YMMV
 
I would hit that die again with a good copper solvent. Needs to be spotless like new...
 
Yep, polish it out, you can hurt the carbide, at least not without great effort.
 
Okay I'll try some copper solvent and polish again. Die barely kisses the ram. You can't cam over an LCT FYI. Thanks gents.
 
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If that wasn't a brand X die I would tell you to call RCBS. Since it is, follow Chuck's instructions with the 400 & 600 grit paper, except I would use either very light oil or water with dish soap. The lubricant carries away the dirt, so you don't imbed it in the die again.
Click to expand...


Its not a no name Brand X its a Lee. They have a great reputation for taking care of customers too.
 
Rule3 said:
Thank you!. Brand L has taken care of me on several occasions, as good as the Brand D and R.
Click to expand...

I own an awful lot of Brand L. I have had a few items I didnt care for, but overwhelmingly I have had great experiences. I have reloaded many thousands of rounds at a very low cost because of it. I have upgraded to a blue press, but I still have two red ones bolted to the bench and they still see lots of use, always will. I only use the blue one of my 38 bullseye loads because I shoot so many of them.
 
Being as it's a Lee brand has nothing to do with the galling of material to the inside of the die. This can and does happen with any brand.

Simple solution, Polish it out with emery cloth, or wet/dry sandpaper.
 
And once you get it cleaned out?
A little spritz of spray case lube will stop all this foolishness from ever happening again.

And I'm talking just a little spritz on every hundred cases.
Spray them in a mixing bowl or something, stir them around by hand, and you are good to go.

As for cleaned cases being too clean?
Yes, they can be, especially when using liquid cleaning methods.
That takes everything off, down to bare metal.

Powder smoke stain on brass is carbon.
In very simple terms, carbon is graphite.
And graphite is a lube used in locks, smokeless powder, and many other things.

When you remove all traces of everything by washing it off?
There is nothing left on the cases to prevent galling in the sizing die if you don't re-lube with a little something.

rc
 
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Their was a thread the other day about it scratching. Mine does it now and again, I can't remember which die though. I have 20 times the trouble with 380 than i do with 9mm. Im going to try another brand of dies next time. Sorry that probably didnt help you much.


Edit: Well now that Ive taken time to actually READ the thread, I think mine may need a good polishin'. Thanks gents.
 
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ReloaderFred said:
It's neither fractures nor debris embedded into the carbide, which is practically impossible. It's brass buildup on the surface of the carbide insert, which needs to be removed.

I normally use some Flitz on a tight fitting swatch of T-shirt material wrapped around an arbor, which I've chucked into a cordless drill. It takes about 2 to 3 minutes to buff the material off the carbide, and the process also works on steel dies. After buffing with the Flitz "mop", remove all polishing residue from the inside of the die, or the residue itself will also cause very fine scratching.

Hope this helps.

Fred
Click to expand...
Where could a man find some of this Flitz in my town? Is that a Wal Mart, Home Depot type thing I guess?
 
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