D.B. Cooper
Member
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2016
- Messages
- 4,396
Going through stuff in my garage...boxes of reloading stuff I shipped up 5 years ago. Stuff that sat in a humid garage for 15 years or more.
Inside I found a 2-die set of Hornady New Dimension Custom Grade dies for 243. (I used to compete in high-power with that rifle, now I hunt caribou with it.)
The dies have some light to heavy rust. I can tell that, at some point in my life, I hit these things hard with a wire wheel brush side of a bench grinder to pull all of the rust off. External of the dies are all rust free. Inside of the bullet seat die has some light rust. The sizing/de-capping die has been bead blasted on the outside, and the inside is bright and smooth. (At some point in the past, I had a stuck case and shipped it back to Hornady, they must have refurbished it while it was there.) The de-capping pin is the worst piece; it's quite rusty, especially on the threads.
These are $35 at Graf n Sons, and I'm about to put in a big order there anyway. (Would probably buy the Lee deluxe set at $45 - not sure why)
Should I save myself $35-45 and try to salvage these, or just walk away from them. $45 isn't exactly a lot of money to me these days, but it represents a box of projectiles, a pound of powder, or a case of primers.
Inside I found a 2-die set of Hornady New Dimension Custom Grade dies for 243. (I used to compete in high-power with that rifle, now I hunt caribou with it.)
The dies have some light to heavy rust. I can tell that, at some point in my life, I hit these things hard with a wire wheel brush side of a bench grinder to pull all of the rust off. External of the dies are all rust free. Inside of the bullet seat die has some light rust. The sizing/de-capping die has been bead blasted on the outside, and the inside is bright and smooth. (At some point in the past, I had a stuck case and shipped it back to Hornady, they must have refurbished it while it was there.) The de-capping pin is the worst piece; it's quite rusty, especially on the threads.
These are $35 at Graf n Sons, and I'm about to put in a big order there anyway. (Would probably buy the Lee deluxe set at $45 - not sure why)
Should I save myself $35-45 and try to salvage these, or just walk away from them. $45 isn't exactly a lot of money to me these days, but it represents a box of projectiles, a pound of powder, or a case of primers.