Scratched Sizing Die

[therealsteamer]

A few days ago, as I was working through a batch of brass I ran a nickel plated case through my Lee carbide sizing/depriming die. I had yet to deburr it as I have usually done. This caused some burrs inside the base of the die that are leaving light to heavy scratches on most cases (depends on the case manufacturer)

I took the die apart and cleaned it with a oversized bore brush and Ed's Red. After a load of scrubbing, the small deposits of brass just around the inside of the base were gone and I continued to size my cases. The first few dozen had light scratches on them, but they rapidly dininished to the point that there were no marks left on my cases at all. When the "tub o' brass" was done I had about a dozen nickel cases left on the table and decided to deburr them and run 'em through...

BIG MISTAKE!!

The I could tell by the first one that I had screwed up my die again. (I have just thrown out ALL nickel cases) I tried to reclean the die as before with less than spectacular results. I put the brush in the chuck of my drill. It seemed to help some. In the end I have just run a few dozen brass casings through and they are all getting scratched.

Is there a better way to repair this or what?

(I do retumble most of my cases after sizing and use a lee factory crimp/size die as my final step)

 

[The Bushmaster]

You must have a pretty soft sizing die...I've been resizing/decapping thousands of Nickle cases and have yet burred my die. And I don't deburr/campher the nickle cases until I check them for length or after a trimming. Most of my die sets are 20 years old...Next time you feel the need to throw away your nickle cases...Let me know....

 

[therealsteamer]

This die set is probably 2 1/2 years old and has seen more than a few thousand rounds. Although the nickel plated cases have been less than 5%. I started deburring the nickel cases before sizing to avoid just this.

IF this is not the cause, then what could it be? I was running out nice smooth cases before this happened.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Do you tumble (clean) your cases prior to resizing them? If you do. I haven't got a clue except to contact the manufacturer and ask why your die set is being scratched by nickle cases...

 

[mete]

Nickel is far softer than the die [unless the die is defective] It is dirt ,especially sand that is very abrasive. Always clean your brass before sizing. BTW sand will wear out a carbide die also !!!

 

[therealsteamer]

I tumble ALL my brass in a corn cob/ walnut mix before sizing. I am rather confused on this as well. The carbide should be able to withstand WAY more than what I have put it through.

 

[loadedround]

Why not contact the manufacturer? They may repair or replace it at no charge. Reloading manufacturers are very good to their customers.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Get ahold of the manufacturer....

 

[bakert]

Are you sure the sizing ring isn't cracked on your die? Otherwise I'd guess grit of some kind on the cases. I don't tumble my cases all the time but do wipe them off good. I've never had a problem with thousands of nickel cases.

 

[realbuffdriver]

Steamer,

Same exact thing happened to me. I had resized several thousand brass cases with my Lee carbide die with no problems. I began to work nickel cases and problems began almost immediately--exactly as you describe.

I was unable to clean or polish the carbide die. I sent it back to Lee and they replaced it at no charge.

It was a valuable lesson learned for me. It's just not worth it (to me, anyway) to use those nickel cases. They represent less than 5% of my cases, and I have plenty of good brass ones.

Good luck!

RealBuffDriver

 

[FJC]

I used a Lee sizing die for many years, and never had that issue. I even used to buy range brass, sort/clean/resize and sell it on ebay, and ran probably 20,000 9mm cases through my carbide die and never saw that happen, including hundreds and hundreds of nickel cases.

Very odd!

 

[Ol` Joe]

I don`t know for sure about Lee but most carbide sizers have the carbide "ring" crimped in at the base of the die. I suspect a bit of nickel flake or grit has been lodged in the area between the button and the die body. You won`t scratch a carbide ring with nickel or anyother case material. The stuff is harder then . The other post suggesting a chip or crack has some merit too.

 

[therealsteamer]

The odd thing is that there are about 25 or 30 very small spots around the interior of the die. These are about 1/8th of an inch just inside the die and are somewhat evenly spaced around the interior. Each one looks like a small spot of brass and leaves a very definable scratch on the cases.

They are not so much scratches within the die, but spots that are causing scratches on the cases..

 

[The Bushmaster]

Call the manufacturer.....

 

[therealsteamer]

Last Monday I sent it to Lee for them to look at...Today I recieved a brand new carbide die in the mail... Not bad as far as I'm concerned...

 

[Steve C]

You really didn't scratch your die as carbide is much harder than any nickle. What happens, esp with nickle plated cases is small bits of nickle flake off and adhere to the die. This is what's causing the scratches or it could be other contamination but its most likely the nickle. If you use a light amount of case lube when sizing nickle plated brass you can prevent most if not all case scratches. The small bits of brass you so diligently scrubbed off the inside of the base wouldn't cause the scratches since they don't usually contact the case as its being resized but accumulation on the inside of the carbide insert do cause scratches and these deposits are very small. At times I've used extra fine steel wool wrapped around a bore brush and chucked in a drill to remove deposits from the sizing ring. Steel is harder than nickle and brass but not as hard as carbide.

 

[benedict1]

Hardness Scales--See Attachment

Check the diagram--Tungsten carbide die material is ususlly well above nitrided steels in hardness. Nickel, copper, brass, etc. can' touch it! Nor can grit from the range floor where brass falls, unless you are shooting on a range with diamond dust on the floor! The only way it can be machined is with diamond cutting wheels/tools.

Also note why Glock barrels are so sturdy--they are nitrided steel--so how could lead or copper ever wear one out? Never!

NOTE: CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

 

[Ol` Joe]

Also note why Glock barrels are so sturdy--they are nitrided steel--so how could lead or copper ever wear one out? Never

I don`t think the copper or lead bullet wears out any barrel. The ~5000 F flame temp and sand blast of burning powder does it for them.

Barrels usually show the wear at the throat. The metal heat checks and flakes until you have a rough, uneven surface. Varmit shooters are known to cut back the chamber area of their worn barels and re chamber to restore accuracy in their rifles. This removes the throat area that is worn and they are once again shooting down the same old undamaged tube from that point on.

I`m not saying a million bullets ran down a tube won`t wear on it, just that the barrel is shot in the throat well before the bore has any notable wear.

 

[benedict1]

I was only referring to Tenifer treated Glock barrels. Iron Nitride(FeN) is almost impervious to wear. Glock has one test barrel with over 300,000 rounds showing no wear. Rumor has it they have another with nearly 1,000,000 rounds. Same deal. Rockwell Hardness >40 for these barrels. See

http://tinyurl.com/gavuw

for discussion of process.

Heat treated SS barrels, Rockwell hardness RC~40-42 are pretty danged tough too.

Clearly, other milde, steel barrel materials will wear faster.