Scratched cases, Need advice on a fix for my dies.

[mikenbarb]

Yep, I will admit to it. I missed a couple dirty cases and ran them thru my dies and im sure you know the rest:o. To what extent is a die set considered junk? Their a set of Lyman carbide 38/357's and fairly new and sick to think their junk and gotta be replaced. They have a few minor scratches on the inside thats scratching my cases a little but not gouging them. I didnt try to clean them up yet and going to later with some 3M scotch brite or real fine wet paper. Got any other ideas for fixing the stupid mistake I made? Thanks in advance.

[Loader9]

I had a set of carbide RCBS that got scratched from military brass. I hate nickel brass and this was nickel. I sent the dies to RCBS with a few cases and they sent me new dies. Might wanna call the Lyman folks and get their take on what to do.

[mikenbarb]

I ran some fine blue scotchbrite thru them and it got better but not perfect. Im going to try some wet paper and see what happens. I dont want to remove any material because it will mess up the sizing.

[FM12]

Maybe try wrapping some 00 steel wool around a bore brush that's a little under sized. Use at a slow speed with a VSR drill?

That's what I'd do.

[wncchester]

"Their a set of Lyman carbide 38/357's and fairly new and sick to think their junk and gotta be replaced. They have a few minor scratches on the inside thats scratching my cases a little "

No, you haven't scratched carbide sizer. That's the good news, bad news is you do have some bits of brass on it that are making the scratches. More good news is that you can remove those bits pretty easy and without damage to the die.

Fact is, carbide is so hard it can only be cut or polished with diamond paste, so you cannot possibly enlarge the sizer ring by spinning steel wool or even better, emery paper in it. That is about the best/fastest way to remove the surface defects you are seeing.

Not only is carbide hard, it's slick, that's why we can size cases without lube. But, we can't run dry, slick brass over the dry, slick carbide suface without consequences. Such dry metal-to-metal contact under the pressure of sizing causes bit of the softer brass to cling to the harder tungston carbide sizer ring. That torn away metal is called galling, the tiny bits are effectively wielded in place and that's what's scratching your cases.

Clean your sizer as you suggest or with a split 3/8" dowel, wrapped with 400 or so grit carbide paper from Walmart's auto paint section, in a drill untill the specs are gone.

Then lube maybe one in ten or fifteen of your cases in the future to prevent a recurrance.

[mikenbarb]

wncchester, You da man, Thanks and it worked great!:D:D I went up and ran some fine emery paper thru them thru a split Bic pen tube(making sure all plastic was covered) and it worked excellent removing all the brass fouling and will remember this for the future. Its another learning experience I can thank TFL members for helping me with. Thanks again everyone, Mike