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Old November 21, 2013, 12:29 PM   #1
Swampman1
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Resizing die leaving marks

Just noticed lately my Hornady 223 resizing die is starting to leave light scaring on the case necks. Thought it might be dirty, so I took it apart and cleaned it, but still does the same. Any ideas?
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Old November 21, 2013, 12:58 PM   #2
243winxb
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Was the brass cleaned before sizing? Carbon left on the brass neck may scratch the die. Dies are not as hard is we think.
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Old November 21, 2013, 01:10 PM   #3
Swampman1
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Yeah this batch was definately clean, although there were times in the past where that may not have been the case. Bottom line, if this is perminate, is there harm in continuing to use it?
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Old November 21, 2013, 01:34 PM   #4
Metal god
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Tagged , I don't have the problem but I'm sure I will some day .
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Old November 21, 2013, 01:59 PM   #5
Bart B.
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Something may have scratched and gouged the die at an earlier time. If so, it can be smoothed out with 600 to 800 grit emery paper properly used inside the die.
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Old November 21, 2013, 04:17 PM   #6
wogpotter
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You may have a bit of FOJ (foreign object jamming) up inside which has embedded itself beyond what "cleaning will do.
Before getting all drastic & using grits try a strip of ordinary kitchen ScotchBrite pad & give it a soak in WD-40 &* a rotating buff.
When I had some nickle plating dust in my dies that was a great fix & didn't seem to make any dimensional change at all.
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Old November 21, 2013, 05:45 PM   #7
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Thanks wog, I'll try that first.
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Old November 21, 2013, 06:18 PM   #8
243winxb
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Clean with copper solvent, might have some brass in the neck area. Never happened to me, but read it may happen?
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Old November 21, 2013, 09:24 PM   #9
William T. Watts
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Remove the spindel from the die, chuck a bore mop with flitz on it in a drill motor, polish the inside of the die for a minute or two and your done.. I have a couple of dies sets that are more than 30 years old that have been revived several times with flitz, another product is JB's bore cleaner that I have used in the past too!! Either product will polish your sizing die! William

Last edited by William T. Watts; November 21, 2013 at 09:29 PM.
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Old November 23, 2013, 03:14 AM   #10
Ifishsum
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+1 to what Mr. Watts said. My RCBS .223 die does the same thing after a few hundred rounds, just on the neck portion. I'm pretty sure it's just some light brass galling, probably won't hurt much unless it gets really deep but I don't like it. Just like Mr. Watts, I remove the spindle, clean the die and polish the neck portion with JB bore paste, Flitz or other polishing compound with a bore mop chucked in a drill. Use a mop that will fit tight up into the neck, 15-20 secs at medium speed is usually enough for me.

I've done this a few times now and it does seem to need this treatment less frequently as it used to. Good clean brass also helps.
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Old November 23, 2013, 09:14 AM   #11
oldpapps
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Bottle neck? Humm, never had that one happen.

Back when I competed (PPC crap) and ran lots and lots of .38s, I would have this problem (a lot).

Start with cleaning the sizing die with one of the nasty brass eaters, I use 'Butches' but only outside, that stuff stinks bad.

If getting any and all brass out didn't do it, buff it with very fine steel wool, not a tight glob, just a light and loose lump with a drill. Don't want to scratch or remove any of the die, just the what ever it is. I have also used JB Bore Cream, but go lightly.

99% of the time, I took care of the problem with the brass eater.

Enjoy,

OSOK
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Old November 23, 2013, 04:07 PM   #12
wncchester
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Light case scratching is common and harmless at first. It's commonly due to bits of brass galled onto the die walls and it's caused by insufficent case lube to prevent the brass from rubbing hard on the die wall. Once galling starts it will only get worse until it does some real case damage if we don't remove it but it's easy to correct.

Simplist is to use the green pad 'pot scrubbers' from the kitchen. Wrap a snug fitting strip around a wood dowel, chuck it in a drill, add a few drops of bore cleaner to wet it and spin it in the die. Stop to test after a minute or so, repeat as neccessary. Don't worry about changing the die dimensions, you would have to take a lunch break for doing that. And don't worry about the resulting matt finish rather than a mirror polish, a matt surface holds case lube better and actually makes sizing effort easier.

Once it's clean, use a tad more case lube to prevent a recurance.

It's VERY hard to scratch a sizer; you can't do it with a file.
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