November 9, 2006, 10:25 PM | #1 |
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Maintaining Dies?
What sort of oil or other lubricant/rust preventive should be used to maintain reloading dies? I am a newbie but I am starting to build up a collection of dies and want to protect my investment.
I live within 10 miles of a paper plant and in a humid climate so I am worried about rust and corrosion. Thanks for the help. John in WNC |
November 9, 2006, 10:42 PM | #2 |
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I clean & oil them once in awhile, but then the oil gets wiped back off and into the box again. I collect theose little bags of dessicant that come with so many things and eventually all die boxes have one or three in them.
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November 9, 2006, 11:11 PM | #3 |
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I think there are several answers to this and they will depend upon how often you use your dies. You can use hevier preservatives like RIG or spray on Boeshield T9 or LPS-3. These all leave a greasy or waxy layer. The nuisance is removing them when you want to use the die.
I did a recent experiment with a Lee bullet sizing die in which I treated it with Shooter's Solutions Moly-Fusion oil, and was able to demonstrate that dry bullets went through it with 20% less effort than before the treatment, by standing on a bathroom scale while I pushed the press ram. This treatment offers both lubrication and some corrosion resistance to the surface. The web site reports that it also prevents unlubricated cases from getting stuck in a sizing die, but I have not put this to the test. It is probably good insurance against that error, though, in addition to helping mitigate corrosion. A number of the thinner oils are also able to bond themselves to steel electrostatically, which should help. Slip 2000 claims their synthetic oil-based CLP does this. Sprinco's Plate+ products do. Both products will assist in corrosion resistance and should be easier to wipe off than grease. One additional helper might be the little rust-inhibiting vapor releasing cardboard chips that Brownells sells. You would just put one in each die box, though I don't know how long they last in an unsealed container? If your moisture is really bad and acid, as the paper mill may make it, I would consider going to a gun show and picking up some surplus ammo cans. .50 Cal cans will be big enough for die boxes, I think. You want to be sure to get some with their rubber lid seals intact. Put the die boxes inside, then add a dessicant pouch to take care of them all. You can save the little silica pouches, but I don't know how to tell when they are saturated? You can get silica cans from Gander Mountain and other places that have a color indicator, so they turn from blue to pink when they need to have the moisture baked out of them. Nick
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November 10, 2006, 12:58 AM | #4 |
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I use RemOil. Works great and is cheap.
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November 10, 2006, 02:04 AM | #5 |
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like mrawsome22 i spray my dies with remoil to keep them from rusting.......
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November 10, 2006, 04:27 PM | #6 |
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The dies that I know I won`t be using for a long time, I clean and oil them real good. I just checked on some of the dies and they are in great shape. Some have not been used for 5 years now.
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November 10, 2006, 09:47 PM | #7 |
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Many shooting supply houses sell renewable dessicant that turns pink when it is saturated. The small ones are just right for a gun safe or a storage cabinet. To renew it, you just put it in a warm oven for an hour or so. Also, there are small inexpensive dehumidifiers available that are just right for a reloading room. As I live in the drizzle capitol of the US, I use both.
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November 14, 2006, 09:34 PM | #8 |
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Thanks to all for the suggestions on preventing rust and corrosion on my dies. I already have RemOil so will start with that. However, the Shooter's Solutions Moly-Fusion Oil sounds very interesting.
As to the little cardboard chips, that explains what came with a couple of the die sets. John in WNC |
November 16, 2006, 02:08 PM | #9 |
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I have been having good luck with throwing the oiled patches that are left over when I get done oiling the barrel for storage into the die box. Most of my die boxes have 5 or 6 oily patches in them. When I am done loading a round, I put the dies in the boxes, hose them down with tri-flow and put some of the patches on top.
No problems with rust since I moved to this technique (which is a lot to say in humid Houston!).
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December 8, 2006, 04:30 PM | #10 |
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Die Protection
http://www.bull-frog.com/products/
corrosion inhibitor strips (modern VPI chips) spritz my dies with Ballistol and wipe smooth. They survived immersion in 4 hurricanes yodar |
December 10, 2006, 01:05 PM | #11 |
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Over many years, I had a little rust develop on the outside surface of most dies I own (except my old chrome-plated Lyman dies), nothing that couldn't be wiped off with some fine steel wool. The insides must have retained enough lube to keep from corroding, because I've never had the inside of a die get rusty. Finally, I took to coating them with whatever lubricant was handy- in most cases, that would be Break-Free CLP. Seems to work, no rust since.
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December 10, 2006, 02:09 PM | #12 |
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The best thing is to clean the brass first .I pop the primer and wash them in detergent. This removes dirt and sand which is extremely abrasive even on carbide !!! Always use a little lube even with carbide dies. For storage a light coating of something like RIG and you can wrap in some VPI paper [vapour phase inhibiter],
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