Rust prevention on dies

[locknloader]

What do you guys use to prevent rust on the outside of your dies?

My hornady dies said to clean them very well to get all the factory grease off, but i am now thinking they were only talking about the inside of the die and not the exterior.

I gave them a liberal coating of one shot cleaner/dry lube but it does not seem to leave a protective coating as advertised.

[indie_rocker]

CLP. Heavy doses for dies that go a long time between uses.

[Scoits]

Over the years I have used a patch soaked with WD-40 in the box with the dies and had good results.

[locknloader]

Is that what those little cardboard squares are that comes in the box of dies (hornady ones at least)??? Some kind of rust preventive soaked into the little square?

I noticed them inside all the boxes and figured they had to serve a purpose so i left them in there. The dies sitting in their cases seem to stay pretty rust free, its the ones that sit in my press 99% of the time that are getting some light rust on the outside.

[JeepHammer]

Mine are often in tool heads. I find while expensive, Barricade works well.

[Nathan]

Hornady make a tactical Xtreme lube that works well.

[F. Guffey]

I clean my dies with a towel on a dowel.

F. Guffey

[T. O'Heir]

Keep 'em dry. And store 'em in a dry location. It's mostly ambient humidity that causes the rusting.
"...one shot cleaner/dry lube..." Isn't made for protecting anything. Oil does it.

[hdwhit]

I lightly lubricate the inside of my die body along with any interior parts with oil when I am going to store them for a prolonged period of time. For short storage times (i.e. weeks) I find that the residue from the resizing lubricant provides sufficient protection. For the exterior, I wax the die body.

[reddog81]

I just store mine on a shelf in my climate controlled basement. It ranges from 25% to 70% humidity throughout the year. I've never had any problems. I've bought dies with rust that needed to be cleaned up, but I've never had any rust problems come up. When the humidity starts to creep up over 70% I use a dehumidifier.

Any oil should work for rust preventive. The heavier the better for staying put.

[FrankenMauser]

Generally...
I avoid licking, chewing on, seasoning, barbecuing, dunking in the toilet, or sweating on my dies. Seems to help.

I try not to use any solvent that will fully strip oil from the outside of the die. But, if I do, I re-oil with my preferred gun oil. (FP-10)

The inside of dies is pretty much ignored in my reloading room, after the initial cleaning -- at least in regards to corrosion prevention.
I wipe excess oil out of expanding and seating die bodies when new, and clean expanders and seating stems. (One-piece expander dies being a notable exception. Those get thoroughly cleaned and then a very light coating of oil on everything but the expander.)
Sizing dies get a better cleaning, but not until they're going to be used.
Otherwise, the inside of the dies only get attention when I need to clean excess lube. -- And that's all I clean out: excess lube.


It's far from textbook. ...But it works for me.

Oh, it may be worth noting: When not in use, the majority of my dies are stored in their original boxes, inside a file cabinet. Temperature and humidity are fairly constant, and there are probably six dozen corrosion inhibitor squares inside, due to the various tools or die boxes that still have them.

Is that what those little cardboard squares are that comes in the box of dies (hornady ones at least)??? Some kind of rust preventive soaked into the little square?

Yes.
They're VCI (Vapor Corrosion Inhibitor) emitters, generally good for a couple months, to a couple years in an enclosed space.
I always keep them - at least until I open the die box one day and think, "these dies are eighteen years old ... that was toast fifteen years ago."
When I buy tools that have the VCI disks, squares, or pellets, I toss the emitter(s) in with my ferrous reloading tools and throw away the old emitter(s).

[gwpercle]

WD-40 has come out with a product call WD-40 Specialist Long Term Corrosion Inhibitor, the stuff seems to stay on a metal surface . I've been using it for about a year on my presses and dies that stay in an outbuilding (no heat, no air and no insulation) , things will rust out there , tools included . So far the stuff seems to keep the rust at bay.
I have sprayed it on dies inside and out and all the bare steel parts on reloading equipment. You might want to check it out.
Gary

[JohnKSa]

I have not used this product, but it is supposed to prevent rust on enclosed items for up to 5 years when used properly.

http://www.zerustproducts.com/produc...-storage-bags/

[cw308]

Once a year I spray my dies down with Ballistol , cleans and protects . Also use on my firearms , can use it on everything , wood & leather , does it all . Great Stuff .

Chris

[hounddawg]

I am terribly old fashioned so I just use a little 3 in 1 oil on a paper towel occasionally. Just a thin coating does wonders. Between that and a climate controlled storage area I have never had any rust issues.

[ninosdemente]

I have a Rock Chucker and started to notice rust on the handle and on the primer arm ring (top area). As some have mentioned, I can blame it on the humidity of the basement for that. Can I just get a wire brush and try to remove what I can and rub it with a towel/rag of oil?

[joeanybody]

I use rcbs die maintenance spray on long term storage. I wipe frequent use dies with a Rem oil wipe inside and out

[gwpercle]

Originally Posted by ninosdemente

I have a Rock Chucker and started to notice rust on the handle and on the primer arm ring (top area). As some have mentioned, I can blame it on the humidity of the basement for that. Can I just get a wire brush and try to remove what I can and rub it with a towel/rag of oil?

You sure can , go easy with the wire brush , coarse ones leave scratches .
Use oil and 000 or 0000 steel wool for light surface rust with no pits, that will remove the rust and not scratch the metal.
Gary

[schotzfyred]

When I lived in the desert SW, at 12% humidity no problem.
Here in NH...de-humidified basement 40-50%..no problem, yet.
Light oiling never hurts either.

[Unclenick]

Locknloader,

Most general rust doesn't give much grief below 60% RH. Below 40% it becomes extremely difficult to get rust. Below 30% it is impossible, IIRC. So, the surest thing is to keep them in your gun safe that has a Goldenrod heater to lower the RH by raising the water vapor solubility in air (it does not remove the moisture; it just makes the air hold onto it too hard to for it to initiate rust).

Absent that, there are a number of rust inhibitors out there. LPS 2 is good for a year and LPS 3 for two or more years, but it's like a grease. The VPI cardboard squares and cases work. You could clean your dies off with any of the Bore Tech gun cleaners and let them dry off. Those contain rust inhibitors that keep working all the way past drying.

[ninosdemente]

Thanks gwpercle, was able to get 000 steel wool at Menards, more than I needed but sure will come in handy for $3 a bag. Worked great on the areas I cleaned and good thing I have some Rem Oil in hand.

[Unclenick]

You can also apply Gunzilla bore cleaner to rust and let it sit a couple of days. It loosens rust so effectively that if an object is submerged in it, the rust falls off and lands on the bottom of the container.

[McCarthy]

No rust here, no treatment needed. This is what I do:

- Buy quality dies from Dillon and Redding
- Reload and store in AC conditioned house (converted bedroom)
- Wash my hands prior to handling my tools

[Unclenick]

The hand washing works if you aren't a ruster. These are people whose skin oils have so much salt in them it that they can't handle bare steel with their bare hands even after washing if they wish to avoid rust. Rust always follows unless relative humidity is kept low enough. I first heard about these folks from a toolmaker who described working in a large shop where each toolmaker had his own bench and tools and he said everyone's steel tools would be shiny except the ruster's, all of which were solid plum brown.

[mikld]

How do you keep rust off your guns? I use he same methods quite often...