How do you clean used dies?

[629StealthHunter]

I've got a used set of Lyman 38 sp. 357 mag dies I picked up at an auction. They have a little surface rust and some gunk build up. How do you go about cleaning used dies. I disassembled them and have them soaking in a jar of isopropyl alcohol right now. Any suggestions? Thanks

[Reloadron]

I suggest you get them out of the alcohol. I would give them a coating of WD 40 or similar oil and then scrub them with a small brass brush, similar to a toothbrush in size. That should remove any light surface rust. Following that just clean them using a good bore solvent and dry them. Finally leaving a light coat of oil on the surfaces.

Ron

[std7mag]

I whole heartedly agree.

[BigJimP]

I clean dies the same way I clean parts of my guns....a little solvent, a brush or maybe a Q tip...

[Master Blaster]

Mineral spirits or hoppes 9 and a bore brush. Isopropyl alcohol will cause them to rust as it has water and oxygen in it and it dissolves oil.

[DaleA]

Disclaimer: I agree with all the above mentioned posts. I've never used the stuff linked to below but it IS RCBS and I trust everything they do without question. (Still never used the stuff though...)

http://rcbs.com/Products/Accessories...nance-Kit.aspx

[Reloadron]

That's a nice little kit for die maintenance. Really nothing I don't already have but a nice little kit none the less.

Ron

[KnotRight]

I use auto brake cleaner to clean the inside of the dies

[Geezerbiker]

I wouldn`t take WD40 anywhere near my guns or dies, i disasemble and swab out my dies every time after I use them. If i need to clean them further, i use Ed`s Red bore cleaner...

[Road_Clam]

I took an old rusted used set of RCBS 30-06 dies disassembled them, tossed them in my corn cob tumbler, for about an hour and they cam out looking brand new. Cleaned with brake cleaner, lubed the threads and they work perfect.

*make sure you clean the sizing die vent hole if you do this.

[FITASC]

Take a look at Safari Charllies.....Cleanzoil is another as is Shooter's Choice. Basically any good solvent, with some elbow grease followed by a light lubrication/oil

[Reloader270]

I clean my dies with Hoppe's no 9 and then clean it out. Then lubricate with WD40. Remember to clean out the vent hole if the die is equipped with it. If left too long the vent hole could get blocked and could result in more dented shoulders on cases.

[Doublehelix3216]

I also use brake cleaner and then lubricate.

[cw308]

I use Ballistol spray to clean dies and firearms , Does it all .

[T. O'Heir]

A lot will depend on where the surface rust is. 0000 steel wool and light oil will take it off the outside. Where it doesn't make any difference. Internal rust will alter the dimensions and shape of the die.
Regular cleaning is done with handgun cleaning tools and regular solvents. The tumbler is a good idea though.

[hdwhit]

StealthHunter wrote:
How do you go about cleaning used dies.

If you have a dry tumbler, try disassembling the dies and tumbling the parts overnight. That may solve your problem. After that, if they don't look good enough, try cleaning them with one the processes suggest ed earlier posts.

[Tsquared]

Brake cleaner, hoppes, bore brush, and light coating of gun oil

[Firemen Bill]

I never use WD 40 because it leaves a lacquer coating on all the surfaces once dry. It will build up over time. I would do as some have suggested. Coat with hoppes #9, let sit for 5 minutes and use a bore brush to lightly scrub, then use some quarry cloth (it comes in a tin can at NAPA) to wipe over it. The cloth has turpentine on it and it looks like a tuff cotton or something. Then spray off with brake cleaner and a light spritz of gun oil and leave sit until your ready to use it. Then just wipe it off.....

[HiBC]

One thing I will suggest,be careful about the first brass you size after cleaning your dies.Lube them well! And you do not want residual solvent ,etc confusing your case lube.

For some reason WD-40 is a passionate topic here.We have had many discussions about it.The inventor was trying to make a Water Displacing preservative.One of the first applications was the workings of Atlas Missiles.

The inventor tried to be secretive with his formula. MSDS laws pretty much got past that.Someplace ,researching for a WD-40 discussion here at TFL,I found the alleged ingredients. Primarily Varsol,an industrial petroleum distillate solvent,and hydrogenated heavy mineral oil.

They hydrogenate vegetable oil to make Crisco. Peanut butter oil gets hydrogenated.That makes the stiff grease texture.

So,not quite a perfect descriptin,but if you fluff and puff a no-additive gear oil to a grease like merengue or mayonnaise(or Vaseline),then dissolve it in parts washing solvent,its pretty close to WD-40.

If you degrease your dies with Brake cleaner,etc,I do suggest they need something for preservative.

Feel free to disagree,but IMO,WD-40 is fine.

I have not done this,but it might be that lanolin or RCBS case lube dissolved in mineral spirits or laquer thinner would penetrated a thin film of case lube over the die.IMO,that would work for me.

I'm not quite comfortable with the alcohol carrier in spray case lube for an anti-rusting application.

[rodfac]

I hose them out with WD40, then use 0000 steel wool on a very slow drill to clean up any rust. Alcohol is not a good idea for soaking...rust issues. Best Regards, Rod

[F. Guffey]

I clean my dies with a towel on a dowel.

F. Fuffey

[The Kingfish]

A bore brush, patches and Ballistol.

Hornady one shot is another good product but Ballistol is my regular go to.

[Northof50]

Mineral spirits, then vibrate in my case cleaner.

[gwpercle]

I clean them with Ed's Red Bore Cleaner. That stuff will clean any reloading equiptment.
If you don't know what it is just do a search for Ed's Red Bore Cleaner recipe...
you mix it up yourself. I don't use the optional lanolin.
4 common ingredients , buying them from wally world the last gallon I mixed up cost under $20.00 .
Tip...do NOT use synthetic Automatic Transmission Fluid, use regular GM Spec. Dexron ATF.
If the dies are grungy...let them soak a few hours/days.
Gary

[Unclenick]

There are probably a lot of different details and solvents you could use. Ed's Red is inexpensive and the ATF lubes and protects without getting sticky. But a lot of gun cleaners will work. Gunzilla is particularly good at loosening rust, especially if you let it sit for a time, and it is vegetable-based, so you don't have petroleum or solvent fumes as you do with Ed's Red. But it costs more.

If I were doing this today, I would probably disassemble the dies and put them into a beaker with enough Slip 2000 gun cleaner to cover the parts and set it in my heated ultrasonic cleaner for an hour. I would then rinse them in the ultrasonic with a couple of beaker baths of plain water and then boil them in distilled water for 20 minutes. When you pull the parts out that hot water and shake the excess off, they dry very quickly and completely. That fast hot drying in the presence of the oxygen in air leaves a thin protective layer of blue oxide on any exposed steel. I would then drop it into Brownells water displacing oil overnight to be sure no water hid anywhere, and just wipe the excess off the next day. I prefer that product to WD-40 because it doesn't try to a tacky film. However, there are other good products out there that will do something similar. LPS-2, for example, leaves a true corrosion inhibitor on the surface. Shooter's Solutions has one that works well and does that too.