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Posted: 9/8/2010 11:10:55 AM EDT
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Hey Guys,
How do you guys remove surface rust off of dies? I just picked up some LEE dies in 30.30 & 30.06 from criagslist that have some rust (no pitting that I can tell). Fine steel wool and some CLP? Something else? Thanks |
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Quoted:
Hey Guys, How do you guys remove surface rust off of dies? I just picked up some LEE dies in 30.30 & 30.06 from criagslist that have some rust (no pitting that I can tell). Fine steel wool and some CLP? Something else? Thanks This is an unfortunate issue I have with Lee dies as well. I love their dies they just get suface rust real easy and its not easy to take off with steel wool, that I know for sure. However I only tried finer grade steel wool the type I use for polishing brass cases. |
| My Lee dies(all my dies for that matter) would rust overnight after touching them(love the LA 100% humidity), I now after removing the rust with a Dremel tool and a fine SS wire wheel spray them down with Hornady's cleaner and dry lube. Their One Shot lube may not be worth a sh!t but their cleaner and dry lube is great, I clean everything that might rust or needs a lube that dirt, sand, and residue wont stick to(trigger assy is great, then a little grease on the sear points). It holds up good also, my dies havent been sprayed in months now and they look like new, even the ones I use every day, the dry film keeps them from rusting at all. |
I have a grinder with a fine wire wheel on one side, and a buffing wheel on the other side.
This 9mm die set was given to me with surface rust on the 3 original dies on the left. A quick one over on the wire wheel cleaned them up. That was about 4 years ago. The taper crimp die on the right, I added later to make a 4 die set. Lucky for me, the inside of the dies were not damaged. I keep a coat of Break Free on them, the cardboard squares have a chemical that prevents rusting. Got them from Midway. |
Here they are cleaned up ( I should have taken a before doh...)
I tumbled some brass and bootleg case lubed it use dthe FL resizing die and decapped. Worked smooth. Did leave faint light scratches (which really doesn't bug me) They are not "dryflash" clean but you get the point 
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Quoted:
For prevention, get youself some dessicant packets from electronics boxes and put them in your die cases. Will keep moisture low. I've got to the extreme case of adding a 70 pint / day dehumidifier to my reloading shed to help curb the oxidation. Some pieces of vapor phase inhibitor paper work even better. In a small closed container you do not need a large piece and it lasts a long time without any attention. |
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