I'm new to he board as the last time I reloaded was before there was an internet!!! I got out my equipment and everything looked good but some of my dies have a very light rust on them. Too me it is almost like faint dust. What would be a good way to clean them up or should I just replace them. I wouldn't use anything that was pitted inside or out. I was thinking a chamber brush and bore cleaner follow up with some oil.
Thanks,
Steve
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I would take a wad of steel wool, wrap it around a dowel of the proper size and spin it in the die with a drill and a bit of oil until the dust is gone. It won't take much and you sure can't hurt the innards of a case hardened die with steel wool. For the outside I would run it over a wire brush wheel mounted in a bench grinder. If it's just a dusting of rust this should fix things up fine.
Use 0000 steel wool and keep it wet with light oil or solvent. The rust you are removing is far more abrasive than the 0000 steel wool. The liquid will flush the rust away so you will not scratch the surface of the die. If you have rust inside the die you may end up with a pitten die that will scratch the cases. It may be ruined anyway so the steel wool (wet) is a good gamble. If you can find it brass wool is even better.
+1 on robocop's advice. I like would reccomend the use of brake cleaner (cheap at the local parts house) to flush the dies while cleaning. Much cheaper than Gun Scrubber, but works equally as well. Just make sure that it is trichloroethylene based (around 80%+).
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I bought an old Poness Warren 800 press that had some rust ing the dies. I used Gibbs with 0000 steel wool on an old aluminum arrow shaft. I think the Gibbs is better than Kroil for polishing dies. It leaves them very smooth and slick. You would take a good while to take enough steel out of a die to tell it with 0000 steel wool. I would hit the dies a quick shot with the steel wool and the drill and then let the Gibbs set and work for 4 or 5 min. then wipe them out and do it again.
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