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Author Topic: Do you clean your Dies?  (Read 529 times)

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Offline papajohn428

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Do you clean your Dies?
« on: March 14, 2005, 01:57:07 PM »
And if you do, how?  I used to load a lot of lead SWC's in 357's, and the shaved lead and lube would gum up the seating die in a hundred rounds or so.  So I'd unscrew the die, take it apart, and ream out the core with a bore brush.  Since I only load plated and jacketed bullets these days, that problem is gone, but I look at my 20+ year old dies and wonder if they need a good bath.  Some have rusted from high humidity, or oily fingers.  Is there a need to clean them?  It's amazing the questions I come up with while I'm loading a batch of ammo..... :roll:

Papajohn
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Offline Catfish

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Do you clean your Dies?
« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2005, 02:51:00 PM »
Like you, the only dies I clean are those that load cast bullets. I have no trouble cleaning them though, as I use Dillon dies for all of my loading with cast bullets. With dillon dies you just pull the keeper pin on top of the die and shove down. What`s inside comes out the bottom were you just wipe the wax off, push the insides back in and snap on the keeper pin. You don`t even take themout of the press, whole job from start to finish abt. 2 min., if you take a couple dirnks of coffie while doing the job. Dillon dies cost abt. $50, but if your going to load cast bullets they are the cheapest thing you can do to speed up your loading.  8)
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Offline Redhawk1

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Do you clean your Dies?
« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2005, 06:42:34 PM »
I just pull the guts out and spray in some cleaner and run a dry patch in to remove the solvent and spray a light coat of break free in and run another dry patch in the die to remove any excess lube.  Sometimes I just use air from my compressor.  :D
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Offline MickinColo

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Do you clean your Dies?
« Reply #3 on: March 15, 2005, 01:33:08 PM »
I don’t clean my dies very often. When I clean dies I use a spray on gun cleaner like Quick Scrub cleaner/degreaser, I lube them with WD-40, blow them out with dry compressed air and let them dry.
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Offline willysjeep134

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Do you clean your Dies?
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2005, 08:40:31 AM »
I had to clean some sticky grease out of a set of new dies with lighter fluid. I reload in an unheated workshop so sometimes I get case lube gunking up a die and I need to take it apart. I will swab it out with Qtips and let it dry by the furnace. Cold dies and lube don't go toghther, so I need to warm up the dies before I reload I guess.
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Offline ricciardelli

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Do you clean your Dies?
« Reply #5 on: March 16, 2005, 09:42:54 AM »
After every use.  

I don't disassemble them, I toss them in the ultrasonic cleaner for a few minutes, let them dry, and them put them back in their plastic boxes.
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Offline razmuz

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You Clean Dies ??
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2005, 08:06:50 AM »
About every ten years or so, on a cold haven't got any thing else to do night, I take my dies all apart and run them through the dish washer.
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