Cleaning dies

[dbaird]

What do you use to clean reloading dies?

 

[Fast14riot]

Brake clean

 

[DaveTooley]

mineral spirits, alcohol, acetone

 

[DaveTooley]

If you're cleaning a FL sizing die you will need to put some lube back in the die before use.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

I clean with Hornady one shot gun cleaner, great rust prevention.

 

[freebird22/250]

I soak all my dirty dies in Automatic trans. fluid for about a week or 10 days, fully disassembled they come out sparkling clean.

 

[JMayo]

Bbq lighter fluid, spray gun cleaner, lighter fluid.
Re lube bushing area.
Qtips soaked will do it quickly.

 

[ev780]

Ed's Red, 12 gauge patches, pistol rod, and a rag. Before and after every run. Takes a few seconds.

 

[RabbitSlayer]

Denatured alcohol or isopropyl depending whats i have on hand. Coat with whatever spray oil on hand like ballistol, breakfree clp, kroil, doesn't matter. Remove excess with shop towels and compressor. I have been cleaning the sizing dies but neglecting the seating dies. I couldn't believe the amount of graphite that had accumulated recently. I'll start cleaning them more often.

 

[Andy Work]

#9 and a Q-tip.

 

[Davers]

#9 and a Q-tip.

That's what I use to clean reloading dies.

 

[60723]

Excuse my ignorance, but I wasn’t aware dies needed to be cleaned after the initial cleaning.

 

[jrb06]

It depends on what you are trying to clean out. Simple crud such as sizing lube and general dirt the forementioned suggestion all are great, but if you are talking brass deposits or things embedded or smeared into the die it may require a more aggressive approach such as bronze brushes and such.

 

[pertnear]

Used & brand new dies are cleaned in acetone & then lightly oiled. For occasional die cleaning, I found that Hoppe's works fine.

 

[jelenko]

Excuse my ignorance, but I wasn’t aware dies needed to be cleaned after the initial cleaning.

After you've gone through a thousand rounds, try cleaning and see what you find. Especially the seating die.

 

[K22]

The best way I found to maintain my dies and shell holders is to clean the cases in a manner that will not leave any media residue on the cases.

The most significant debris adversely affecting my dies was the residue from tumbler treated corn cob media. This stuff wreak havoc on my dies and shell holders. It formed a "mud" like substance with the case lube I used. Once I stop tumbling with this media, maintaining my dies and shell holders became simple and easy.

If fact, I do not tumbler anymore once my tumbler died a few years ago. I simply spray my cases with mineral spirits then wipe them clean. I do clean the necks with a few twists of 0000 steel wool to remove the hard carbon which I always did even when I tumbled. In addition, after each sizing session, I merely brush out the die with a nylon bottle brush. This removes any accumulation of lube and leaves a very, very thin layer of lube (Imperial sizing wax) inside the die which I found is beneficial.

With this system I have eliminated a piece of reloading equipment (tumbler), a consumable (media), significantly improved the maintenance of my dies / shell holders, and I can process a small batch of cases more efficiently aiding in managing my dedicated cases to specific rifles of the same caliber.