How do you polish the insides of your sizing dies?

[BoydAllen]

Just looking for information from those that do.

 

[danny]

Put it in a Lathe and shove a cloth with metal polish in it, then turn the lathe on. If you don't have a lathe, get or make a kind of swab that you can chuck in a drill, then put metal polish on the swab, shove the swab in, then "let it fly" with the drill.

Danny

 

[SKWERLZ]

I put it in a lathe and first hit it with a craytex then a rag on a stick with polishing compound

 

[SKWERLZ]

The mirka abralon pads are also really nice for such tasks.
We use them for polishing paint on fishing rods.

 

[padom]

Chuck it in the lathe

 

[JSH]

I tried to clean up some dies that were in bad shape from using nickel plated brass.
I forget what grits I have used, but I got pretty PO’d the last time or two and got aggressive with it.
It will size about 20 pieces and then start scratching it again and get progressively worse.

I now hate nickel brass.

 

[Geronimo Jim]

Am I the only one in the whole shooting world that does not have a lathe?

 

[SKWERLZ]

Am I the only one in the whole shooting world that does not have a lathe?

I don’t own one but can use the lathe’s at work.

 

[dhenry132]

1500 wet/dry paper. Wrap a piece around a #2 pencil. Take lock off die and roll it back and fourth along your bench.

 

[jepp2]

I use a proper size brass rod, and cut paper towel to fit the die interior (wrapped around the brass rod). Spin it on high speed on my battery drill. First I use Flitz, then plain paper towel to clean and polish. Follow with Mothers, then plain paper towel. Die interiors are very hard (I know this from honing the die necks to size) and you aren't removing any material to dimensionally change them. Just improving the finish of the surface. Look like this afterwards.

If your die has picked up some brass in the neck, this also works to remove it.

 

[Straightshooter1]

I use a shotgun bore brush with a patch wrapped around it and have it chucked in a and drill. Coat the patch with some J-B bore cleaning compound and give it a spin.

 

[20 TAC]

The mirka abralon pads are also really nice for such tasks.
We use them for polishing paint on fishing rods.

Ok I need to hear more about polishing paint on fishing rods. Number one is honest curiosity. Number two is this may be the perfect story to prove to my fishing friends that I am NOT the most OCD fisherman out there.

 

[miningshawn]

All of these are great ideas. I personally thread the die upside-down in my press, then use a 410 or 16 Guage bore mop and a pair of scissors to get a good fit in the body portion of the die. There is enough metal there with the chuck of my corded/cordless drill to grab onto. I use Flitz to polish, and Windex to clean. A very light coat of sizing wax to prevent rust.

 

[K22]

If you clean your case before sizing, then lube them I am not sure one needs to polish them. Mine our 50+ years old having sized literally thousands of cases and still produce a size case without abrasions or scratches. I do brush the die out, religiously, after each sizing session, usually 20 to 40 cases per session.

The one instance where I encountered the need to polish a die was entirely my fault. The neck sizing portion of a die became abraded producing longitudinal scratches on the neck portion of the case. While this had no effect of performance, I wasn't pleased with the condition.

So, I called RCBS and they suggestion the cause was one of the following, (1) not properly cleaning the fired case necks of carbon residue, (2) failure to chamfer the necks on new cases and / or after trimming, (3) not cleaning the die regularly from buildup of sizing lube and contaminants. In my case, it was issues 1 and 3.

I returned the affect FL die to them, they polished, and I never had an issue since. I began using 0000 steel wool to clean the necks of carbon residue and, as I stated above, I regularly clean my dies with a nylon bottle brush. Obviously, one must make sure all steel wool particles are removed after cleaning. This can be accomplished by tumbling them or spraying with mineral spirits and wiping them dry.

 

[freebird22/250]

I chuck a proper size gun cleaning brush in my cordless drill with a good cotton patch & saturate it with gold medallion bore cleaner or Rem clean, they clean up like a new shiny dime.

 

[SKWERLZ]

Ok I need to hear more about polishing paint on fishing rods. Number one is honest curiosity. Number two is this may be the perfect story to prove to my fishing friends that I am NOT the most OCD fisherman out there.

I make them so it’s part of the process
We also use the pads for polishing wood inserts for reel seats.

 

[Webster]

Just looking for information from those that do.

I only polished a die a couple times. I cut a notch in the end of a wooden dowel wrapped 1200 grit sandpaper through the notch and around the dowell. Electric drill. Loose ends so it flaps around.

 

[Murray Brook]

I tried to clean up some dies that were in bad shape from using nickel plated brass.
I forget what grits I have used, but I got pretty PO’d the last time or two and got aggressive with it.
It will size about 20 pieces and then start scratching it again and get progressively worse.

I now hate nickel brass.

I had the same problem. I used a metal polish with oooo steel wool with wooden dowel and a drill and it worked. Tossed all the nickel brass.

 

[20 TAC]

I make them so it’s part of the process
We also use the pads for polishing wood inserts for reel seats.
View attachment 1450486
View attachment 1450487

Wow. Absolutely beautiful. I would love to see/hear about more of your work. Please PM me if you would like so we don’t derail the OP’s thread.

 

[Clancy]

I just buy premium dies these days, but a .357 bore mop and a shotgun patch covered in JB was my preferred method for standard cartridges. I did the necks with a smaller mop, of course.