Removing rust from Dies

[lennyo3034]

So out of curiosity, I took a flashlight to the inside of my reloading dies today to see how they are doing. To my dismay, there was a fair amount of rust on the inside of them. These are Redding Type S dies that are about 6 months old!

Does anyone have any idea on how to remove this? Even if I am able to remove the rust, are the dies done?

Thanks.

 

[jkohler]

Cut a wood dowel down the center and put two large cleaning patches with fliz polish on them and spin it with a drill fold the patches down the sides of the dowel. should do the trick

 

[bigedp51]

Use a shotgun cleaning mop coated with with Kroil and J&B Bore Paste then chuck the cleaning rod in a hand drill and polish the inside of the die. Then toss the die in a case tumbler and polish until shiny clean.

 

[jo191145]

I use 0000 steel wool wrapped around a spent brass brush. Hand drill or drill press.
Then clean thoroughly to remove any steel wool.
Reloaded for many years in a humid basement. All these above ideas will work.
Skin the cat using whatever knife you have handy I always say. Your dies will be just fine.

 

[lennyo3034]

Thanks for the suggestions. I should note the die with the most rust is my seating die. Most likely because I leave it in my press. Will rust really affect it that much? I measure the OAL of all my cartridges and it seems to be very consistent.

I will of course clean it anyways though.

 

[floydj]

I would recommend wiping your dies out after you use them, especially if you're using a water based case lube...also wouldn't hurt to put some sort of preventative on them when finished.

 

[fdshuster]

lennyo3034: I'm blessed with a very dry basement. Even woodworking tools like saw blades, planes, etc. do not have any trace of rust. But, after using my reloading dies I always clean the inside surfaces with a cotton q-tip dampened with Hoppe's #9, then dry it with a rag.

Some of my die sets are well over 25 years old & do not have any rust anywhere.

Keep them clean, do not leave any lube coating the inside surfaces. The lube will trap & hold moisture that will cause the rust. If not going to use them for a while, use a q-tip to lightly coat the inside with a good oil. I like CLP BreakFree, but any good oil will do the job.

 

[Rustystud]

Degrease them and use naval jelly. Then thoroughly wash and lubricate. For external rust I glass bead blast them in my cabinet. The come out looking new.

Nat Lambeth