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Thread: Rusted dies

  1. #21
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Kroil is very good and wicks thru quickly. A days soak in kroil and a light brushing with a tooth brush then wipe with soft flannel cloth should be all it needs. The frozen parts can be lossened in the soaking and either soft jawed pliers. ( I have both leather and lead jaws made up) or it its a thread with no smooth wrea then jam nuts and a wrench working slowly and carefully. I made some soft jaw pliers from 4" channel locks for the bench. One set has thick leather jaw pads epoxied to the pliers jaws. Another set has lead jaws poured into them. I put steel plates on each side of jaws with a small parallel clamp holding them with a filler in front and back then poured soft lead in. About 1/8" thick

  2. #22
    Boolit Buddy Mike Kerr's Avatar
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    If I remember correctly the Lee 45ACP seating die comes with a stem most suitable for round nose or truncated cone bullets. (They do I remember) It sometimes happens that a previous reloader might have been seating semi wad cutters which have a sharper edge than round nose bullet types - it is very possible you have a build up of lead, lube, etc on the stem face and it has solidified into a irksome gunk. If this occurs the first thing is your overall seating length will become erratic and inconsistent then finally your stem will seize up which has probably happened to you.

    Heating the die by any of several methods usually will break the seal of the gunk enough to scrape the gunk and then you can take the stem out and clean the whole piece. The missing top piece of the powder thru die is not needed if you are using the Lee pass thru system (only if you are dumping loads manually) but you can get a replacement part from Titan reloading for just about 3 bucks or so. Then you can set the top piece you spent $3 bucks on aside forever. If you can't get Kroil, Liquid Wrench may still be available at some hardware stores - or any commercial break free solvent will work.
    Sorry the dies you received require some work but that is a frequent event of dealing with used reloading or shooting equipment.
    regards,


  3. #23
    Boolit Buddy Rp-'s Avatar
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    Well when you deal with a bunch of people eventually you will get burned. I've had pretty good luck so far. Still sucks though. Here's some pics just for reference.











    The die without the lock ring is a 45 ACP flare die I had laying around (came with my pro 1000 press). The die in the middle is the same. You can see the expander part is stuck at the lowest possible part. On the left is the seating die from the bottom. The last pic is with the 2 dies flipped upright.

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  4. #24
    Boolit Grand Master Char-Gar's Avatar
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    As somebody who has cleaned up several score of dies in that condition or worse, I don't think you have a significant problem. They will clean up as good as new. I don't think you got bit, for when you buy used dies, this is what will turn up from time to time. I expect to have to clean up such dies. If the steel is not pitted, any die can be put back into service.
    Disclaimer: The above is not holy writ. It is just my opinion based on my experience and knowledge. Your mileage may vary.

  5. #25
    Boolit Master




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    I've cleaned up dies in way worse condition then that. It involves Kroil, a wire brush and varying coarseness of steel wool. I have rescued many dies sets and re-sold them. They clean up and work just fine.
    You can miss fast & you can miss a lot, but only hits count.

  6. #26
    Boolit Buddy ikarus1's Avatar
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    Soak em over night in vinegar and a pinch of salt, then rinse and dry well and oil them with gun oil.

  7. #27
    Boolit Buddy Rp-'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ikarus1 View Post
    Soak em over night in vinegar and a pinch of salt, then rinse and dry well and oil them with gun oil.
    You think that will free them?

    I was planning on soaking them in either kroil or acetone/ATF after work today.

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  8. #28
    Boolit Buddy ikarus1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rp- View Post
    You think that will free them?

    I was planning on soaking them in either kroil or acetone/ATF after work today.

    Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk
    Vinegar is a rust remover. Dont breathe or smoke over the top. It makes hydrogen....

  9. #29
    Boolit Buddy Rp-'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ikarus1 View Post
    Vinegar is a rust remover. Dont breathe or smoke over the top. It makes hydrogen....
    I'm not scared!

    Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

  10. #30
    Boolit Master




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    Quote Originally Posted by ikarus1 View Post
    Vinegar is a rust remover. Dont breathe or smoke over the top. It makes hydrogen....
    Yeah...but not enough to cause any danger.
    Semper Fi!


    Currently casting for .223, .308, .30-06, .30-40 Krag, 9mm, .38/.357, 10mm, 44 Mag and 45 ACP.

    I like strange looking boolits!

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  11. #31
    Boolit Master



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    Lot of "estate" dies look like that. Some old reloader passed on, his stuff sat/somebody got 'em at the auction/and tried to make a few bucks on'em. They'll clean up and work, hope you got 'em cheap enough to make it worthwhile.
    Kroil is pretty much my main bore cleaner, haven't bought Hoppe's in years.

  12. #32
    Boolit Buddy Rp-'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by shooterg View Post
    Lot of "estate" dies look like that. Some old reloader passed on, his stuff sat/somebody got 'em at the auction/and tried to make a few bucks on'em. They'll clean up and work, hope you got 'em cheap enough to make it worthwhile.
    Kroil is pretty much my main bore cleaner, haven't bought Hoppe's in years.
    Well, I traded for 95 hornady 6.5 A-max bullets, plus a dozen or so mixed 6.5 bullets. I think I paid a fair price. Nothing to brag about though.

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  13. #33
    Boolit Buddy
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    Boeshield rust remover works amazingly well at taking off the rust, But Kroil is the best at pentrating and loosening up anything seized. Apply a bit of heat too with a heat gun and get them warmed up so the Kroil can get in there. Don't use a torch....its a bit flashy

  14. #34
    Boolit Buddy
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    KROIL the oil that creeps. Heat makes it creep faster😎


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  15. #35
    Boolit Master


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    heat will also help by expanding the outer part and with the inner one a bit cooler and hence smaller you might get it moving that way
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  16. #36
    Boolit Master
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    I boil the seating dies. Evaporust for the rusted ones. Dissasemble, penetrating oil, steel wool and wire brush, polish with scotch brite, clean, wipe down with Ed's red and store. Done quite a few.
    "It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees" Looking for an RCBS Ammomaster and H&R shotgun barrels regardless of condition

  17. #37
    Boolit Buddy Rp-'s Avatar
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    24 hours in vinegar and the expander die is apart. Going to give it another 24 hours, if that doesn't get the seating die apart I'll go to the ATF/acetone

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  18. #38
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    I use Acetone alone to clean my dies and it works great, including on bullet lube. Dissolves the bullet lube real well. I take my dies apart after about 500 reloads to clean. When I reload lubed cb's I clean after 100 loads. The 50/50 above sounds like a good product I might mix some up later. I've used PB Blaster before you just have to let it soak a good while.
    Last edited by tankgunner59; 03-22-2017 at 04:57 PM.

  19. #39
    Boolit Buddy MaLar's Avatar
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    Evaporust
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  20. #40
    Boolit Buddy Rp-'s Avatar
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    ...Well, I forgot all about them last night... Will pull them out tonight and report back.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check