How to de-wax all my dies?

[cpaspr]

I just finished loading up the last boolits from my last casting session. I had to stop and dig wax out of the seating die three times in the last 120 bullets to keep it from seating the boolits deeper than the crimp groove.

When next I set up to cast, I'll be following it with a PC session. I'll be retiring all my pan lube stuff in favor of PC.

But . . .

Before I start loading any of those new PC boolits, or even sizing them through the Lee Bullet Sizing dies, I need to clean any accumulated excess lube out of them. So, what solvents are good at cleaning beeswax/parafin based lubes out of dies?

Thanks in advance.

[45workhorse]

Take apart clean with what ever you have on hand. Q-tips, carb cleaner, brake cleaner, clp, remoil. Sometimes just pulling a rag through them does the job,

[Conditor22]

You can boil wax out, just make sure to dry well when done

[retread]

Hoppes No. 9 works for me. Clean it you would any bore. I remove the seating stems and let them soak in Hoppes and then polish with a clean rag.

[dikman]

It's extremely difficult to get wax off metal! Warming the metal and repeatedly wiping should remove most of it. That should be sufficient to make your dies usable. I had the same problem but changing from a lube to Hi-Tek solved it for me.

[Bloodman14]

Soak them in paint thinner for a bit.

[Newboy]

I don't think anything dissolves paraffin like carbon tetrachloride.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[skeet1]

If you are pan lubing all of your bullets it is no wonder your having a bad time with excess lube. Pan lubing is very slow and messy. Might I suggest you invest in a lubrisizer? In my opinion the best way to lube bullets, fast and not very messy. It also is the best way to install gas checks.

Ken

[Ickisrulz]

I use a heat gun on my dies. It melts the wax right out.

[country gent]

Almost any solvent and a brush in dies I use a nylon brush. Soak and brush keeping wet and it will float the wax out. I keep one end of the die in the solvent and work it with the brush. You will see the wax oils and dirt being pulled up and pushed out. Mineral spirits works good here. Even some of the house hold soaps may do better than you think. Most floor cleaners are made to remove wax build ups also.

[JBinMN]

I don't think anyones method to clean wax residue is the right or wrong one, but it is just a matter of what each of us likes to do. So, if someone wants to, I would suggest trying a few of the methods here & see which one suits ya the best.


For me, I take my dies apart & set them on/in a metal pan like a bread pan. I put the pan into the freezer. I wait a while 15min- 30 min. or so while I am doing something else.

Then after the 15 min. -30min. or so, to make the wax residue/buildup firmer, I take the die & parts out & using a pop-sickle stick or even a plastic knife, or whatever scraper I have handy ( I don't use metal) & a hard bristled nylon brush, I remove any wax I can see built up on the surfaces of the parts & die body inside.

Next I either can use a heat gun on Low or a hair dryer to soften the wax again & wipe the parts & die insides with a rag or a paper towel that has some solvent on it, to get out most of the rest of the residue.

Lastly, to remove any remaining wax residue film that might still be on the parts & die, I either use some brake cleaner, mineral spirits, or even Goo B Gone/Goo Gone solvent ( Whatever solvent I have easy access to at the time.) to remove the final residue of the wax build up either by spraying the die & parts & wiping(brake cleaner/carb cleaner), or just wiping with a solvent soaked rag.

Personally, I usually just take the die apart instead of leaving it set, since I have to change seating stems to fit different nose configurations/ogive, etc., once in a while, so I have to take the die apart anyway to do that, thus taking apart & resetting the die is no big deal to me & I think I get the die & parts cleaner that way.

If you do not want to remove the parts to try to keep the settings of the die in place, you can skip the step of freezing the parts & just use the heat source to get most of the wax loosened, then use whatever you want that will fit in the inside of the die, like was mentioned before, a few Q-tips with the tips moistened with the solvent you wish to use to get rid of the remaining wax residue. I do find that you may not usually get all the wax out when leaving the die in one piece, so I prefer to just take it apart & the reset it later on before I use it.

BTW, I use the first method to clean my sizing dies as well, even though there are no parts to remove & replace. It just "works for me".



I have not tried the hot water technique mentioned above, but I think I may try that some time. If I do I will use a heat gun or a hair dryer to get the die & parts fully dried & then lube them with something afterwards to prevent any possible corrosion build up.

( Yes I have both stainless steel & SS- carbide dies, but for some reason, sometimes that stainless gets corrosion on it, (particularly where the knurling on the tops where you would put your fingers) I think from the humidity in my basement I would reckon & I have to wire wheel it off when I remember to take the dies out to the garage, if I have the dies out of the turret plate, or before I put them back in a box. I try to remember to wipe them with a bit of oily rag before storage as well, but if I was in a hurry , I sometimes forget. BTW, If this has never happened to you, then good for you. It "has" happened to me...)

G'Luck to the OP whatever method you decide on.

[charlie b]

I used Ed's Red, basically cause that is what I clean my rifles with. If you don't use it then acetone or MEK would be my choice. Alcohol would probably work just as well. After all, you don't have to remove every last trace of the lube. Heck, WD40 would probably get it out too.

[cpaspr]

. . . If you do not want to remove the parts to try to keep the settings of the die in place, . . .

After many years of having to reset dies, I finally figured out that once I have a seating die stem set to the right depth for a particular bullet, all I have to do is measure from the top of the stem down to the top of the lock nut, write it down, and I can change it and repeat it all day long.

Ditto the powder measure. Once it's set, measure the length of the adjustment stem outside the lock ring. Write it down. Now I can change powders and quickly reset the powder measure (give or take a smidge) to the right spot. Then simply dial it in. No more too little/too much adjustment and back and forth.

Back to the original question:
Thanks to all of you for your responses.

To Skeet1, I started pan lubing because it is what my dad did. And it's worked well enough. But you're right, it is messy. If I'm going to have to invest some money anyway to change methods, I'd rather change to the method that lets me buy once and done. With a lubrisizer, as I understand it, I have to buy diameter specific parts, and change settings every time I change bullets. I don't cast but a couple hundred in a session. So, powder coating seems to be the better route for me to take.

[FLINTNFIRE]

I pulled dies used lighter fluid qtips and cleaned lube out of seating and crimping dies and went to powder coating , the continual mess of lube and the seating depth change from buildup is what started me powder coating , the noticeable lack of target obscuring smoke is why I prefer powder coat also , seating depth does not change , no cleaning build up of lube and I can see the target and it is another part of the hobby to play with.