Help needed on 'damaged' expander die

[Racingsnake]

Hi guys

I took the expander plug out from my Lee 38 special die today to clean it and noticed what appears to be deep scratches in the portion of metal that flares the case mouth. Please see pictures below. Is this damage from dirty cases?

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd68/RacingSnake_photo/B.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd68/RacingSnake_photo/A.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd68/RacingSnake_photo/C.jpg

[gnoahhh]

Nope, just good old Lee quality! (They are tool marks from when it was made.) They really shouldn't hurt anything.

[40Super]

Looks alot like nickel cases with burrs on the mouth.I tried to buy an extra expander for each caliber that I load any nickel cases on because they scratched up the plug and it would show up when I ran brass(the mfg sent new ones for free). Mine had the up/down marks(like I see under the rings) but I chamfer all my brass so I don't have the "rings". I have seen those rings though from any cases I didn't chamfer.
Or as said above,but I have no comment on that without seeing them before they were used ,my expanders are RCBS.

[geargnasher]

Yes, that looks like brass or nickel buildup, not scratches. Try a quick polish with some oiled 400-grit emery paper followed by fine steel wool.

Gear

[Pavogrande]

I agree with gnoahhh, tooling marks, or to be generous, lube retention grooves.
I see now reason to worry about them.

[Racingsnake]

I took the expander plug out becuase case expanding seemed to be getting sticky.

Thanks for the responses and I'll try the fine sand paper and oil which Gear suggested.

Is this common with all expander dies?

[Racingsnake]

Is it necessary / beneficial to chamfer straight wall handgun cases from time to time?

I thought it would limit the life of a case.

Regards, Racingsnake

[RayinNH]

Snake it is beneficial to chamfer. If you bell your cases to a minimum flare it prevents the case mouth from scraping lead from your boolit. You should only have to redo it when/if you trim your cases to length...Ray

[Racingsnake]

Thanks Ray