Dillon carbide dies scratching brass

[claudesapp]

Recently bought a 650 and dies for 45 ACP and 9mm, and have had the same problem with both sizing dies - they scratch the brass all the way around.

I set up the press for 45 first and noticed the problem. Took the die apart and saw grooves in the carbide sizing ring all the way around, they were at the top of the ring away from the mouth. Called Dillon and they swapped the die out for me.

Today I set up for 9mm and the exact same problem showed up. Took the die apart and saw the same issue, grooves in the carbide ring all the way around.

I am going to call Dillon on this again, but is there anything I could possibly be doing to cause this? I was using shiny clean tumbled brass in both instances, but can't believe anything could be causing such consistent grooves in two carbide rings.

Thanks,

Claude

[NSB]

The only thing I can think of is that they got dropped. Carbide is very brittle and dropping them could cause a problem. However, I'm skeptical of even that.

[1845greyhounds]

I had the same thing occur with a 223 sizer. I never really knew why. The only thing I could think was that I scratched the die with dirty brass.

[country gent]

The carbide ring is under pressure in the die body so its pretty solid and stable. A case scratch would be lines up and down the ring length wise. Grooves were probably a hone that went bad. It happens. part stops its occilation for a min and hone has loaded next part until its caught are out of secs. C hip in the polish wheel can also cause this. Sometimes they can be "polished out" but to make any diffrence on carbide you need a very fine diamond paste. New dies send them back lest the maker make them right. They will look in them with a bore scope and some insturments if out of spec replace them. Most sizing dies have at least one good polish in them.

[claudesapp]

Did not drop them, but can see that maybe cracking the ring and causing scratches. Possible, but don't think that is the problem here.

The scratches are consistently all the way around the case, looks like every millimeter or so there is a gouge in the carbide ring around the inside circumference.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Dillon's manufacturing has been laboring for a long time turning out product (as have all the manufacturers) to satisfy the highest demand ever for reloading equipment. Powder and primers are hard to come by, etc.

I think what you may be seeing is QC items that may have been missed under the pressure to meet demand. Not saying it's a good thing, just saying it happens with all manufacturing plants when under extreme high demand for long periods of time.

[prs]

Take another look at those dies. When this happened to me with Lee die the grooves were actually burnished brass on the ring . Squeeky clean brass and squeeky clean die was the reason why. Cleaned die with 0000 wool and WD-40. Use a tiny amount of case lube to prevent.

prs

[claudesapp]

Thanks for the replies and PMs. Spoke with Dillon today and they told me that I was depositing brass on the carbide ring, causing scratches. They said not to use walnut tumbling media like I have always used, but to use corncob instead. The tech said it was basically dirty brass causing the problem.

They have more experience and knowledge than me I suppose, but I've loaded tens of thousands of rounds through Lee and RCBS carbide dies and never experienced this problem before. And I have always tumbled in walnut exclusively.

Have to trust them though, cleaned all the gunk out of my tumbler with mineral spirits and ordered a bunch of corncob from Grainger. Let's see.

[Chilmonty]

With Dillon's warranty, I would just send it back for replacement.
Don't see how soft brass or walnut pieces would possibly damage carbide.

[EDG]

It is likely that you are getting some combination of very clean dry brass with zero lube. That brass in a carbide ring that may be galling and leaving brass behind. You can easily cure it in most cases (no pun intended) by polishing the galled brass out of the die and using a tiny bit of lube (say like a finger print) on one case in 10 or 15.

[ReloaderFred]

The carbide isn't damaged. It's brass getting stuck to the carbide that's causing the scratching. It only takes a couple of minutes to cure the problem using Varmint Al's technique: http://varmintal.com/arelo.htm#Polish

His method works to cure scratching in steel dies and to remove brass stuck to carbide dies. I've restored many dies over the years using his technique.

Fine scratches in carbide dies are often caused by polish residue that is still on the brass after tumbling. This can be cured by tumbling for a short time in untreated corn cob after the initial tumbling. Since I have three tumblers, one is reserved for untreated corn cob for the final treatment, and this eliminates all scratching with carbide dies.

Corn cob works by absorbing the impurities, whereas walnut shell works via friction, since the walnut hulls are hard and can't absorb.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[gwpercle]

I had a carbide die start scratching brass when sizing, a bit of grit or somthing had embedded in the carbide ring...I scrubbed it with brass brush and steel wool and got it out. Worked fine after that. Found out a little lube (Lee case lube mixed with alcohol and sprayed on ) helped sizing even with carbide. You also might try cleaning the new die before first use in case any manufacturing crud might be left in there.
Gary