Scratches in FL resizing die

[bayjoe]

I have a 223 full length sizing die that is scratching the neck portion of the case. Ho bunch of little vertical scratches on the neck when it comes out of the die.
Is this die saveable?
Is their a way I can buff the scratches out ?

[nhrifle]

I've had a few dies develop scratches in the neck over the years, usually I just set them aside and replace the die body. No reason they couldn't be honed out to return them to service. One of the things I learned that prevented future dies from developing burrs in the neck area is to apply lube only to the body of the case before sizing, never to the shoulder or neck. I think this stops the die from accumulating grit in that area which becomes embedded in the metal.

[Bent Ramrod]

Unless the scratches are deep, they can be removed pretty easily. If you have a lathe, spin the die in it while you push a split dowel with a piece of crocus cloth back and forth along the scratched surface. If you don't have a lathe, you can clamp the die in a vise, put the split dowel in an electric or hand drill and do the same. Make sure you push and pull the crocus back and forth as the dowel spins.

I usually do 20 or 30 back-and-forth passes with the crocus and then clean and wipe out the die and size a test case. Typically, the scratches go away after a couple of these polishing routines.

A little bit of grit on a case will scratch the die, which will scratch the rest of the cases until it is polished out. Cleaning them before lubricating and sizing pays a lot of dividends this way. But I've refurbished a lot of dies by the polishing routine above.

[EDG]

You probably have brass galled to the inside of the die neck from lack of cleaning or lube.
If you have a lathe or a bolt that you can thread into the top of the die you can polish it out.

Spin the die at about 300 RPM and polish the neck using a 320 or 400 grit wet or dry paper. Use the paper wet with a light gun oil or WD-40 or something similar. Once you cut all of the brass that is stuck to the die clean it totally clean of abrasive and it will work as good as new. Be sure to use clean brass and a tiny bit of lube on the neck. I get used dies foisted off on Ebay that have that problem fairly often.

[CHeatermk3]

I deprime fired cases and clean the primer pocket before sizing then a short time in the polishing media before proceding further. Primer residue is very hard and abrasive and can damage your bore too, I think.

[jcwit]

I have always wondered how a scratch could make a scratch. Is not a scratch a sharp depression? So inform me as to how it causes a scratch, ie: sharp depression?

More likely you have galling on the inside of your die, and yes that can cause a scratch in/on a case.

Polish it out with fine emery cloth or crocus cloth.

[ReloaderFred]

I've polished numerous sizing dies to bring them back to life, but I use Varmint Al's method. Here's a description of how he, and I, do it:

POLISH THE DIES.... I polish the inside of my rifle reloading dies. Most die manufacturers leave the die bores smooth but not polished. A polished die will resize with much less axial force than one in the as-received condition. I disassemble them and put a little Flitz on a cotton bore mop held in a drill motor and polish each one for 30 seconds or more at a 300 to 600 rpm speed. Sometimes I have to wrap a paper towel around the swab to get a good fit. Then I clean all the polish out with hot water and dry with a paper towel wrapped around a clean cotton swab. The polishing process does not remove a measurable amount of material, but results in smoother operation, minimizes the scratching or scoring of the brass, and minimizes crumpling problems when I use them while forming wildcat brass.



Flitz is slightly more aggressive than JB. I took a piece of mild steel with a reasonably smooth finish and polished it with Flitz and JB. The left end was polished for about 2 minutes at 500 rpm with Flitz and the right end for about 2 minutes with JB. There is no detectable decrease in the diameter on either end measured with my high-precision Mitutoyo Micrometer. It was a very easy test. Try it for yourself.
Here is the link to his page: http://varmintal.com/arelo.htm

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Green Monster]

2nd what ramrod and fred say. Dont hurry or rush when doing it though. Take your time think about your next step of the process and itll work. It dosent take long only like 10 min if that. Also how are you cleaning your brass? If you use dry media like walnut it can leave a gritty powder in the dies and cause this as well. That happened to me and i switched over to ss media.

[dudel]

I have always wondered how a scratch could make a scratch. Is not a scratch a sharp depression? So inform me as to how it causes a scratch, ie: sharp depression?

More likely you have galling on the inside of your die, and yes that can cause a scratch in/on a case.


A scratch displaces metal on both sides of the sharp depression. It's also possible that what caused the sharp depression is still lodged/embedded there, proud of the polished surface. Both of those will contribute to the scratch on the case.

[bayjoe]

It took around three hours but I lapped the dies neck out. I used the abrasive compound that is like valve grinding compound. I had little bits of brass come out the first couple of times. I would do a little, clean the die and run a case thru. It worked.
Learned valuable lesson: Don't loan dies to son!!!!

[FLHTC]

A scratch displaces metal on both sides of the sharp depression. It's also possible that what caused the sharp depression is still lodged/embedded there, proud of the polished surface. Both of those will contribute to the scratch on the case.

Correct, a scratch in the die will leave two parallel scratches in the case