9mm Cases Come Out Of Die Dirty

[ArrowJ]

I start with what I thought was clean brass, and after running it through a carbide sizing die that was cleaned with Hoppes prior to use it comes out dirty. It wipes off with my fingers. Is my brass just dirtier than it looks or perhaps was cleaned with a polish that is still on it (bought it once fired)?

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[Greg S]

I have had similar occurrances due to corrosion. Apparently, I had a case tumbler in storage during a move and when I unpacked it a year or so later noticed that I hadn't emptied the once clean brass out of it. At one point there was a large sudden temp differential or high humidity which either introduced moisture or caused the brass to sweat and tarnish, deeply.

Try some 3 or 4 X steel wool to clean the case and try it again.

[ArrowJ]

Hmm, not good. I have thousands of these things!

[ArrowJ]

I found this: https://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=6&f=42&t=297659

I am hoping for this! I am going to pick up some brake cleaner today and reckless the die to start with.

[Calamity Jake]

It's not the die, there's some kind of cleaning/polishing residue on the brass, put some cases in your
brass cleaner for about an hour then size some for test.
There's also a possibility that the size die is burnishing the brass causing a dirty look, which
won't hurt anything.

[tja6435]

Use some Meguiar's cleaner wax in your tumbler, it'll clean your brass up

[ArrowJ]

Thanks guys. I will try cleaning the brass. I did get some brake cleaner anyway as I do not think I was getting everything off the die, but I would say the brass is a more likely culprit. What I want to do is throw them in my wet tumbler...that I do not have :)

[gwpercle]

Clean the carbide sizing die , especially the carbide ring or insert , with break cleaner , lacquer thinner , acetone or even charcoal lighting fluid. I think the Hoppes might be leaving a film on or causing the carbide to leave the dark smudge.
If the brass looks like photo #1 before sizing and after sizing , looks like photo #2 , it's being left by the carbide and/or Hoppes , so try cleaning the insert and leaving off the Hoppes and see what that does.
My carbide dies do not leave the dark smudge but I don't put Hoppes on them either... the smudge appears to be burnished on the case. it's the only thing I can think of !
Gary

[ArrowJ]

I cleaned it with brake cleaner and removed the polish from the brass. That seems to have taken care of it. Naturally I did not try one before I ran it through the tumbler so I will have to do that with the next batch to see if just cleaning the die did it or if it was the polish or both.

[leadman]

To keep my dies clean and not scratched I first deprime, then give them a bath in a touch of dish soap and a scoop of Lemi-shine and hot water. Do this in a large plastic container with a lid and shake it up and let it set and repeat. Rinse, set in sun to dry then lube if needed and size.
Take your next batch of cases and wash them after tumbling and you probably will be shocked at how much dirt comes off them.

[FatherAbraham]

I have the wifey save the used dryer sheets to throw in the tumbler a couple at a time wilst polishing my brass, seems to clean very small dirt particles/ residue from my media. Over time makes it last longer!!! Have not seen any reduction in static cling in the tumbler though

[ArrowJ]

I have the wifey save the used dryer sheets to throw in the tumbler a couple at a time wilst polishing my brass, seems to clean very small dirt particles/ residue from my media. Over time makes it last longer!!! Have not seen any reduction in static cling in the tumbler though

I think I will try this, but I am going to swipe two brand new sheets! I bet she will not even notice :)

[acoop101]

Or just don't worry about it, shoot it, clean it, load it repeat. I have shot thousands of rounds with similar issues. I only use my shiny reloads for long term storage reloads.

[country gent]

How hard is the brass sizing in the die? It may be a wax or residue left on the brass from media thats being over worked during sizing. It could also be a hard build up of something in the diethats not getting completely removed. Try not only spraying with solvent but use a snig fitting bore brush on a short rod to scrub it out good, then with patches wrapped around brush wipe it out. With clean patch lightly lube inside of die with case sizing lube and wipe out excess to a thin een coat. The lube isnt so much for sizing as to keep build ups from sticking to the die body. I do very lightly lube 9mm and 40 S&W when sizing range pick ups in my carbide dies as cases fired in larger chambers this reduces the force needed to resize them. Look in the die with a good strong light for dull areas that dont match the rest of the dies finish. Orient cases into die to see if issue is at the same location. SOme oils cutting fluids fluxes used in manufacturing can be hard to remove.

[ArrowJ]

I think the culprit was whatever was used to polish the once fired brass. After I cleaned the die and tumbled the brass in dry media the problem went away.

[brass2bullets]

I agree with ArrowJ. I use Stainless Steel media, dawn soap, and a lemon shine cleaner. Works great to get a true clean. I use carb cleaner on the dies to degrease then run paper towels through. Hope this helps.


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[ArrowJ]

I agree with ArrowJ. I use Stainless Steel media, dawn soap, and a lemon shine cleaner. Works great to get a true clean. I use carb cleaner on the dies to degrease then run paper towels through. Hope this helps.


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Dry tumbling does a good job, but my goal is to eventually wet tumble as I think it will a) remove the problem 100%, and b) make the brass look really nice which will make me feel happy for no practical reason.

[brass2bullets]

I Swage my own bullets from the used cases and it's a must for them to be wet cleaned. Every thing comes out nice an perdy![emoji16]http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160409/b257b3f7047a5b2166703686875b4760.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160409/2ce21804f8ebb6f8ad93dfc9a5a5d4c9.jpg


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[SSGOldfart]

You might want to lube every 10th case even using carbine dies,it will releave a lot of pressure on your loading press too.

[ArrowJ]

You might want to lube every 10th case even using carbine dies,it will releave a lot of pressure on your loading press too.

Since this post started I have switched to steel dies after my carbide die broke. After running a lubed case through a steel die I think you may have something there.