Is my sizing die worn out?

[Super Sneaky Steve]

My very first sizing die is a Hornady .38spl die. I've loaded many thousands of rounds with it.

Now it's leaving some vertical lines in the cases. Deep enough to feel with your finger nail. I tried cleaning it, but it still does it.

I thought about using some fine sand paper but I don't want to change the dimensions of the die.

Is it time for a new one?

[ReloaderFred]

No need for a new die. Just recondition it according to these instructions, and it'll be good as new:

http://varmintal.com/arelo.htm#Polish

It will probably come out better than new.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[tazman]

If the die is steel, the polishing Fred suggested should work.
Assuming the die is carbide, I don't know if the polishing Fred suggested will work. If it does, great. If not, the die is toast.
The scratches will weaken the case walls and they will crack very quickly. I went through that a few decades ago with a steel die. Nothing but carbide dies now for pistol.

[country gent]

Is it steel or carbide? If steel it wont be hard to fix it as you may have some scratches in it. Carbide is harder to work with and requires diffrent lapping compounds to polish but can be done. With a split dowel and piece of flannel wrapped around the dowel to a ssnug tight fit and drill motor. Coat spinning flannel with flitz, simichrome or red rogue lightly enter into die and with drill motor spin at low rpms and a quick feed back and forth not coming off of flannel work for a couple mins like this and clean and test by sizing a case. If really bad scrathes in the die a very light rubbing compound may be needed. Occasionally a few drops of water will help rejuvinate the compound. Look into die when cleaned and see if scrathes are visable. Chances are there are fine scratches and the burrs raised are causing the case scratches.

[Super Sneaky Steve]

It is carbide. I guess I can't complain as it has gotten a lot of use.

Thanks for the suggestions and replies.

[Char-Gar]

My very first sizing die is a Hornady .38spl die. I've loaded many thousands of rounds with it.

Now it's leaving some vertical lines in the cases. Deep enough to feel with your finger nail. I tried cleaning it, but it still does it.

I thought about using some fine sand paper but I don't want to change the dimensions of the die.

Is it time for a new one?

No you do not need a new die. Some piece of grit on a case scratched the die. I polish my steel dies much like post 2. I put the die in the lathe chuck and the mop in a tail stock drill chuck and use Mothers Mag Polish and clean the die with patches and alcohol. A drill press or a hand drill will work as well.

[rockrat]

Send it back to Hornady with a note explaning what it is doing. Ask if they can polish it to correct the scratching. they might be able to fix it or just might send you a new die.

[VHoward]

Send it back to Hornady with a note explaning what it is doing. Ask if they can polish it to correct the scratching. they might be able to fix it or just might send you a new die.

At the least call Hornady up and talk to them. If they won't help you, then the polishing is the only thing left.

[country gent]

A very fine grade of silicon carbide lapping compound (600-800) wil slowly cut and polish the carbide. Its a long slow process with silicon carbide. Fine yellow diamond lapping compound cuts carbide faster ( still a slow process) and will leave a slightly better finish. While the scratches may still be visinle its the raised sharp edges causing the case scratches. remove these and all will ne well again. Since carnide is roughly 70 RC I have seldom seen it scratched but it will chip or crack. Te first ting is to inspect it to see what you have

[ReloaderFred]

Normally, when a carbide die starts scratching, it's cause by brass that has adhered to the carbide insert (galling), rather than a scratch in the carbide itself. When brass adheres to steel, or carbide, it can be removed by the polishing method Varmint Al recommends in the link I provided. I've restored many, many dies using that method, both steel and carbide. It only takes a couple of minutes in most cases.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Motor]

Actually if it's carbide it very likely just has small bits of brass stuck to it. In the machine trades we call these "bugs". This is very common.

You can either polish off the bugs or remove them with copper removing bore cleaner. Polishing is probably the easiest. 0000 steel wool or something similar will work. It's pretty hard to mess up polishing, actually cleaning, carbide.

Motor

ETA: Just noticed Fred's post. 100% correct. ;)

[Ickisrulz]

Flitz polish on a paper towel. I have done it quite a few times. No need to contact the manufacturer.

[tazman]

Actually if it's carbide it very likely just has small bits of brass stuck to it. In the machine trades we call these "bugs". This is very common.

You can either polish off the bugs or remove them with copper removing bore cleaner. Polishing is probably the easiest. 0000 steel wool or something similar will work. It's pretty hard to mess up polishing, actually cleaning, carbide.

Motor

ETA: Just noticed Fred's post. 100% correct. ;)


Normally, when a carbide die starts scratching, it's cause by brass that has adhered to the carbide insert (galling), rather than a scratch in the carbide itself. When brass adheres to steel, or carbide, it can be removed by the polishing method Varmint Al recommends in the link I provided. I've restored many, many dies using that method, both steel and carbide. It only takes a couple of minutes in most cases.

Hope this helps.

Fred

I hadn't considered that the brass would stick to the carbide. That is a new bit of information for me. Thanks for posting that.

[Motor]

I think it happens more with carbide than with steel dies because you are always using lube with steel.

This is why I like dry tumbling. Dry tumbling (I use vibratory) typically leaves a little thin dusting on my brass. This dusting acts like a lube in the carbide die.

Motor

[Ickisrulz]

I think it happens more with carbide than with steel dies because you are always using lube with steel.

This is why I like dry tumbling. Dry tumbling (I use vibratory) typically leaves a little thin dusting on my brass. This dusting acts like a lube in the carbide die.

Motor

I have a CH4D neck sizing die with interchangeable bushings. I can use it for 30, 22 and 338 calibers. To the best of my knowledge the bushings are just steel. Most of the time I do not need to lube the necks when using. The only problem I have had is with nickel plated brass. Tiny flakes stuck to the inside of the bushing and scratched up some necks. I polished out the dies and then tossed the nickel brass.

[tazman]

I think it happens more with carbide than with steel dies because you are always using lube with steel.

This is why I like dry tumbling. Dry tumbling (I use vibratory) typically leaves a little thin dusting on my brass. This dusting acts like a lube in the carbide die.

Motor

I tumble lube my boolits. When fired in my handguns(38 special and 9mm), there is often a slightly greasy residue on the outside of the cases. I usually go ahead and load these cases since the coating is barely there and poses no issues. I think this coating acts as a lube when I resize the cases. I have loaded several thousands of cases in this manner with no scratching of the cases occurring.
I usually just wipe off the outside of the case with a rag when finished loading if the outside is still too dirty to suit me.
I am not very anal about the appearance of my ammunition, just about the function.
I am not suggesting this as a proper procedure for everyone. It is just something that I sometimes do if I need some ammunition loaded quickly. Particularly for testing purposes.
I load far more ammunition for testing than for reserve supplies. For the reserve supplies, I tumble the cases to a nice shine before loading so they look good and any problems(corrosion) will show up at a glance.

[.22-10-45]

I too believe you have brass galling (clinging) to die surface. Just because dies are Carbide, theres nothing preventing you from lightly lubing cases...I do this especially when re-sizing range pick-up fired in others chamber. I apply an extreemly light coat of Imperial Wax with fingers to every 10-20 cases...really reduces force to size.

[country gent]

I will lightly lube pistol cases even in carbide dies since it just makes sizing so much easier to perform, especially on brass from pistols with larger chambers. It also makes dies last longer. Carbide is very hard ussually 70-72 rockwell and can be tricky to work with. Most home polishing materials wont cut it but will cut residues and or build ups on it. A good cleaning and inspection under good light and possibly magnification ( this is where a bore scope can be a big benifit). Then an educated decission can be made as to what to do. Carbide can chip and crack fairly easily leaving sharp edges to deal with.

[noylj]

Have you been sizing nickel-plated cases? They can leave bits of Ni on/in the carbide and put "racing stripes" in the next cases being resized.
Carbide sizing dies last for several million rounds. Yours are NOT worn out. Something has gotten into the carbide and needs to be cleaned out or your have cracked the carbide ring (do you size by "camming" the press over and applying a LOT of pressure to the carbide ring?). Inspect the carbide ring for cracks and then take a brass brush and gun cleaner and clean the die out. If that doesn't work, call Hornady and they'll probably have you send it back and they'll inspect/clean it for you.

[Super Sneaky Steve]

Yes, I have done some nickel cases. It looks like my dies are titanium nitride. I don't have a lathe but I do have fine steel wool. I'll try to recondition it, if that doesn't work I'll call Hornady as suggested.

Thanks everyone!

[bangerjim]

I hadn't considered that the brass would stick to the carbide. That is a new bit of information for me. Thanks for posting that.


Yes, softer metals WILL adhere or "gall" to harder metals like carbide alloys. Brass, being many many times softer, will stick and can be easily removed and the carbide normally will not be damaged. You can do MUCH more damage by trying to polish it with the wrong abrasives, the incorrect knowledge, and especailly using a hand drill!!!!!!! Find a buddy with a metal lathe to do it right.

[bangerjim]

Yes, I have done some nickel cases. It looks like my dies are titanium nitride. I don't have a lathe but I do have fine steel wool. I'll try to recondition it, if that doesn't work I'll call Hornady as suggested.

Thanks everyone!

Most manfacturers do not look kindly on the user trying a Rube Goldberg fix and the sending it back saying it is damaged/defective. Call them 1st before you begin cobbling the whole thing up. TiN coating is a molecule thick gold color (normally) coating that will wear thru.

Good luck. Sizing dies are not that expensive to replace. Personally I would not even try to "fix" it and just buy a new one. The one you have has served you well.

banger

[Motor]

Fine steel wool will not harm a normal steel die and definitely not harm anything harder.

Polish wet with light oil.

Depending on the die design you can sometimes back off or remove the de-capping pin and chuck the die in a drill chuck by chucking on the stems locking device.

To replace a die because it has brass stuck to the walls is just silly. Like throwing away a knife because the blade got dull.

Motor

[cutter_spc]

I could be wrong but, I had always been under the impression that Hornady pistol sizing dies were not carbide, but rather TiN coated steel, much like the drill bits you can buy. I had a set of their TiN dies when they first came out and if I remember right they recommended lightly lubing the cases, maybe things have changed that was a long time ago. But I would call Hornady first before attempting any powered polishing, we've all seen what those drill bits look like after some hard use.

[Bullwolf]

I have a few different 38/357 die sets, three of them are carbide, and a few are plain steel dies.

While I was sizing some nickel cases with an RCBS 38/357 carbide sizing die, (using lemon pledge as a size lube which I don't recommend) and I managed to get some nickel stuck in the carbide ring of the sizing die. The nickel imbedded in the carbide ring scratched up a few cases after.

Was a little worried as carbide is HARD, and I was thinking I would need something like diamond paste to lap it out of the carbide ring. Since the dies were RCBS, I knew if I needed, I could always just call RCBS and they would take care of it for me.

With nothing to lose, I tried to polish the nickel out of the carbide ring myself. I used a split dowel in the drill press, and a combination of JB bore paste, and some Flitz metal polish on a tight fitting piece of paper shop towel. It actually worked quite well.

The carbide ring was smooth inside after this, and sizes cases again with out leaving any scratches. This was the first time this ever happened to me when using a carbide die.

I've managed to get brass or other grit stuck in steel dies before, and fixed them pretty much the same way.


- Bullwolf

[gwpercle]

When my 38 special RCBS die started doing this, after several years of use , I used 600 grit wet or dry abrasive paper and oil , by hand rolled around a wooden dowel small enough to fit , to polish out the inside ring of carbide . Whatever was making the scratches was easily removed and it has been several years since then. I have started using a spray lube , Lee case lube dissolved in alcohol , on the cases when I reload even with carbide dies, makes them go in and out much easier and helps with that galling.
Gary

[Super Sneaky Steve]

I talked to Hornady and they said to use a cotton swab on the end of my drill with some valve lapping compound.

He said even though the die is hard the bits of brass are not. Makes sense.

I'll try to get it polished up before I send it out.

Thanks guys.