Rusted dies

[Rp-]

Well I got ripped off on a set of Lee 45acp dies. Got them in the mail today but they are well used and abused.

Sizing die looks OK but has a little rust.

Flaring die is missing the top piece and the expander itself is frozen in place.

The seating stem is frozen in the seating die.

Anyone have any advice to free these or should I just scrap them?

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[fishingsetx]

Soak them in Kroll oil overnight and try again. If that doesn't work, soak them longer. I freed up a frozen shift linkage on a 1971 9.9 hp Johnson outboard that hadn't been used in 20+ years and had been soaked in salt water over and over (guy just used the trolling motor). Took almost 3 weeks for the Kroll oil to finally creep in enough to break it free. Rusted dies shouldn't be nearly as hard to break free as the aluminum/steel on that old motor

Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shoot....what a ride!"

[Rp-]

Forgive my young ignorance.... But what's kroll oil anyways? And where might someone find some?

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[mummer1973]

u can get it in auto parts stores or homedepot. it comes in a orange can and it looks like transmission fluid.
its a little pricey but worth it. like fishingsetx said it works great.

[CastingFool]

Kroil is a penetrating oil, used to loosen up frozen bolts, nuts, etc. You should be able to purchase it at hardware stores, auto supply stores, industrial supply stores. It is rather expensive, but a little goes a long way. Look for Kano Kroil. Now, it won't remove surface rust, but there is another product you can use, but I cannot remember the name of it. Perhaps another member will have the name.

[AZ Pete]

If you can't find Kroil, mix some acetone and ATF 50:50 and use that as penetrating oil. Kroil is great stuff though!


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[XDROB]

KROIL IS # 1 Hands Down!!!

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[Randy Bohannon]

If your going to play with guns and reloading Kroil is your friend.A tight patch with Kroil though the bore of any gun will tell you where if any leading is in your barrel.

[Joe K]

Once the parts are freed up, try evaporust. Just soak dies overnight and rust will be removed. Evaporust is available most places as the kano kroil and can be used many times over. Although, depending on how much you may have in those rusty dies, new ones are not too expensive. Hope this helps.

[afish4570]

If you can't find Kroil, mix some acetone and ATF 50:50 and use that as penetrating oil. Kroil is great stuff though!


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Acetone and transmission fluid is supposed to work better than almost all commercial penetrating oils. Walmart has a qt. of acetone for around $5.00 plus a qt. of trans. fluid gives you 2 qts. Good luck. I read a test of a whole bunch of commercial products vs. the homemade version on a couple of forums. afish4570

[Drew P]

I've read about the acetone atf thing but when I try it the two fluids don't mix.

[waltherboy4040]

Try white vinegar, its cheap so you won't be out much money.

[afish4570]

Just read and saw the You tube video Bundy Garage and saw him make the batch. Put in an oil can and barely shook it to mix the two components.....he did let the rusted screw sit for a week. The Liq. Wrench screw wouldn't budge and the 50/50 unscrewed easily. Sometimes tapping with a brass hammer to protect the project will shock and wick the liquid to speed up penetration. I still have several cans of PB Blaster and Liq. Wrench I am using up before I mix my 50/50 up. Not working on the projects like I used to in my golden years (gold for the doctors). afish4570

[retread]

Amazon has Kroil.

[afish4570]

Try white vinegar, its cheap so you won't be out much money.
40 yrs.ago on a Sunday when stores weren't open my father-in-law and I used Sloans Linament that was recommended by an old mechanic friend to free up some stubborn bolts on a bulldozer. I guess there are alot of things that can be used. The quest continues for the BEST, AFISH4570

[Driver man]

I've read about the acetone atf thing but when I try it the two fluids don't mix.
Dexron 3 and acetone in equal parts is what I have been using for years. Mixes just fine.

[TexasGrunt]

Evaporust is much easier to find than Kroil. Just order Kroil from Kano Labs.

Use a Google search to find them. If it's your first visit you'll get a coupon code that should snag 2 13 ounce cans for around $20 shipped. Amazon also has it. I have both the spray and the liquid.

[Rp-]

Thanks for the insight guys.

After thinking about it last night I now wonder if it might be bullet lube in the seating die. Think it's worth boiling it first? Even if it wouldn't budge under pressure?

I've got white vinegar laying around but I also have acetone laying around. Might just go pickup the dexron 3 and try mixing a small batch up. At worst I could be out about $10.



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[mdi]

I keep a container of my "soak" on the bench which is mineral spirits, Marvel's Mystery Oil, and Kroil (makes the Kroil last longer). I drop dies, gun parts, rusted tools, etc. in the container and let them soak (how long depends on how many times I visit my shop or how well my memory is working). My soak cleans, penetrated, and leaves a light film to prevent rust.

I would try soaking the lube crusted die in mineral spirits (paint thinner, solvent) to see if that loosens the lube. I too use Kroil quite a bit, and did, years ago use brake fluid as a rust remover...

[Char-Gar]

I would not boil a die. Kroil will loosen anything in the die that is causing the binding. If it is just hard bullet lube, drug store rubbing alcohol will be all you need.

Stuck die parts are common. I put the die in the padded jaws of my vise and use either a wrench or vise grips to remove the part. Of course, I dribble a little solvent (see above) in the stuck joint and let it sit for five minutes. I have never had a die that would not yield to this treatment.

[country gent]

Kroil is very good and wicks thru quickly. A days soak in kroil and a light brushing with a tooth brush then wipe with soft flannel cloth should be all it needs. The frozen parts can be lossened in the soaking and either soft jawed pliers. ( I have both leather and lead jaws made up) or it its a thread with no smooth wrea then jam nuts and a wrench working slowly and carefully. I made some soft jaw pliers from 4" channel locks for the bench. One set has thick leather jaw pads epoxied to the pliers jaws. Another set has lead jaws poured into them. I put steel plates on each side of jaws with a small parallel clamp holding them with a filler in front and back then poured soft lead in. About 1/8" thick

[Mike Kerr]

If I remember correctly the Lee 45ACP seating die comes with a stem most suitable for round nose or truncated cone bullets. (They do I remember) It sometimes happens that a previous reloader might have been seating semi wad cutters which have a sharper edge than round nose bullet types - it is very possible you have a build up of lead, lube, etc on the stem face and it has solidified into a irksome gunk. If this occurs the first thing is your overall seating length will become erratic and inconsistent then finally your stem will seize up which has probably happened to you.

Heating the die by any of several methods usually will break the seal of the gunk enough to scrape the gunk and then you can take the stem out and clean the whole piece. The missing top piece of the powder thru die is not needed if you are using the Lee pass thru system (only if you are dumping loads manually) but you can get a replacement part from Titan reloading for just about 3 bucks or so. Then you can set the top piece you spent $3 bucks on aside forever. If you can't get Kroil, Liquid Wrench may still be available at some hardware stores - or any commercial break free solvent will work.
Sorry the dies you received require some work but that is a frequent event of dealing with used reloading or shooting equipment.

[Rp-]

Well when you deal with a bunch of people eventually you will get burned. I've had pretty good luck so far. Still sucks though. Here's some pics just for reference.



https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170318/7919ceb2ff4b832ea30615eb0341b2f4.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170318/e48cb5b424b15f4fb51c8deaf08bac6c.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170318/7859f21d983e3311261a98ac18b1e8a2.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170318/86b33e467dc199b8fdd49727e6b7d688.jpg

The die without the lock ring is a 45 ACP flare die I had laying around (came with my pro 1000 press). The die in the middle is the same. You can see the expander part is stuck at the lowest possible part. On the left is the seating die from the bottom. The last pic is with the 2 dies flipped upright.

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[Char-Gar]

As somebody who has cleaned up several score of dies in that condition or worse, I don't think you have a significant problem. They will clean up as good as new. I don't think you got bit, for when you buy used dies, this is what will turn up from time to time. I expect to have to clean up such dies. If the steel is not pitted, any die can be put back into service.

[EMC45]

I've cleaned up dies in way worse condition then that. It involves Kroil, a wire brush and varying coarseness of steel wool. I have rescued many dies sets and re-sold them. They clean up and work just fine.

[ikarus1]

Soak em over night in vinegar and a pinch of salt, then rinse and dry well and oil them with gun oil.

[Rp-]

Soak em over night in vinegar and a pinch of salt, then rinse and dry well and oil them with gun oil.
You think that will free them?

I was planning on soaking them in either kroil or acetone/ATF after work today.

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[ikarus1]

You think that will free them?

I was planning on soaking them in either kroil or acetone/ATF after work today.

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Vinegar is a rust remover. Dont breathe or smoke over the top. It makes hydrogen....

[Rp-]

Vinegar is a rust remover. Dont breathe or smoke over the top. It makes hydrogen....
I'm not scared! [emoji2]

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[TexasGrunt]

Vinegar is a rust remover. Dont breathe or smoke over the top. It makes hydrogen....

Yeah...but not enough to cause any danger.

[shooterg]

Lot of "estate" dies look like that. Some old reloader passed on, his stuff sat/somebody got 'em at the auction/and tried to make a few bucks on'em. They'll clean up and work, hope you got 'em cheap enough to make it worthwhile.
Kroil is pretty much my main bore cleaner, haven't bought Hoppe's in years.

[Rp-]

Lot of "estate" dies look like that. Some old reloader passed on, his stuff sat/somebody got 'em at the auction/and tried to make a few bucks on'em. They'll clean up and work, hope you got 'em cheap enough to make it worthwhile.
Kroil is pretty much my main bore cleaner, haven't bought Hoppe's in years.
Well, I traded for 95 hornady 6.5 A-max bullets, plus a dozen or so mixed 6.5 bullets. I think I paid a fair price. Nothing to brag about though.

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[35Whelen]

Boeshield rust remover works amazingly well at taking off the rust, But Kroil is the best at pentrating and loosening up anything seized. Apply a bit of heat too with a heat gun and get them warmed up so the Kroil can get in there. Don't use a torch....its a bit flashy ;)

[XDROB]

KROIL the oil that creeps. Heat makes it creep faster😎


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[Walter Laich]

heat will also help by expanding the outer part and with the inner one a bit cooler and hence smaller you might get it moving that way

[troyboy]

I boil the seating dies. Evaporust for the rusted ones. Dissasemble, penetrating oil, steel wool and wire brush, polish with scotch brite, clean, wipe down with Ed's red and store. Done quite a few.

[Rp-]

24 hours in vinegar and the expander die is apart. Going to give it another 24 hours, if that doesn't get the seating die apart I'll go to the ATF/acetone

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[tankgunner59]

I use Acetone alone to clean my dies and it works great, including on bullet lube. Dissolves the bullet lube real well. I take my dies apart after about 500 reloads to clean. When I reload lubed cb's I clean after 100 loads. The 50/50 above sounds like a good product I might mix some up later. I've used PB Blaster before you just have to let it soak a good while.

[MaLar]

Evaporust

[Rp-]

...Well, I forgot all about them last night... Will pull them out tonight and report back.

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[Rp-]

Pulled the dies and rinsed them. The seating die was still ceased up. I do t know why I didn't try it earlier but tonight I took the ram from a Lee size and lube kit and put it in the press. Threaded up the die and rammed the ram in. Popped the seating stem right out.

The dies still have some rust. Gonna pickup something this weekend and hit them with it.


Thanks for the suggestions guys.

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[gwpercle]

I've read about the acetone atf thing but when I try it the two fluids don't mix.
General Motors Dexron III or later ATF and generic acetone from wally mart mix up just fine for me. You not using any of that synthetic ATF are you ?

[Reverend Al]

If you have a car battery charger you could make a simple "E" tank to remove rust from steel / iron parts. It's what all of the cast iron cookware folks use to clean up their old, heavily rusted and neglected cookware that they buy used. It'll work on your rusty dies too ...

http://lifehacker.com/5272712/turn-a-five-gallon-bucket-into-a-rust-removal-tank

[Moleman-]

If you have a car battery charger you could make a simple "E" tank to remove rust from steel / iron parts. It's what all of the cast iron cookware folks use to clean up their old, heavily rusted and neglected cookware that they buy used. It'll work on your rusty dies too ...

http://lifehacker.com/5272712/turn-a-five-gallon-bucket-into-a-rust-removal-tank

I've used that method in the past and just got done with the intake on a IH345 earlier today. The thermostat housing in the tank right now as will the water pump housing as soon as it's degreased a bit. 4hrs at 20 amps took 40 years of flaky rust off of the intake. For smaller parts you can use a couple D batteries or even a small electronics transformer like an old cell charger. Hose the part down with WD40 as soon as you rinse it off or it will flash rust as it dries.