Sizing & Forming Die Scratch Repair

[noshow]

I seem to be having more than my share of scratched dies lately. I have sent them back to RCBS in the past and they have repolished and returned them without charge. But, it is a long turnaround time! Has anyone ever tried to polish them out themselves? I would like to try it, but fear ruining the dies. In the RCBS instruction book, it says to use 320 grit Emory Cloth to remove the burrs useing a lathe. I don't have a lathe, but do have an electril drill and a dremel. Maybe some of you have been successful at this repair and would like to share your methods or tricks. Or, is it best to send to RCBS again???:)

[NVcurmudgeon]

noshow, thanks for showing up here and joining our ranks. Sounds like you are tired of having your dies tied up for repolishing and enriching the post office. RCBS is great on warranty, but you might try prevention instead of repair.

1. Are your dies the standard non-carbide?
2. What are you lubing the cases with?
3. Are you sizing steel cases?
4. Are the cases tumbled or wiped clean before lubing and sizing?

The answer should be found somewhere within those four questions. Good luck from one who made each and every one of those mistakes 45 or so years ago!

[swheeler]

Noshow; I have suspected that nickel plated brass caused scratched dies, and I try to avoid it as much as possible anymore, but still have plenty around. I also have had the plating flake of the casings, probably wouldn't be the best thing to have in a rifle chamber. Just a thought.
Scot

[JSH]

Noshow, from what I have had happen to me in the past fith form and trim dies, any die as far as this goes. Clean it with bore cleaner, the same as you would a FLGC barrel. Once again, I suggest Wipeout. Use brakecleaner or somthing that leaves no oily residue for the best results.
Unless I missed somthing on the nickel brass, I didn't see you give any reference to it? It will cause you grief sooner or later.
As to polishing, I have never used anything much stronger than Flitz.
I have threatend to on sevral lee products. On them I usually just do a flitz polish before I ever use them, saves some cussing later.
The one thing to remember is if there is nickel or brass smeared into pore of the die, you have to get it out. You can polish it and it will go away for a while, but it is still there.
Any more on form and trim dies I keep an old vacum handy to suck up any shavings and filings. There is a lot more pressure and things going on inside a die while using it than most folks realize.
IMHO, I have a hard time sticking a piece of emery much coarser than 400 in my dies.
The ones I have had the most problem with are the Lee, but ya get what ya pay for. On the same hand I have some that work very well.
Redding believe it or not is the next problem child. But, the ones I have had problems with were always second hand.
Hornady have always polished up very nice with flitz for me. I suspect them to be a bit softer.
The only rcbs dies I have had problems with were also second hand.
Jeff

[Marshal Kane]

I seem to be having more than my share of scratched dies lately. I have sent them back to RCBS in the past and they have repolished and returned them without charge. Has anyone ever tried to polish them out themselves? I would like to try it, but fear ruining the dies. I don't have a lathe, but do have an electril drill and a dremel. Maybe some of you have been successful at this repair and would like to share your methods or tricks. Or, is it best to send to RCBS again???:)
Been there, done that with a steel RCBS straightwalled .38 Special die. After having RCBS repolish the die for the second time, decided to do it myself. Using a piece of rag wrapped around a wood dowel and chucked into my electric drill, proceeded to polish the die using fine valve lapping compound. The same stuff used to lap valve seats. I removed so much material that the sized cases would no longer grip the bullet. Since I took the responsibility of doing this, felt it was not right to send the die back to RCBS. Would suggest you return your die to RCBS for repolishing. That way, if it no longer meets specs, you could expect RCBS to send you a new die. Better idea, if you are resizing straightwalled handgun cases, invest in carbide dies.
As the other shooters suggested, do NOT resize nickel cases in steel dies and be sure to carefully clean your cases prior to resizing. If the scratches are not deep, you can try to buff them out in your tumbler using a brass polish additive ie. Flitz etc. Hope you can benefit from my mistake. Best wishes!

[kywoodwrkr]

I clean and polish some dies using an old brass bristle brush with 000 steel wool wrapped around for a fairly tight fit.
I use Kroil or similar lube on it and use a cordless drill to drive it.
I polish till I feel the heat in my hand holding the die.
You can reverse direction also.
Only die I sent back to RCBS was a Nambu forming die.
I wasn't excited about the way it came out.
YMMV however.
DaveP

[georgeld]

The only die I've ever had a problem with since starting reloading in 1958 was last year and it was a carbide.

Fooled around til too late to clean the brass for a match and didnt' have any loaded. Ran one that had been dropped in the gravel at the range and had a tiny burr on it. Thought that wasn't going to be any problem. But, it turned out not to be a burr at all but, a small fleck of shale.
That scratched the bore of the carbide and it wrecked every case run into it after that. Sent it back and they replaced it with a new one. Seems like it was a Lee die. I'd sent a note telling what happened and asked them to polish it out. Nope, brand new at N/C.

Gotta make sure those cases are clean first!!

[EDG]

To avoid scratching your brass keep your dies, brass and hands super clean.
I have bought used dies that scratched brass due to the previous owner sizing dirty cases. I have polished 10 to 15 dies that scratched the brass and corrected all of them. I used 400 or 500 grit silicon carbide wet or dry paper used wet with a light oil such as your common gun oil in an engine lathe. It take very little polishing, less than 5 min at 600 RPM, and the resulting finish is usually better than the factory finish. This also work for expanders that scratch inside the neck due to the lack of lube.

One thing that could cause a scratched die is the factory polishing abrasive left in the vent hole in bottle neck sizers. I use compressed air and a needle or a paper clip to get it out before I ever use the die. I have found this crap left in nearly all the bottle neck sizer dies I have bought whether new or used.

You do not have to tumble you cases but it does not hurt. I usually just wash then rinse them with 90% isopropyl alcohol to dry them.

Like they said above ....avoid nickel cases except in straight wall case ran through carbide sizer dies if you can. However the BPCR guys like the nickel because they do not corrode and I do not hear them complain about them.