I recently inherited a bunch of dies in assorted calibers. Most of the dies are several years old and were use a good bit by the previous owner. What are some obvious signs of wear that I should look out for?

All of my pistol dies are Carbide insert and have had thousands of cases through them with no indication of losing tolerance. All of the dies that I got are standard rifle dies from Redding, RCBS and Lyman.

Thanks for the input.

If there not rusted or scratched there still good.
One of the nice things about the brands you mentioned is that the factory will repair/replace them for you (and your grandkids), unlike the "economy" brand with their "jump through hoops" 2 year limited warrenty.

One needs adequate bullet tension in the neck. That's where mine wear out first. If it's an RCBS die they will replace it free.

I can�t imagine how hardened steel dies can be �used up� by soft brass, copper and lead. Unless the inside of the die is rusted severely to the point of pitting or has very deep scratches caused by sizing dirty brass they should do their job. Take them apart, use a light to look down into the die, clean them the same as you would clean you guns, reassemble them then run a new bright, lubed case through. You will be able to tell if the die chamber is ok or not. Bet they will be just fine.

Perforator, Unless a set of dies has been severely abused for a very long time, there is no way in Hell that they can be "worn" out. If they have been properly lubed during their working life there is no possibility of wearing them out. A person could not live long enough to do so. I don't care what anyone tells you. If they have been properly used it is impossible to wear them out in 10 lifetimes. Jim

Yeah Perf. think about the dynamics; brass cases going into hardened steel dies (nickel brass is another debate). Nothing is going to "wear" out. Rust &/or neglect, internal scratches, etc. Shine a pen light inside & see how they look, if they aren't rusted/pitted, load em up!

The reason I posed this question had to do with Dillons Blue Press offering Carbide Rifle Dies.

To quote Dillon. "We also offer .223 and .308 die sets with a full length carbide sizing die. Lubrication is still required, but the increased scratch resistance and die longevity of carbide are of great benefit to these groups of users."

Seems to me they are implying that the die last longer with the carbide vs. normal steel. Therefore one must infer from the above quote that dies do indeed "wear out".

I'm not arguing or trying to piss anyone off, I just wondered if there were wear indications that appeared in rifle dies.

Remember that Dillon takes it's sales training directly from P.T.Barnum.
Those that beleive the sun rises and sets on Dillon, lap up the sales BS along with the blue Kool-aid.
Unless you abuse (dirty brass, lack of lube) steel dies, the life expectancy is measured in generations. What's the carbide going to do for you (besides cost you more $$$$), increase it from 4 generations to 5 (100years vs 125years, or 1 million rounds to 1.25 million rounds)?

Er, one other advantage, Tailgunner. You don't have to lube the cases with T/C dies. Makes cleanup a lot easier.

Caint says as I evvers saied I were a gud spiller
But at least you understood my mis-spelling.