Sunday morning I quickly threw a few .223 loads together. I noticed that the die was almost sticking to the case, and took a look at the Forster Seater from below. Much to my chagrin, the sleeve of the seater was covered in rust. I looked at a bunch of my other dies, but other than the odd spot, none of them were as rusty as this one....

I polished the sleeve on the inside with a .357 cal brush stuck in a drill, then lightly oiled. I have never run into this problem before, and my reloading room is heated and not particularly damp (dry cellar room).

How do you protect your dies from rusting - if at all?? I kind of frown on using oil, as inevitably the cases I load will get oiled as well. But I'm not sure what other options I have??

Ideas, comments, experience??

- mike

Silicon spray.

mho, I have been keeping those rust inhibitor chips in my die boxes and tool boxes and they work well. They sell the stuff at Home Depot around here.

Someone on the forums suggested tumbling Wilson dies when they sprouted a little rust and that works really well for taking the rust off--at least did for me.

I don't know if it would work on a Forster seating die, I've only got one, haven't tried it, but maybe you could blue it or other dies you have.