What is the best way to clean and store dies between use? How do I polish the sizing button?

Treat your dies like you treat the bore of your rifles.

your sizing button can be chucked in a lathe, drill press or electric drill and spun on some 600 grit sand paper using oil as a lubricant. Crocus cloth also works well. Bob

Keep your dies boxed whan not in use. Get some of those paper squares (from Midway or a local industrial supplier) impregnated with Vapor Corrosion Inhibitor (VCI) to put in the box.

I have dies I don't use often and every little bit helps.

Treat them like the finish on a blued gun. Keep the fingerprints off the surfaces, store in a heated, dry area. (Out in the garage won't make it.) I coat of oil on the surfaces inhibits corrosion.

I use Tripoli on a cotton wheel to polish the neck sizing button. This polishes without changing the dimensions any measurable amount.

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What is the best rust prohibitor to put on dies?

Lane,

This is one of the best that I know of

Thank you Saeed.

Keep dies clean to prevent scratching of the sizer.

Keep your brass clean to protect your sizer and expanders

My dies are in an air conditioned part of the house to control the humidity.
They are stored in the RCBS or equivalent die boxes.

I use Birchwood Casey Barricade with a short spray wand to keep rust off of the inside and outside of my dies.

WOW 13 YEARS OLD

I used SC rust prevent and it did nothing to protect my dies or any metal I used it on.It is really cold and humid where I keep my stuff and nothing really works excepty moving the stuff to a warm, dry and insulated room then applying oil-any oil.As far as dies go-I swithched over to stainless dies for my 308 and that solved the problem.If I have no other choice but to keep them in that cold humid place the only thing that will work is grease unless you apply oil and reapply constantly without forgetting.

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
WOW 13 YEARS OLD

I just clean them with Hoppes #9, degrease with Powder Blaster spray rinse, then wipe them down inside and out with "Break-Free CLP" and store them in the plastic box, shelved in an air-conditioned room.
No rust problems here for the last 13 years.

The Break Free Collector really works well for storage. Just a little wipe and there is no rust . I tried this on a tip from Sinclair on the Wilson gauges and trimmer case holders that are just 4140 . I also put those little Rust chips in the box and there is never any tarnish or rust at all.

But if you do put way too much on or apply heavily, then you may have to clean the dies some before use with some Shooters Choice or other cleaning compound .

All my Redding dies aren't prone to any rust anyway . But those Wilson pieces are and after using it mine are still looking new . I showed it to some guys in the machine shop and they tried it and they use it on a lot of their tool storage now too.

Collector

http://www.midwayusa.com/produ...-gun-oil-4-oz-liquid

Rust Chips

http://www.midwayusa.com/produ...-chips-package-of-50

Break-Free Collector. Gotta get some of that.
Thanks for the tip.

Because I use a water based lube, always have, I clean my dies inside surfaces by removing the decapping stem and flushing with very hot water with a little degreaser added, allow to dry from it's own heat, wipe the inside with a dry rag then swab with WD-40. I oil the threads on the decapping stem and reinstall, the outside gets a light spray of WD-40 as well and I keep my dies in their factory boxes.
Fortunately, I do not have the problem of excessive body salts, I can touch metal objects without worrying about getting rusty fingerprints everywhere, unlike a few buddies that need an oily rag to wipe off their salty palm prints only after a few minutes of them touching anything.

Cheers.

I use CLP on everything because it is the approved U. S. Army Cleaner, Lube, and Preservative. I don't have salt hands either so I can touch steel and it won't rust. I don't put much time into maintaining dies; maybe clean every 500 rounds or so; most I have are 30 plus years old and still work fine.

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
WOW 13 YEARS OLD

I enjoy history.

Use methyl chlorate on them... otherwise known as mothballs. Drop one in each die box and replace it when it is gone.

WD-40ltci-vs break-free clp
part 2
frog lube vs mil.comm

I ordered a couple of bottles of mil.comm oil.I will use some on a rag to wipe down my barrels.Looking at the video it seems like it works well as a rust preventative.I would try some of the wd-40ltci but I doubt it is yet available in Canada.