so i got some new brass today and went full length resize using my RCBS dies. after about 15 rounds i notice many small scratches on the outside of the brass. i look inside the die walls and see scratches also. these dies and brass are new so was wondering what this could be?

New dies need to be cleaned before use.
They sometimes have left over polishing abrasives left inside. If you can spin your die polish it with 400 to 600 grit silicon carbide paper and gun oil or WD -40 then clean it out well.
If you can't get it to work RCBS will re-polish it.

i emailed RCBS earlier about the problem. my seater die also had problems the first time i used it. it left a perfect ring in the bullet towards the top on every bullet i seated. they sent me a new inner piece but have yet to use it and find out if it fixed the problem. i kinda think i just got a bad set of dies. had no problems with my set for my 22-250.

A scratch in the die can't scratch the brass.
it has to be somthing on the surface.
You see this when a flake of nickle sticke.
As said before clean the die. some dies come
with a protective oil that will stick the case
unless it is cleaned out.
Good luck!

The worst problem of scratched cases and dies is dirt !! I always first pop the primer then clean in boiling water and detergent before sizing. Bits of sand [silica] which is very abrasive and will even scratch carbide dies !!

The ring is just where the seating plug pushes on the bullet. Some bullets are softer than others. For example, a Rainier plated bullet in 9mm will pick up a definate ring, a heavy jacketed bullet won't. Sierra 77's get a ring from my Redding die. It doesn't hurt anything. If you plan on using one bullet only you can send RCBS a few bullets and they will make seating plug to match it.

quote:

these dies and brass are new so was wondering what this could be?

When two dry metals rub under high pressure the softer will rub off and adhere to the harder; it's called galling. The prevention is to properly lubracate your cases, the cure is to lap the brass out of the die with a mild abrasive.

It takes diamond grit to scratch/cut carbide, sand won't do it. And few things will scratch the case hardened walls of a steel die, a file sure won't do it but tungston carbide machine tooling will.

I found out the hard way (pardon pun please) that case cleaning media WILL scratch the interior of steel dies. This is particularly true if you use your media a long time and add "media freshener" to it to keep its polishing power up to par. The dirt that polishing off the brass leaves on the media may contribute to the damage too.

If the media is left on the brass after the brass is tumbled clean, and then the brass is re-sized, sometimes the interior die surface of the sizing die will be scratched. And, the scratches will not be just to the die...the act of scratching them will cause little burrs along the sides of the scratches. Those burrs will then scratch brass which is sized in the dies later.

As I said, I learned all this the hard way. And, yes, RCBS is happy to re-polish them free of charge, once they are scratched. Been there, done that.

this was brand new brass. so there really wasn't a chance of foreign materials like media or the such that would cause it. the only thing i can think is that the die had things in it. so when i started to resize the brass it started to scratch the brass and the inner walls of the die. hopefully RCBS will resurface the inner walls for me but won't that make the specs off for my cartridge? i just hate to think i won't be able to reload for my 308 for 2 weeks.

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after about 15 rounds i notice many small scratches on the outside of the brass.

There's your clue. It has nothing to do with "media" or brass polish scratching a case hardened steel die. Use a better case lube in the future and all will be fine. Lee, Hornady "Unique" or Redding "Imperial."

You should lap out the already galled microsopic bits of brass. No proper lapping will change the dimensions of a die enough to measure.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim C. <><:

quote:

after about 15 rounds i notice many small scratches on the outside of the brass.

There's your clue. It has nothing to do with "media" or brass polish scratching a case hardened steel die. Use a better case lube in the future and all will be fine. Lee, Hornady "Unique" or Redding "Imperial."

You should lap out the already galled microsopic bits of brass. No proper lapping will change the dimensions of a die enough to measure.

i was using the Hornady One Shot case lube spray. followed direction and this was the result. all the brass had the scratches i just didn't really look at the cases til about the 15th case when i noticed it. went back to look at the others and they were all like that.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim C. <><:

quote:

after about 15 rounds i notice many small scratches on the outside of the brass.

There's your clue. It has nothing to do with "media" or brass polish scratching a case hardened steel die.

In the original poster's situation the scratches obviously aren't the result of tumbling media scratching rhe interior of his dies, as his brass hasn't been "tumble-cleaned" after its firing.

BUT, to say that media will not ever cause scratches to the interior of dies is just plain incorrect. It will, sometimes.

The crap which comes out of cartridge cases and which pollutes media is amazing. Some of it is powdered silica, from the silica sometimes used by manufacturers to help make primers work well.

Some is carbon compounds from the burning of the organic materials found in smokeless (or any other kind of) gunpowder.

And in the presence of 3,000 degree F temps, the mixing of silica and carbon may cause amazingly hard stuff to appear. I'm not suggesting it creates carbide similar to commercial steel cuttinmg tools, just that it can be awfully hard.

Anyway, the point is that some of those things are amazingly hard and sharp. And they WILL sometimes scratch even hardened steel of the sort created when manufacturing dies.

quote:

Use a better case lube in the future and all will be fine. Lee, Hornady "Unique" or Redding "Imperial."

You should lap out the already galled microsopic bits of brass. No proper lapping will change the dimensions of a die enough to measure.

Maybe. IF without having examined the dies we are sure what the cause(s) of his scratches were, and that it was indeed lack of lubrication.[/[/QUOTE]

quote:

i was using the Hornady One Shot case lube spray. followed direction and this was the result

I had suspected that would be your lube. Guess it's better than nothing.

I'll offer this suggestion ; Wash out your Dies with lacquer thinner and a soft cotton cloth or twisted corner of a terry towel .A brush would be better ,but not everyone has nylon bottle brushes at their disposal. After cleaning spray inside an out of Dies with a lubricant ; I use Boeshield T -9 but just about any will do . Spray a liberal amount inside , now twist up another corner of that terry towel and twist er up inside the Die's , when finished wipe excess off out side of Die body .

Inspect a piece of " Clean Brass " prior to using it , now place sizing die in your press . What's the verdict ?.

If brass is scored somewhere and not else where a problem exist within the Die body , if brass has light scratches all over It's the Die's surface finish which didn't quite get polished too a mirror surface . Then send them back !.

here are some poor pics of the scratches. it must have had foreign objects in the die and when i used it it scratched up the inner balls.

Have you got any pictures of the scratched brass?

Appearance wise it looks as if grit or dirt was imbedded in the Brass and then drove into the Die , can't imagine anything left over from the factory being imbedded into the Die , an then transferred too the Brass ?!.

Just an observation , an I've been mistaken before !.

here are some better pics of the brass.

Well if memory serves me ?, in order for scratches or gouges into the brass to occur , a protrusion must exist inside the Die or Grit was imbedded in or on the brass would be a reasonable assumption .

If you run your little finger inside the Die do you feel a ridge or a depression ?. I can see the blemish in the photo but what's it feel like ?.

i have been in contact with RCBS and they told me to send the die in and they would resurface it for me. sucks that it cost me $15 plus a $5 return fee to have it done. another $10 and i could have bought a new set.

For those who don't own polishing mandrels and a lathe , Try mounted Bobs with abrasives or send em back in .

http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCom...59&searchandizedOk=Y

Hones cost significantly more $'s

http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCom...ink-_-Flexible+Hones


http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCom...mode+matchallpartial

Once upon a time shop personnel used Bar compound and Clover Lap compounds .Then they started getting and using this stuff in bulk tubs .

Now I know why they would scream at us to keep our sampling jars out of it !!!!!!!!!. OUCH pricey stuff !.

http://www1.mscdirect.com/cgi/...ting-_-SearchResults

Cheaper to purchase a NEW set of Dies !!!.