How many of you clean your reloading dies? Which ones? How often? By what means?

I use Lee case lube. It's a water-based wax lube. I like it a lot, but it does tend to leave a residue in the sizing die, so I think I need to clean the sizing die occasionally.

To clean it, I disassemble the die, removing the expander rod. There is always a build-up of black crud on that rod. I use Remington Brite Bore to do the cleaning. I spray a bit of it (it comes in an aerosol can) on a paper towel and use that to wipe down the expander rod until it's clean. I also spray some onto another paper towel and force that into the die and then turn it around until the die is clean. I then reassemble the die.

I've never found it necessary to clean a seating die.

LLoyd,
I do about the same as you.
When I get set of dies they get a really good cleaning before first use whether used or new.
I guess I should say used because it had been a long time since I have bought new dies. Anyway I remove the decapping stem and wipe the old lube, carbon, crud and brass particles off. I have an old Smith and Wesson pistol rod with a ring on the handle end. This rod is used with a loop jag and a piece of old T shirt to clean out the interior of the sizer die. The ring allows me to twist the cleaning rod and rag patch. Then it is given a shot of spray Barricade or similar and wiped out again. I use a large needle to pick the polishing compound out of the vent hole on each sizer.
Then I thread some thread through the eye of the needle and push the eye of the needle back though the vent and spin it to remove the last of the crud. Finally compressed air is used to blow it out. Then the interior of the die is cleaned with barricade again.
I wipe out the seater and spray a little Barricade into it and then wipe the interior out again. Seaters rarely get cleaned again unless it is for a lead bullet cartridge then the bullet lube has to be cleared now and then to keep it from affecting the alignment of the bullets and cases.

After the initial clean out, sizers get cleaned again before each use so I am always starting with a clean die and expander ball. This keeps any dust or grit from scratching both the die and the cases.

Because I buy so many used dies I occasionally get some that scratch the brass, including some that look almost unused from the factory.
The scratching dies are put in a lathe and are given a 3 to 5 min polishing with 500 or 600 grit silicon carbide paper used wet with WD-40 or equivalent. Dies polished in this fashion, including some that came from the factory with burrs on the vent hole and several badly rusted and pitted dies all size cases like new dies.
Of course after the polishing they get a super thorough cleaning to remove the left over abrasive from the polishing operation.
I take pride in having nice dies but even the few rough looking dies that I have have clean scratchless interiors.

I am a neat freak I guess.
I clean my dies before I use them, all of the dies in that set.
When I am done loading with that set I will clean them up them spray a rust preventive on them before I put them away.
I disassemble the dies,then swab them with bore mops soaked in isopropyl alcohol. Just about any rust preventer should work. I currently use Shooter's Choice Rust Prevent.

muck

Clean after each use using Hoppe's Elite.

I clean them 7 times a week even if they don't need it because I have nothing better to do.

let see some are 30-40 years old and I remember cleaning them at least once or twice.

I put them in a sieve and spray them with brake cleaner to degrease, then lube them for storage with Eesox.

Don't leave Lee sizing lube (a great lube) in the die it will rust the die. I happened to me with my Lee collet die. Just the collet part turned orange with rust in one week. Lucky I discovered it, the collet was only a little pitted in spots where it didn't matter.

quote:

Originally posted by greenjoy:

Don't leave Lee sizing lube (a great lube) in the die it will rust the die. I happened to me with my Lee collet die.

That's an interesting comment. I use Lee sizing lube all the time -- I've been reloading for more than 25 years -- and I've never seen evidence of rust in a die.

I wonder whether your die was unusual in some way?

The approved geriatric method of die cleaning is to use a spray degreaser first, and then compressed air to blow the crap out of the insides of the dies, put them back in the box for the next loading session..

For a quick cleaning I use Walmart $1 spray lube or carb cleaner and a twist of paper towel on a pencil.

For total disassembly and cleaning, it's the same stuff or a shallow bowl of mineral spirts plus que-tips and toothbrush.

quote:

Originally posted by greenjoy:
I put them in a sieve and spray them with brake cleaner to degrease, then lube them for storage with Eesox.

Don't leave Lee sizing lube (a great lube) in the die it will rust the die. I happened to me with my Lee collet die. Just the collet part turned orange with rust in one week. Lucky I discovered it, the collet was only a little pitted in spots where it didn't matter.

Why was lube used in a Lee collet die?
One of the attractions of the collet die is there is no requirement for lube.

Just the split finger collet part was rusted by the Lee sizing lube, that part of the die is not made of stainless steel like the die body.

The reason I lubed the collet fingers on the Lee factory crimp die was to eliminate a delayed "ping" sound when I lowered the press ram.
I figured the collet was sticking in the die. After the little Lee lube was smeared on the out side of the collect fingers where they rub on the inside of the die body It stopped the ping noise and the whole crimping operation seem to go smoother.

Pardon my delay in getting back to this forum thread.

I load for 60 cartridges and have lots of used dies from Ebay.

When I get them, if they look dirty, I spin them in the lathe and poke in a Q-tip with some Flitz abrasive cleaner. I got this from Varmint Al's web site.
http://www.varmintal.com/arelo.htm

quote:

POLISH THE DIES.... I polish the inside of my rifle reloading dies. Most die manufacturers leave the die bores smooth but not polished. A polished die will resize with much less axial force than one in the as-received condition. I disassemble them and put a little Flitz on a cotton bore mop held in a drill motor and polish each one for 30 seconds or more at a 300 to 600 rpm speed. Sometimes I have to wrap a paper towel around the swab to get a good fit. Then I clean all the polish out with hot water and dry with a paper towel wrapped around a clean cotton swab. The polishing process does not remove a measurable amount of material, but results in smoother operation, minimizes the scratching or scoring of the brass, and minimizes crumpling problems when I use them while forming wildcat brass.

Once clean, they tend to stay clean at my house.
I don't size dirty brass.
I use Redding Imperial Die wax.
I store materials in file folder boxes with a lid.

Clean dies??? I knew there was something I wasn't doing right. roger

I clean the die before use, actually I consider this cleaning a simple degreasing.

Disassemble the die, put part in a metal screen sieve and spray on brake cleaner to degrease it.

After use I degrease them again an oil them up with Eezox.