brass scratched

[sig shooter]

I have resized and capped about 35 303 British cases in my lee single stage press. Today when I resized a few I noticed there were a bunch of cosmetic scratches on the cases. The die did look a little cruddy on the inside so what should I use to clean it?

 

[Fixxah]

Not sure how much pressure the loads develop, but I might put a mark on the scratched ones so you can check for cracks where the scratches were. Brake cleaner seems to work fairly well for cleaning the dies.

 

[EddieCoyle]

I use CLP and Q-Tips to clean my dies, followed with a spray of brake cleaner and compressed air.

Minor scratches on cases aren't a big deal, but deeper ones can be. Let me tell you a story:

When I first started reloading, one of the first calibers I loaded was .30 Carbine. I was using a Lee single stage press and a steel sizing die. I lubed the cases and began sizing. I dropped one of the cases onto my basement floor and gave it a quick wipe rather than fully cleaning and relubing it.

That case picked up a piece of grit that embedded in the sizing die, and scored the subsequent cases. About half of the hundred I loaded had the score mark. When I shot them, the cases split along the score line.

 

[sig shooter]

I will try cleaning the die and then I will see what happens. Do I need to disassemble to die to clean it?

 

[EddieCoyle]

I will try cleaning the die and then I will see what happens. Do I need to disassemble to die to clean it?

You don't need to, but it's probably easier to do a good job when it's taken apart.

 

[highscore]

Cleaning the crud out of the die may do the trick but sometimes, brass will "weld" itself onto the die and cause scrtaches. It may take more than cleaner to get it out. At the bottom of the die, there is a radius before the land (straight part) of the die that is sometimes sharp and causes brass to stick there. You will find out soon enough. I polish mine out in a lathe and break down that sharp edge a bit. Not enough to change anything but just a bit. If, after cleaning the die out, you find that there are still scratches on your brass, you can try taking the inards out of the die and with very fine polishing cloth, clean out the welded metal by pushing the polishing cloth in with a finger and spinning the die. I'm talking very fine metal cloth, not wood sandpaper. Sort of along the line of 1200 or 1500 wet sanding paper.
Bob

 

[sig shooter]

well I cleaned out the die with a soft pipe cleaner with some CLP on it, then I blasted it out with brake cleaner. It still scratches the case, worse on one side of the case than the other. they are scratches you can barely feel with your finger nail.

 

[Fixxah]

Call the manufacturer and tell them what is wrong and I bet they will re-finish them for you. Makes no sense to destroy expensive brass for no reason.

 

[swampy]

I remove the decap pin and use a soft chamber brush with barrel cleaner to scrub my dies out. Then I run a wool bore mop through. A dry Q tip run along the inside of a die will find very small burrs. The cotton fibers snag on anything remotely sharp. A little bit of chrome polish on a bore mop will really put a shine on a dull die surface.

 

[clerk.mvgc]

This post should be titled: Brass Scratched Fever By Ted N


I know, pretty sad, couldn't help it.

 

[bookem]

I had the same problem with brass "welding" to the inside and scratching my cases. I tried cleaning and the only thing that removed the brass from inside was a small polishing head on my dremel with a little jewelers rouge. It polished all the bits out and left a nice polished finish inside. I would think it would be hard to damage a carbide die, but just polish lightly.

 

[Gooman24]

You would think a brush made out of a material harder than brass but softer than carbide or steel(which ever the die is made out of) would work fine for getting brass off the inside of the die.

 

[highscore]

I had the same problem with brass "welding" to the inside and scratching my cases. I tried cleaning and the only thing that removed the brass from inside was a small polishing head on my dremel with a little jewelers rouge. It polished all the bits out and left a nice polished finish inside. I would think it would be hard to damage a carbide die, but just polish lightly.

Most carbide is pretty hard. I've cleaned metal out of carbide dies (not reloading dies) using 320 grit emory cloth and it did not put any scratches on the carbide. I can't say what grade of carbide your reloading dies are made from but a finer grade of sandpaper will take the material out of your dies and not harm them. The jewelers rouge isn't a bad option. If you can get some Norton 3/0 emery paper, try it. Very fine and it shouldn't scratch anything.
Bob