I purchased a Dillon 550 A few weeks ago off of CL. No pictures, price was OK for me to flip it and make a small profit. Seller said he would throw in all of his dies that he had AND would drive to me. DOUBLE EXTRA BONUS!
Press looked decent, I could tell it had been sitting for a while, but I knew most would clean up. I start the breakdown of all the stuff and the press started telling me the story of its past.
The Lee 223 dies that were in the tool head in the press were solid rust. OK, no problem. I've seen worse. Took a little elbow grease to break them free. That's when I noticed the stuck case. Lol. Someone basically said "I'm done with reloading" and left the press for years after getting it stuck. Left it in the press and all.
I soaked it in kroil for about 10 days. I messed around for about 2 hours today. Tried pressing it from the top, just to break anything loose.... o luck. RCBS case remover did nothing. Stripped the threads in the brass. Next went with an easy out. Ripped the case all up. I'm throwing in the towel! I've convinced myself the bore of the die is probably junk now anyways, (unless the brass case has served double duty as a rust inhibitor) but I doubt it.
RIP Lee Die.
Press looked decent, I could tell it had been sitting for a while, but I knew most would clean up. I start the breakdown of all the stuff and the press started telling me the story of its past.
The Lee 223 dies that were in the tool head in the press were solid rust. OK, no problem. I've seen worse. Took a little elbow grease to break them free. That's when I noticed the stuck case. Lol. Someone basically said "I'm done with reloading" and left the press for years after getting it stuck. Left it in the press and all.
I soaked it in kroil for about 10 days. I messed around for about 2 hours today. Tried pressing it from the top, just to break anything loose.... o luck. RCBS case remover did nothing. Stripped the threads in the brass. Next went with an easy out. Ripped the case all up. I'm throwing in the towel! I've convinced myself the bore of the die is probably junk now anyways, (unless the brass case has served double duty as a rust inhibitor) but I doubt it.
RIP Lee Die.