Cleaning and rust removal from my reloading dies.

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usmc0811

usmc0811

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Hello all, like the title says I am cleaning and removing surface rust from my reloading dies. I currently keep all of my reloading stuff out in the shed where I reload since I do not have any spare room in the house at the time. I have been reloading out there for several years now with not too much of a concern just a little surface rust here and there. However this past summer has been extra wet and humid and they are looking worse and I decided I need to do something before they get ruined. So after several searches online to see how others have done so with their cleaning of dies I decided to give it a shot. There were all sorts of recommendations to try but this is what I did. First I took them apart and coated all the external and interior surfaces with 3 in 1 oil I had in the shed. I then scrubbed them with a nylon brush and hit the trouble spots with a green chore-boy pad. Then to remove all the oils from the dies I lathered them up with hand soap and scrubbed them again with the nylon brush under water to remove the soap and oil. Now this next step I dont know if it was needed or a good idea but this is what I did, I placed all the components in a thing of boiling water to heat up the steel and then after several minutes removed them, patted dry with a towel and ran a paper towel through the inside to get the excess drops of water out and then allowed the hot steel to evaporate any remaining moisture that I might have missed or couldn't reach with the paper towels. Good/bad idea? I dont know but that is what I did. I continued this process with all of my reloading dies (.40cal. .38/.357 .40cal. .380acp .45acp .9mm 30/30 and resizing dies). They all look 100% better and shine like brand new. It took a long time and my back is killing me from standing at my kitchen sink for the duration, but I am glad I did, well worth it. Now I think I am going to keep my dies in the house in ammo cans with them Silica Gel Desiccant Packet to keep things good to go. Any advice, feedback is welcomed. Thanks for reading have a great day.
 
Soap and water??

Why not just clean them like a gun and use some gun solvent,or soak them in penetrating oil. WD40 etc. Then use some brake cleaner to remove the oil and spray with silicone or something.

Soap and water??

The Kroil fan boys will soon crawl out here.
 
Its sounds like you got them clean and rust free

Now you should work on keeping them that way.

I’d suggest a dehumidifier and silica gel packs. Keep them in the boxes with a silica pack and run a dehumidifier if you can.
 
Rule3 said:
Soap and water??

Why not just clean them like a gun and use some gun solvent,or soak them in penetrating oil. WD40 etc. Then use some brake cleaner to remove the oil and spray with silicone or something.

Soap and water??

The Kroil fan boys will soon crawl out here.
Click to expand...
Yeah I have used soap and water to clean firearms along with some type of oil for protection. I have done it for years with good results. All of my firearms look brand new and have been used plenty. As long as you remove all water you are good to go. A lot of these firearms like my 1911, AK, Mossin, Shotgun have been used in the harshest environments such as war or hunting and are exposed to wet weather with all sorts of neglect, as long as you do a through cleaning the water they were exposed to will do no harm.
 
Hokie_PhD said:
Its sounds like you got them clean and rust free

Now you should work on keeping them that way.

I’d suggest a dehumidifier and silica gel packs. Keep them in the boxes with a silica pack and run a dehumidifier if you can.
Click to expand...
Yes sir I plan on keeping them rust free from this point forward. There might have been an easyier quicker way of cleaning them but in the end they look brand new, clean, dry and shinny. Any recommendations as to what to use to coat the exterior surfaces with to help protect? I dont want to get any oils on the inside that could gunk up the powder flow.
 
You got all the oil off the dies you now need to put something on them to prevent them from rusting again. You can approach this 2 ways. You can spray them down with a oil/metal protector and have to clean them before use, unless you use the OneShot Cleaner. Or you can coat them with paste/sizing wax. Would not hurt to seal them up in plastic freezer bags to keep the moisture away till use.
 
Outside of dies and gun product. CLP, or yes, WD40, Silicone spray Bubbas Magic Gun Preservative. Anything will work The list is endless. Just spray them with something.

All my tools are in the garage and we have 365 days of heat and humidity. I have no rust. (or my tools have no rust):)
 
usmc0811 said:
Yes sir I plan on keeping them rust free from this point forward. There might have been an easyier quicker way of cleaning them but in the end they look brand new, clean, dry and shinny. Any recommendations as to what to use to coat the exterior surfaces with to help protect? I dont want to get any oils on the inside that could gunk up the powder flow.
Click to expand...

Nope
I’m lucky in that I’m in a place that my basement workshop is actually cool and dry. So no moisture problem.
I guess I agree with the sizing wax as an option.
The reality is a quick clean before you use them and a quick coat of protection after should be your standard operating procedure.
 
I now have them cleaned up, with a light coat of oil on the exterior and placed into an ammo can with Silica Gel Desiccant Packet and placed in my bedroom closet. Should be good to go in there for a long time. Now when it comes time to use I guess I will de-grease, use then re-coat when finished.
 
Vapor Corrosion Inhibitors (VCI) either bags or paper, is an easy addition to your storage protocols. If you go the bag route, literally stick you dies in the bag, close it up and forget about them.
 
Onboard said:
The best rust remover in the business is Naval Jelly (rust dissolver) usually available from hardware or building supply stores.
Click to expand...
I'll bet Evapo-Rust would be a good contender. You just leave the disassembled dies immersed overnight (24 hours) and then rinse off with water. I saved a couple of Dillon sets belonging to a friend that way.

I got my jug at Harbor Freight, but it is also available from Amazon
 
usmc0811 said:
I now have them cleaned up, with a light coat of oil on the exterior and placed into an ammo can with Silica Gel Desiccant Packet and placed in my bedroom closet. Should be good to go in there for a long time. Now when it comes time to use I guess I will de-grease, use then re-coat when finished.
Click to expand...

I put my dies (4 in a turret head) into an old sock or cloth that is generously sprayed with silicone oil, then place the sock into a zip baggie with a few silica gel packets, then the whole thing into an air-tight container, such as an ammo can or the like. Keep them in my humid garage in S. TX with good results. No lubricant need be removed from die internals prior to use.
 
9mmepiphany said:
I'll bet Evapo-Rust would be a good contender. You just leave the disassembled dies immersed overnight (24 hours) and then rinse off with water. I saved a couple of Dillon sets belonging to a friend that way.

I got my jug at Harbor Freight, but it is also available from Amazon
Click to expand...

Yup. You would have saved a lot of time and your back soaking them in Evapo-Rust. Great stuff my son found at HF. I keep a gallon in a big commercial mayo jar w/ screw on lid. Anything rusty that will fit goes in there. Take it out a day or so later and no rust. I would not use Naval jelly, white vinagar ect. They take rust off but also etch the metal. Not good for the inside of the dies. ER doesn't etch metal. Great stuff!
 
Once your dies are clean spray them down with one shot. let dry then pack in sealed container with the vci packs. no need to clean them off before using. the spray is easier to get into all of the small crevasses.
 
Another vote for Evapo-Rust. I I read about it in another thread some time ago and decided to give it a try. Had some Lyman dies I bought on ebay that had some rust on them. Evapo Rust did a great job cleaning them up. You can soak them overnight, but I use it in my ultrasonic cleaner, which really speeds up the process.
 
I have a ton and a half of hand tools left over from my machinist/mechanic career (retired). I keep my tools as clean, rust free as possible but when I run across any rust I just tumble them with my normal brass cleaning method. Same for my dies (which is rare), disassemble them and tumble with corn cob blast media with a touch of auto polish/wax, and it's much easier to prevent rust than to remove it. I also keep a container of "soak" on my bench, a mixture of mineral spirits, Kroil and Marvel's mystery Oil or ATF. Often I'll just drop a die in the soak and let is sit for a few days, remove and lightly wipe with a rag. If the tool or die isn't gong to be used soon, a spray of Ballistol works great and smells like guns! No rust...
 
9mmepiphany said:
I'll bet Evapo-Rust would be a good contender. You just leave the disassembled dies immersed overnight (24 hours) and then rinse off with water. I saved a couple of Dillon sets belonging to a friend that way.
Click to expand...
I love Evapo-Rust, it's magic.... but it will remove bluing like on seater plugs and lock rings.
For long term storage I use RIG Universal Grease or Lucas engine assembly lube. Both have high amounts of zinc. Short term, I use plain ole WD-40. It's good for about 3 months but then it evaporates. I've had varying success with VCI chips. But VCI bags work great...that's what all my guns go in.
 
People will probably make fun of me for this but I clean my dies in my sonic cleaner using hornady gun parts formula solution. Dry them in the oven. Then I rust prevent with singer sewing machine oil. A light thin coat does the trick. It's only about 4 dollars a bottle at Walmart and it lasts a really long time.
 
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My GoTo for the removal of red iron oxide (Fe2O3) on surfaces that are not blued (black iron oxide Fe3O4), unless I wish to remove the bluing, is citric acid solution.

I use the citric acid for cleaning cartridge cases prior to reloading, so ... :)

I have also used Naval Jelly (phosphoric acid) and Evapo-Rust (whatever the heck that stuff is) and they both work well to remove red rust.

I have an 8.8cm German shell downstairs that I de-rusted with Evapo-Rust ~15 years ago and it is still rust-free, just sitting out in the basement (it holds my CMP m1/m14 receiver wrench when it is not in use).
 
usmc0811 said:
Hello all, like the title says I am cleaning and removing surface rust from my reloading dies. I currently keep all of my reloading stuff out in the shed where I reload since I do not have any spare room in the house at the time. I have been reloading out there for several years now with not too much of a concern just a little surface rust here and there. However this past summer has been extra wet and humid and they are looking worse and I decided I need to do something before they get ruined. So after several searches online to see how others have done so with their cleaning of dies I decided to give it a shot. There were all sorts of recommendations to try but this is what I did. First I took them apart and coated all the external and interior surfaces with 3 in 1 oil I had in the shed. I then scrubbed them with a nylon brush and hit the trouble spots with a green chore-boy pad. Then to remove all the oils from the dies I lathered them up with hand soap and scrubbed them again with the nylon brush under water to remove the soap and oil. Now this next step I dont know if it was needed or a good idea but this is what I did, I placed all the components in a thing of boiling water to heat up the steel and then after several minutes removed them, patted dry with a towel and ran a paper towel through the inside to get the excess drops of water out and then allowed the hot steel to evaporate any remaining moisture that I might have missed or couldn't reach with the paper towels. Good/bad idea? I dont know but that is what I did. I continued this process with all of my reloading dies (.40cal. .38/.357 .40cal. .380acp .45acp .9mm 30/30 and resizing dies). They all look 100% better and shine like brand new. It took a long time and my back is killing me from standing at my kitchen sink for the duration, but I am glad I did, well worth it. Now I think I am going to keep my dies in the house in ammo cans with them Silica Gel Desiccant Packet to keep things good to go. Any advice, feedback is welcomed. Thanks for reading have a great day.
Click to expand...
Here you go: https://www.qmaxxproducts.com/consumer/
I use Qmaxx exclusively for all my rust prevention and metal preservation. It purges water from the surface then leaves a dense, sealed micro-coating behind that has wear resistance and does not let dust and dirt stick.
Strangest stuff. I use the "H2O" on my truck's wheels. Brake pad dust just wipes off. No muss, no fuss.
A guy has to try it to believe it.
 
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