Sized some win 243's today. Noticed scratches on the brass after sizing. Not much but a little scratch. Using Pacific dies. What is the best way to polish the inside of a die? Had a 22 hornet that I polished years ago but forgot what I used. That was about 20 years ago. Thanks Bob

Have you clean your dies lately?They collect crud over time.I never polished a die before,I don't know thats good Idea or not,but I've polished expander balls,buttons on some of my dies to help it ease thru the neck on botttle neck cases.I've use a buffing compound that came with my dremel kit.

a rod with some steel wool 3-4-ought
and some flitz will polish your die,

you probably have a piece of grit in your die, take it apart and some brake or carb cleaner will do
the job

If the scratch is near the base you might scrape the grit off with a small straight bladed knife. If it's deeper cut the head off an old bolt and wrap some fine steel wool on it. Chuck it in a drill or drill press and polish it out. You want enough steel wool for a fairly snug fit in the die and run it fast. It would be a shame to waste one of those fine old Pacific dies.

Bye
Jack

Wrap steel wool around proper size brass bore brush until snug fit in die then chuck in drill press or hand drill and polish. May need some type of polishing compound if scratch is bad enough. When stationed in Guam I picked up some brass at the range and reloaded. Mistake!!! Coral dust raised kane with the dies (extremely abrasive) so my education was broadened with that experience.

It is almost impossible for any extraneous "grit" to imbed in the wall of a case hardened die, it would be pushed into the softer brass and withdrawn with the case that carried it in.

What you likely have is bits of galled brass that have effectively wielded themselves to the walls of the die under the pressure of sizing. It is usually fairly easy to remove with a home-made lap of fine grit silicon carbide paper snuggly wrapped around a split dowel and spun in a high speed drill.

I use the 800 to 1000 grit silicon carbide papers (black "sandpaper") bought from Walmart's in the automotive paint section. Don't worry about changing the dimensions of the die, that hardened steel won't be cut very much with such a fine grit but it will cut the softer bits of brass away fairly quickly, maybe a couple of minutes does it for me.

Then be sure you CLEAN the die before moving to the next (optional) step which is to bring the die to a mirror polish. Swap the paper with a tightly fitted clean cloth patch, put a bit of white metal polish (I get mine in small sticks from Lowes) and polish the die's inner walls until they shine. Clean it again and reassemble.

Use a good sizing lube, I like the finger applied waxes like Imperial, carefully applied to prevent bare metal-to-metal contact and reduce the occurance of further galling.

All good suggestlons above.

Just be sure to wash out the residue with a good, sloppy wipe with a solvent soaked patch and then wipe completely dry with clean patches.

Take the easy way out. If it has galled brass that will dissolve in any copper removing bore cleaner. Take the decapper out, blow all the oil out with carb cleaner or Bore Scrubber or some such solvent, and get a neoprene stopper to put into it that is small enough to plug the neck portion from the inside. Set it mouth-up in an old coffee cup (in case the plug leaks) and fill her up with Shooter's Choice, Butch's Bore Shine or CR-10 or other liquid copper removing bore cleaner. Boretech Elimenator, KG-12, TM Solution, Montana X-treme 50 BMG, Hoppe's Elite Copper Terminator liquid are all faster. Within an hour or two there will be no brass left. You can even accomplish this with ordinary sudsy household ammonia, but the commercial cleaners will have corrosion inhibitors for steel. Sweet's 7.62 came to mind, too, but the fumes are strong and some claim it can etch steel with long exposure. I doubt that, but have never tested to prove it one way or the other, and the ammonia fumes will make you cry if you stand too close.

If you cover the cup with plastic wrap to stop evaporation, you can just pour the solvent back in the bottle for use with your gun afterward. There won't be enough metal dissolved in it to exhaust it.

Afterward, clean the die out with more carb cleaner, then use a magnifier to look for a spot where hard grit may have scratched the steel. Grit can't really embed in hard steel, but it can scratch it and raise a wire edge that will mark a case. If you want to stop that, then polish the surface. Veral Smith recommends Dico stainless steel grade buffing wheel compound for hard steel, and it does do a beautiful job of mirroring a steel surface. When you get done, squirt some rust inhibitor on the thing, let it sit for an hour, then wipe all the excess off. Put it back together.

Found a small felt wheel. Used some polishing compound on the wheel spun it with a drill. Cleaned up good. Pacific dies and press is what I started reloading with years ago. Bought a set of 243 win and set if 357's. The had to buy 38 dies couldn't use 357 dies to load 38's with. Didn't know much about reloading then. Thanks for all the replies. Bob

A couple hours in your vibratory case cleaner usually works. Learned this from RCBS tech support.

A couple hours in your vibratory case cleaner usually works. Learned this from RCBS tech support.
that sounds like a great way to clean your dies! i had been thinking of using my dremel and steel wool to try to get my old bair dies smooth inside again....

(A couple hours in your vibratory case cleaner usually works. Learned this from RCBS tech support.)

Thanks, I just learned something. I love the easy way.
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That's a truly excellent tip! It is obvious, but only after someone else goes to the trouble to work it out and tell you about it.

Glad I was able to pass along the tip. It was one of those 'light bulb' moments for me as well - as soon as the RCBS tech flipped the switch for me :)

FWIW, I take the trouble to dis-assemble my dies before a trip to the case cleaner but don't know if it's necessary.

Probably a good practice. The walnut or corncob dust will otherwise get in the cracks and absorb moisture and initiate rust.

Sounds like a good way to clean them. I'll try it tomorrow. Thanks Bob

Should have mentioned I blow mine out w/compressed air when done but a shot of carb cleaner etc should take care of any media residue just as well.

Take the easy way out. If it has galled brass that will dissolve in any copper removing bore cleaner.

Hmmm, that one and the case tumbler tip were definately winners.

How about nickle build up. I've used a couple of patches wetted with Remington 40X in an electric drill in the past. But I'm always concerned with damaging the die.

A couple hours in your vibratory case cleaner usually works. Learned this from RCBS tech support.
That's so simple you'd think we'd have all known it already. But it never occured to me to do it.

Nickel doesn't dissolve in anything that won't hurt steel more, AFAIK. It also is not soft like brass, so even though it will flake and scratch I don't believe it can build up by smearing into the surface as brass and copper do? Maybe it cand wedge in scratches or some such? I've never noticed it. If you think you have particles of it in your die, you are probably stuck with mechanical cleaning. You could soak the die in a penetrating oil like Kroil or PB Blaster for a couple of days first. That will help about anything come off and out more easily.

All great tips, guys. I use Flitz or JB Paste on a patch, wrapped around an old .45-cal bore brush. Works like a charm. I like to hold the die in my left hand while I run the power drill with my right. I'm done when the die gets hot - perhaps two minutes.

I've ruined one sizing die by getting a flake of nickel (from a 357 case) embedded into the die wall. It's the only thing hard enough to embed in a die, that I've found. But it well and truly will ruin a die - no way to get it out without ruining the die dimensions. Trust me on that.