question about your dies

[RacerX7]

How often do you clean your dies?

[acoop101]

How often do you clean your dies?

P it depends on what type of bullet I am loading. If I am loading cast bullets every 500 rounds or so I'll take the guy apart boil it in hot water and recoil it just to make sure I'm not getting any who built up in the seating die. If I'm loading jacketed or plated I don't worry about it too much.

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[noylj]

Why would I clean my dies?
I clean them when I get them and that is usually it. Working surfaces tend to be self-cleaning.
I have had some commercial lead bullets with so much sloppy lubricant that I cleaned the seating die just because (all the lube is pushed out of the way, but I still didn't want all that muck in the die.
I have cleaned the crimp die due to brass shavings, but again it was because I wanted to get rid of the crud and not because there was any NEED.
Would you like to be told to clean them every 1000 rounds or 6 months, whichever comes first?

[Whiterabbit]

Maybe once. To one set of dies out of the bunch. Over many years and many 1000's of rounds.

[stilly]

Uhhh we are supposed to clean dies?

oops. Never read that part.

I clean and inspect dies when I purchase them, once they get put onto the turret/head they stay there for the most part.

[DarkKing]

Uhhh we are supposed to clean dies?

oops. Never read that part.

I clean and inspect dies when I purchase them, once they get put onto the turret/head they stay there for the most part.

If you are using FMJ, plated etc and using clean brass then I don't see a Reoccurring need to clean them on a regular basis.

If you are using Cast Lead, dirty brass etc then regular cleaning would make total sense.


I use cleaned brass that goes through 2 cleaning stages and a polishing stage and plated and FMJ. I haven't had to clean the Die's yet. Now I have just started to reload 9mm instead of my normal .223 so I will see if that changed But I doubt it will.

I will clean the Die's when the COAL or to the ogive starts to change by more than .001<->.007 +/-



Now I haven't had to clean them and I do 500-1k+ a week through the Die's

[RacerX7]

Thanks for the replies. I was asked that question by someone and i didn't know how to answer. I've never cleaned my dies, so that had me wondering.

[bazineta]

My first step is to decap using a universal decapper, then I clean the brass, so the dies don't really get dirty.

I do run a q-tip around the inside of my rifle sizing dies every couple hundred rounds to prevent buildup of excess lube, and I do the same at about the same frequency on my straight-wall pistol expansion dies, as those tend to accumulate a bit of ultra-fine brass dust over time.

[LynnJr]

If your using a lot of lubrication like when making wildcat cartridges you can swab the dies to remove the excess.
The larger dies usually have vent holes to keep trapped air and excess lubrication from collapsing your brass.

[tonyjr]

I do maybe 200 to 300 reloads and the dies go into the sonic with either WD-40 or CRC 232 , then wipe dry .
Probably 99.9% of others don't clean their dies .
Run them thru a sonic and you will be surprised how much copper and brass is in coffee filter [ I strain the liquid ]
My lube is ground mica [ again , 99.9% of others don't use mica ] for the 45's , rifle and mags .
Yes , I know I just got added to your idiot / ignore list - not my problem .

[fguffey]

I clean my dies with a towel on a dowel. When I want to know the dies are clean I use a white towel.

F. Guffey

[stilly]

If you are using FMJ, plated etc and using clean brass then I don't see a Reoccurring need to clean them on a regular basis.

If you are using Cast Lead, dirty brass etc then regular cleaning would make total sense.


I use cleaned brass that goes through 2 cleaning stages and a polishing stage and plated and FMJ. I haven't had to clean the Die's yet. Now I have just started to reload 9mm instead of my normal .223 so I will see if that changed But I doubt it will.

I will clean the Die's when the COAL or to the ogive starts to change by more than .001<->.007 +/-



Now I haven't had to clean them and I do 500-1k+ a week through the Die's

LoL. I load plated and PC hard cast with brass that is either clean or straight from the bin after range pickup. The most I might clean my dies is a q-tip around the inside, then back to loading and that is ONLY if I notice that there is gunk or crap all up in that...

[Dragginpanda]

After I deprime a thousand or so I spray wd40 and swab with a q-tip.

[WMG]

When I'm done reloading a batch "300 to 500" of that caliber , I clean/oil and put away.

[wbunning]

I wipe the outside of them down with a Ballistol rag when before I put them away. Periodically I'll run a q-tip around the inside to remove any shmutz that collects. I actually pay more attention to she shell holders than the dies. They tend to collect a lot of primer residue.