Cleaning Dies - How Often?

[anonymouscuban]

How often do you guys take apart your dies and clean them? About how many rounds?



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[JackEllis]

I size in batches so I will typically clean the die before a new batch. I generally do this with Q-tips and mineral spirits. Since I wash all my brass before I size it, the sizing dies typically stay pretty clean.

I don't clean the seating dies although I probably should do so every thousand rounds or so.

The universal decapping die doesn't get cleaned at all.

HTH

[hermosabeach]

As needed.

I don’t think I cleaned my 38/357 dies after 3,000-5,000 rounds

Scratches on brass- clean
Too much case lube everywhere- clean.

Clean brass and carbide dies are not an issue

[Chief-7700]

If your loading lead bullets that have a lube ring, clean your seating and crimp die. You would be amazed how much lube those dies collect.
Chief

[baih777]

I usually stop shooting Nov , Dec, Jan.
I breakdown my press and look for worn parts and reassemble and relive.
Then I start taking apart.dies.

I think it's a 20 guage mop that fits in dies real nice. I use a drill and my Nufinish.

[slamfire1]

I live in a humid climate, the deep South. My reloading press is outside of the house, and so are the dies. The dies I left on the press are 223 Rem, 308 Win and 30-06. These are the calibers I shoot the most.

And I left these dies on the press and did not clean the sizing dies regularly, or at all. I really don't remember any regular maintenance I just assumed the lube would keep the dies from rusting. Well, after years of being on the press, I found the bottom half inch of these dies to have pits. Material was gone and I believe it was due to rusting. I had to replace my Lyman small base dies in 223, 308 and 30-06. I probably got my money out of them, literally loaded thousands to tens of thousands of rounds. Still, I think they would still be around had I kept the dies clean and lubricated with mineral oils.

Now, when I am done sizing, I take the die off, wipe out the interior, wipe off the decapping spindle, and oil everything. We will see how long that lasts.

[bruce381]

Cuban I load CAST in 45 cap and is are on about 10K with no cleaning and I Know the seater is getting gunked with wax lube so? maybe 20K with plated?

[OpenSightsOnly]

I load for rifle and use Imperial sizing wax and neck lube.

Dies are cleaned after each use, nothing fancy, just an oiled patch and twist that patch in the FL die with a chopstick.

[Magilla26]

I usually load in batches of 40 cartridges. On bottle neck cartridges I clean the dies before loading. When I am using the resizing die, if I start getting dents on the shoulder from lube build-up I will take it apart and clean it.

['ol shooter]

I spritz some gun cleaning spray on a couple Q-tips and swab out the insides, that's it.

[anonymouscuban]

Thanks guys. Really just a sanity check for me. Wanted to make sure I am maintaining my equipment correctly.

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[bruce381]

when you get gunk on the nose or OAL gets shorter you have to clean them

[rcslotcar]

Keep Q tips and bamboo skewers handy.

[mjmagee67]

I reload pistol rounds on Dillon Precision presses...What is this clean die thing you speak of? I know I am well over 25,000 9mm without any die cleaning YMMV.

[kcstott]

As needed. and that means on carbide 45acp/9mm = never or at least not yet and the dies are 30 years old. or on 44mag that load lead cast = about every 1000 rounds or so. due to bullet lube. My 308 match dies = about every 1000 rounds due to case lube and other thing causing sticky issues.

So again AS NEEDED. I think I clean the press more then I clean the dies