Lees dies,,How often do you?

[misskimo]

Clean your dies? I reloaded about 60 through my 30-06 since new. I took the recapper out yesterday. And man was their some build up of case lube on it. I would think at some point this could cause a problem
I think I will take them apart after each use from now on

 

[jcvibby]

about every 300 roumds for me

 

[HiBC]

I compliment you for paying attention.I would guess the brand name won't matter much,Lee,RCBS,etc,a lube build up would probably be about the same.
Downtown Kotzebue has what,a SuperWalMart,BigBox Discount Outdoor and Surplus,and Margarets Reloading Supply,right?
lots of case lube choices?
Just kidding.Some lubes are messier than others.Generally if you are using too much,the shoulder will show dents caused by a buildup of lube in the die.
Beware 2 things when you get your dies squeeky clean.One,they may rust if left sqeeky clean,and two,fresh cleaned,maybe not 100% dry of whatever you clean them with,you can stick a case tight in the die pretty easy.So,maybe apply a very light film of case lube to the die interior for storage.
Clean dies are a good thing.
It could be a change of case lube may help,but likely its practical to use what you have.

 

[howlnmad]

I don't usually load in batches over 250, so I do it after every session.

 

[Poodleshooter]

I squirt hoppes in mine and run a pipe cleaner into them. That leaves a very light coat of oil, and usually gets some of the crud out.

 

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

brake cleaner, then hornady one shot gun cleaner after a couple hundred rounds.

 

[4runnerman]

every 150 rounds light cleaning and every 300 rounds a big cleaning

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

One more reason I use a Collet die.... no lube cleaning.

The Redding Body die gets a cotton bore brush run in my cordless drill after each session though. Takes about 10 seconds, don't even take it out of the turret.

 

[armoredman]

Seating die gets cleaned about every two hundred rounds or so - loading cast, and bullet lube builds up!
I cleaning the decapping/resizing die every so often, no real schedule.

 

[straightShot]

I never thought of it. I just clean my dies when I notice a scratch on my cases. I'll just keep going and going until this happens.

I just resized 1,500 .223 cases...I should probably clean my die just in case...

 

[DiscoRacing]

Ive cleaned mine often...

.. Not sure how many rounds specifically.

 

[NWPilgrim]

brake cleaner, then hornady one shot gun cleaner after a couple hundred rounds.

Ditto. I blast them with brake cleaner before each use. I use whichever lube is handy, One Shot (dries in a minute or so so less mess) or RCBS spray.

 

[jimbob86]

I reloaded about 60 through my 30-06 since new. I took the recapper out yesterday. And man was their some build up of case lube on it. I would think at some point this could cause a problem

You know you can thin that lube out with water, right? Just let it dry before you start sizing/decapping ...... less mess and the tube lasts 4x as long.

 

[gregjc9]

Mine are Hornday, and I clean them about every 2-300 rounds. I use the Hornady On-Shot to clean and lube. Clean rag, can of compressed air, Q-Tips, and bore snakes works for me.

 

[Jim243]

About once a year wether they need it or not. Just joshing. They only get cleaned if there is a problem. I use a spray lube and vary sparingly so there really is no big build up in the dies, besides 80% of my reloading now is for handgun and it's hard to get case lube out of these carbide dies, o that's right I don't use case lube with them.


A tube of case lube lasts me about a year and a half to two years

Jim

 

[misskimo]

Hibc Haha. Nearest Walmart is 500 mile by jet only, Remote village,
Yes. I did use lees. Grease looking lube first. Then went to lube in a boddle with a pad. So. Yeh. It shouldn't build up like lees grease lube looking stuff.
Thanks for all the input. For me I will clean after I use it so I don't forget. Got to many dies.

T

 

[Jim243]

Misskimo

I use Lee's case lube as well. Try this trick, get a small spray bottle like they use for spraying small plants. Take one ounce of Lee's lube and put it in the spray bottle then add 5 ounces of rubbing alcohol and close the top and shake it up. open the nozzle just a touch so it fine mists. Load your cases in a reloading bloc (I do 50 at a time) and lighly spray the cases, wait 10 min for the alcohol to evaporate and you are ready to resize. Very little to no lube build up and the bottle will last a long long time (many, many cases).


Good luck and don't over lube just get them wet.
Jim

 

[wncchester]

I give my dies a spritz of cheap spray oil (Walmart) after each use and clean them well before using them again. And do it that way even if they aren't Lee dies.

 

[Incognito]

WD-40 works good for me. It cleans well and leaves a protective film afterwards.

 

[alloy]

Clean your dies?

When I see sizing lube start oozing out of the vent hole, onto the exterior threads.
But I blow them out with the air compressor frequently, far more often than I might take one apart....maybe every use. 120 psi.