What is ruining my dies?

[Hummer]

If you have a dental probe run it in die and rotate it and see if there is a build up of brass. If you have someone with a borescope take a real close look down inside die.

My bet is with lots of the others, not enough case lube.

Best thing I have found for cases is milsurp lube called Grease Artillery and Automotive. It is tan in color and is synthetic. Put just enough on your fingers and roll case in fingers till it feels slick all over but not built up like icing on a cake.

 

[BigMoby]

Pretty fond of this stuff for lubing cases

 

[efelton]

Just to follow up, for archival purposes...

It was the die that was scratching the brass. I took before & after pictures just to be sure.

Then I ran some 7000-grit sandpaper up inside my die. The brass deposits inside the die are now barely visible and the brass comes out unscratched.

 

[highscore]

Just to follow up, for archival purposes...

It was the die that was scratching the brass. I took before & after pictures just to be sure.

Then I ran some 7000-grit sandpaper up inside my die. The brass deposits inside the die are now barely visible and the brass comes out unscratched.

The pics showed an obvious loaded die issue. How did you polish out the die with the 7000 grit sandpaper?

 

[efelton]

The pics showed an obvious loaded die issue. How did you polish out the die with the 7000 grit sandpaper?

I found a drill bit that was slightly smaller than the internal diameter of the die (could not find a wooden dowel the right diameter, as that would have been my first choice).

I wrapped a small, postage stamp, piece of sandpaper around the non-cutting end of the drill bit and then rotated the bit into the die so the sand paper did not unroll. I did that for about 1 minute and ran piece of brass through the die and the scratches vanished.

I only use this particular die for decapping my range scrap before tumbling. I imagine that some dirt got embedded on the inside of the die, and removing that fixed the problem. As a bonus the inside of that die is now shiny!

 

[1919FAN]

 

[Clumber32]

I use Imperial sizing wax for rifle and One Shot for pistol. If some of the brass fell into dirt or sand at the range it's possible that some grit is mixed in with the walnut media. Maybe try some fresh walnut media and better wax.