Rusty dies

[dennishoddy]

Interesting you mention lubing the outside of stainless guns....I had a question about that too! Stainless steel varmint barrel on my ar 15...lube it? How do you get all the way down to the bottom of the barrel since the handguards are locked in over it?

Remove the hand guards, and get everything protected.

 

[okietom]

Inside and outside for the anti rust lube.

Carbide pistol dies won't rust. I don't use WD-40 for anything on a gun. In cold weather, or with excessive use in hot weather, it turns into gum.

Carbide pistol dies will rust. The cobalt will leach out of the carbide alloy. I can show you some rusty carbide right now. Only a small insert in the sizing die is carbide anyway. Some Lee dies have a carbide sizer in the crimp die too.

The rest of the carbide die is steel like the rest of the dies that aren't carbide. For seven years I sharpened carbide slitting knives in the factory I worked in. We sharpened some for our pilot plant in St Paul, MN and our sister plants in Tucson, AZ and Camarillo, CA. At times when a set was urgent it would get air shipped.

Riding in the cargo bay of a jet plane they would get cold and when it landed they would warm up again. This would cause them to sweat. In one days time the high grade carbide we used could turn red with rust.

We started packing them with desicants inside of vacuum bags. That stopped the sweat and rust.

Just saying that carbide can and does rust.

 

[SoonerP226]

So, was I the only one wondering who Rusty was?

 

[turkeyrun]

Most of that rust on your dies if most likely from FINGERPRINTS.

clean, wipe, lube, store !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Maverick1911]

All great advice. Thanks!

 

[Oklahomabassin]

So, was I the only one wondering who Rusty was?

Yessir

 

[ASP785]

Hit them with the Hornady one shot, and brush to get the surface rust off and hit them again with the one shot. Your good to go.

I've ran into this problem in my shop that is really sealed and insulated.

Interesting tip with the One Shot. I will have to try that.

 

[tul9033]

The Hornady dies have a rust inhibitor chip in the box. You can buy them at Midway USA. I keep them in all of my die storage boxes.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/154282/tipton-rust-inhibitor-chips-package-of-50

 

[archer]

Do any of you remember good ol' RIG?? ( Rust Inhibiting Grease) It went off the market for a while. But Birchwood Casey has brought it back. They assure that it is the same identical formulation as the old product. A thin film of this stuff does wonders. Treat your dies with a very thin layer of RIG and say goodbye to your rusting problems.
As for the inside of your dies, if its a die that requires lube then the residual lube should protect your critical dimensions. If carbide and they are going to be unused for a while, never hurts to swab a little lube into the sizing ring as well as rest of die. I have an old Lyman TC .44 die that was in some items I picked up somewhere and was amazed to see the sizing ring was in such sorry shape....didnt know that could happen.