RELOAING DIE MAINTENANCE
Like your car, home or firearm, regular maintenance prevents small issues from becoming big problems. RCBS manufactures our tools and dies to the highest standards, but you’ll still need to give your green machines some TLC from time to time and perform maintenance.
This blog will cover one of the most asked questions: how do you maintain your reloading dies? Do you need to clean your reloading dies?
WHY DO I NEED TO CLEAN MY RELOADING DIES?
Keeping your RCBS reloading dies clean will help them last a lifetime and keep surprises from popping up, potentially and unknowingly altering your case sizing, bullet seating settings or damaging your brass. Ultimately, your consistency and accuracy can be affected by dirty or damaged dies.
Dirt and debris can build up inside or around the bottom of your dies, potentially interfering with your die’s function or settings. This includes tumbling media, excessive lube, carbon from dirty brass, dirt picked up at the range or in the field, and bullet copper or lead shavings.
Got a new set of dies? RCBS also recommends you clean your new dies before initial use to help them get reloading right.
HOW DO I KNOW IF I NEED TO CLEAN MY DIES?
You can’t address an issue you don’t know about! Keep contaminates at bay by frequently inspecting your RCBS reloading dies. Every so often, disassemble your dies as much as possible and inspect them for grime, dirt or debris internally.
How often should you disassemble your dies depends on your reloading process. A handloader who shoots hundreds of rounds a week and picks up dirty range brass from an outdoor range will need more frequent die maintenance than a bench rest shooter who only shoots occasionally and carefully puts each spent case from his firearm’s action back into the ammo box.
HOW DO I CLEAN MY RELOADING DIES?
There are many ways to clean reloading dies. Begin with completely disassembling your dies. For example, unscrew and take the decapping rod assembly out of your sizing die’s die body, and remove your lock ring.
Once disassembled, focus on cleaning your die body. An RCBS ultrasonic cleaner with the appropriate cleaning solution, utilizing a gun cleaning spray or degreaser or even a good dousing of brake cleaner, all will help break down and clean the grime and build-up on your dies. Clean with one of these methods, then follow by pushing a couple patches through the die.
Alternatively, you can submerge your die and components into a glass or plastic jar filled with paint thinner, mineral spirits or similar, shake, then remove. Then dry your die components completely with shop cloths or compressed air.
Don’t forget to follow up cleaning by applying a very light coat of good quality gun oil or rust prohibitor inside and out before reassembly of your dies to ensure the quality of your reloads and the lifelong service of your RCBS reloading dies.
Share: