Reloading screw up

[TexasMac]

I was in the middle of swaging out peened case lips using a Lyman neck sizing die and a pin gauge. It’s a good technique which you can read about at http://www.texas-mac.com/Removing_Case_ ... _Edge.html. About half way through 200 cases everything was going smooth until the necks came out of the die with lots of scratches. Although the cases were clean, they were stored in a cartridge box with the necks down. I forgot to wipe each one to eliminate any grit on the necks prior to inserting in the die. Apparently one picked up some grit which embedded in the die. After polishing out the die with 1200 grit emery and finishing with jeweler’s rouge I was back in business. So be sure to wipe those cases prior to resizing.

Wayne

[Lumpy Grits]

With a Q-tip sprayed with silicon spray.
Make one pass around the inside of the neck.
Gary

[TexasMac]

With a Q-tip sprayed with silicon spray.
Make one pass around the inside of the neck.
Gary

Gary,

How does that prevent scratching the outside of the necks when there's grit imbedded in the sizing die?

Wayne

[mdeland]

I'm wondering how any grit could embed into the hardened steel of a sizing die unless it's carborundum ?

[TexasMac]

I'm wondering how any grit could embed into the hardened steel of a sizing die unless it's carborundum ?

Mike,

It likely was carborundum since I was sharpening some knives & tools on the same bench and could have contaminated one of the cases. BTW, I'm wondering just how hard the steel is since I was able to remove it & polish with emery paper and rouge

Wayne

[mdeland]

I got to thinking about it Wayne and would guess that the carborundum grains probably stuck to and embedded in the brass and scratched the neck of the resizing die . If this is the case that piece of brass may scratch up the die that you worked so hard to clean up, again.

[TexasMac]

I got to thinking about it Wayne and would guess that the carborundum grains probably stuck to and embedded in the brass and scratched the neck of the resizing die . If this is the case that piece of brass may scratch up the die that you worked so hard to clean up, again.

Mike,

Due to your comments I just checked the several cases that were scratched before I realized what was happening. Using a magnifying lens there is nothing obvious embedded in the brass. As I mentioned earlier, using a bore scope on the die, I found what looked like black particle stuck to or embedded in the neck area. This was after scrubbing it with solvent. After the polishing they were gone. BTW, I just expanded those scratched cases and ran them back through the sizing die, then followed up with some unscratched cases, resulting in no additional scratching. Of course, with my luck, the particles are in a case that went through the die just prior to the scratched ones. In that case I'll find it the hard way the next time.

Wayne

[mdeland]

Well good, I got up thinking, dang I should have posted my concern earlier in the hope that you would catch the problem (if it existed as I had guessed) before it screwed up your sizing die again.

[Kurt]

I found this common when I shot a lot of handgun bullseye. It's not grid imbedding in the die I found it brass smearing from being run in the die dry. I saw this especially with the .45 ACP brass that I would not roll over the lube pad because its soft and it would run through the sizing die with out lube and in a short time the cases would have scratches.
The brass was always deprimed and wet tumbled so the cases were clean.
I would just take a .45 bore brush and put a patch wetted with brasso (brass polish) and run it in and out the die using a cordless drill and that would clean out the stuck on brass off the die wall and all was well again till the next few times I reloaded with a progressive loading press.

[mdeland]

Yeah Kurt, I too have seen brass welded to the inside of die bodies and necks but what I have observed is little jagged balls of it pressure welded to the inside surface. I'm sure as you said it was from lack of getting a thorough job of lube coverage. I've noted it when case forming from a larger caliber.

[Lumpy Grits]

With a Q-tip sprayed with silicon spray.
Make one pass around the inside of the neck.
Gary

Gary,

How does that prevent scratching the outside of the necks when there's grit imbedded in the sizing die?

Wayne

Sorry, misunderstood.
Thought it was inside the casemouth.
Who made your size die? Sounds soft.
Did you lube the cases?
Gary

[TexasMac]

Gary,

It's a Lyman die and I used Hornady One-Shot case spray lube.

Wayne

[TexasMac]

BTW, I just added a photo to the article and additional details. Here's the link again:
http://www.texas-mac.com/Removing_Case_ ... _Edge.html

Wayne

[Lumpy Grits]

I stopped using Lyman dies because they scar so easily. I think they use leaded steel.
Try RCBS.
Get some Sagebrush case lube. So much better than one shot.
Gary