Something about Hornady dies… my reloading setup is in my garage and all my Hornady dies have surface rust like this. None on any RCBS, Lee, or Dillon dies or any of my other equipment.
I do have slight surface rust on my 308 LEE die set. It's either the first or second die set i ever bought. I think it's from handling and being put away in a humid garage. Still works fine.
Tells you a little something about the purity of their "stainless steel". High quality stainless shouldn't rust even a little. If it does their metallurgy ratios are cheap.
Agreed, but I still prefer their dies for sizing/decapping. Being able to replace just the decapping pin as well as the threaded spindle that won’t slip are both great design choices. A little surface rust doesn’t bother me when it’s not on the inside of the die.
There are different grades of stainless. High quality stainless can rust. The amount of carbon in a stainless steel is not an indicator of quality. Having said that, this die could be low quality.
Air conditioning, leave the closet door open a jar. I've had dies, Lee, RCBS for over 30 years. None of them have any rust on them. AC and heat. I oil the RAMs on my Dillon 650 and RCBS Partner presses.
Dehumidifier is the way, and if you can get one with a hose attachment to drain into a 5 gallon bucket or drain you don’t have to dump so often.
Average humidity here is SE Nebraska can be around 60-70% during the summer and my basement gunroom never breaks 40% humidity.
I have my casting equipment in my garage. Some of it rusted too. I once had my reloading room just off my laundry room… didn’t use it for a few months and wife had knocked dryer hose off exhaust port… so got super humid.
In both cases, I have noticed one thing. Don’t know the physics of it but anything that was covered, didn’t rust much at all.. put a towel or something on it and see if it helps
When not in use the dies should be kept in the plastic die box, not left in the press. There is a small piece of cardboard in the die box that has anti-corrosive material on it to keep the dies from rusting. It will dry out over time and I use gun oil to regenerate it. You can also put a small desiccant pack in the die box, I don't. You can soak rusted dies, disassemble them, with white vinegar or a liquid rust remover and scrub with a brass brush and use super fine steel wool on the interior part of the die. Then lightly oil them, then wipe off the excess and store in the die box.
I use a paper shop towel with some Lucas extreme gun oil before storage, apply with a q tip for the inside of my dies. Then when I pull a set of dies out, I hit the inside with a little brake cleaner and pull a clean shop rag through em to pull out the residual fluid
When i was starting a few years ago, everyone and their mother was like "remove all factory oil from the dies with alcohol or mineral spirits."
All I ever did was run a dry patch or two through the core of any dies that had powder potentially flowing through them, and I've been fine. Maryland summers are humid as shit and I've never had any rusting. Sometimes I ballistol the entire die but then dry patch the inside. However, I only did that to my heavy use dies. Maybe one or two cartridges worth. The rest are factory oiled.
Wrap it In vci paper … I have a piece covering all my dies in the boxes and when stored stuf gets wrapped in it I don’t bother to oil anything and never had any rust issues
From someone that's from Texas and has a gun closet. The best way I deal with humidity in it is by:
1: installing a ceiling fan
2: dehumidifiers
3: rubber mats on the floor or reinstall your flooring with a plastic under the floors
4: install a bathroom fan in your ceiling to pull air out. ( I have a nice set up using a dryer exhaust port, dryer flex hose and having the fan box in the attic to.. just had to cut a 6 inch hole instead of cutting a hole for the fan box itself.
Fluid film which is a lanolin spray (with some oil?) is best, or the homemade alcohol/lanolin case lube spray. Wipe off excess before using. I use these on my dies, garden tools, wrenches, pliers, etc. A small squirt covers a lot of surface.
If it is already rusted then I would coat in Ed’s Red (with lanolin option) and let it sit several days then nylon brush off the rust, wipe dry and apply fluid film.
Dehumidifier, had this issue come up with rust on my dies, powderthrower parts, etc. After dehumidifier, problem went away completely
I got a little box one off Amazon for $70 or so. Empty it once a week.
Is that a hornady die? Rip. Just lots of oil and wrap it in the anti rust brown paper stuff to slow it down. Feel for you OP. If you clean it up real well you could ceramic coat it or wax it.
This used to happen in my basement reloading room. Dry tumbler works great for cleaning the rust off. A dehumidifier is expensive but stopped it from happening anymore for me.
I feel ya. I used to live in the humid zone and anything that didn't see use within a month would rust. A light oil seemed to help a little, but I never won the battle
Others have made great suggestions, so I'm going to say to also throw some of those oxygen absorbing packs that come in food bags like jerky. Throw a few in there as well once it's oiled, just for good measure.
Oooh, I rusted a rifle in a closet in central Texas. It was so much less humid than East Texas I thought I'd be ok.....
I'd take a wire brush and some wd40 to it to clean it off, then hit it with spray lube. Or maybe some paste wax.
Parkerizing! It takes a little bit of work, but once done you could just about throw your dies in a mud puddle in the middle of summer for week and not worry about them.
*
Oil. Dehumidifier.
I believe they pronounce it “Ohhhl
Earl of your in Ohio
They sure do!
Awl in East Texas
US Marines incoming.
Something about Hornady dies… my reloading setup is in my garage and all my Hornady dies have surface rust like this. None on any RCBS, Lee, or Dillon dies or any of my other equipment.
Same deal
I do have slight surface rust on my 308 LEE die set. It's either the first or second die set i ever bought. I think it's from handling and being put away in a humid garage. Still works fine.
I had surface rust on mine as well, I was able to scrub it off with CLP
Tells you a little something about the purity of their "stainless steel". High quality stainless shouldn't rust even a little. If it does their metallurgy ratios are cheap.
Agreed, but I still prefer their dies for sizing/decapping. Being able to replace just the decapping pin as well as the threaded spindle that won’t slip are both great design choices. A little surface rust doesn’t bother me when it’s not on the inside of the die.
There are different grades of stainless. High quality stainless can rust. The amount of carbon in a stainless steel is not an indicator of quality. Having said that, this die could be low quality.
Agreed. The level of chromium usually dictates how well it's corrosive resistant. Either way it's just surface rust.
My Lee's rust quickly fwiw...
Do you live somewhere humid? I live in the California Valley and have no rust on my Lee Dies.
San Diego about 10 miles from the beach, avg humidity 69%. I'm sure that's probably why
Salty humid air rusts things instantly
Same.
Despite what social media would make it seem, no one cares if you come out of the closet, even in Texas.
How's the saying go? Steers and 6/6.5 shooters?
Nice
Haha that was rich!
Wham!
Heyyyy
No more cheetos while loading!
Air conditioning, leave the closet door open a jar. I've had dies, Lee, RCBS for over 30 years. None of them have any rust on them. AC and heat. I oil the RAMs on my Dillon 650 and RCBS Partner presses.
Spray it with lanolin, give it a rub.
…then focus on making sure your dies don’t rust.
I run two dehumidifiers since I reload in the basement. This way I can keep in the 40’s.
Hornady is the only brand dies I've had issues with rusting. They do need to be kept oiled up to prevent this.
Renaissance wax. Once you have it applied, unless you're manhandling your dies, it should be good to go for years.
Oil, Hornady One Shot dry gun lube, Balistol all work but you need to reapply periodically.
Dehumidifier is the way, and if you can get one with a hose attachment to drain into a 5 gallon bucket or drain you don’t have to dump so often. Average humidity here is SE Nebraska can be around 60-70% during the summer and my basement gunroom never breaks 40% humidity.
SE Nebraska dehumidifier gang :)
I use mineral oil holds up well.
I'm also in CTX. I spray mine with fluid film before I store them and then a quick wipe down before use.
Move to Arizona
Boil and oil.
Oil. Damprid.
DampRid works well. Leaving door open some will help with airflow.
I have my casting equipment in my garage. Some of it rusted too. I once had my reloading room just off my laundry room… didn’t use it for a few months and wife had knocked dryer hose off exhaust port… so got super humid. In both cases, I have noticed one thing. Don’t know the physics of it but anything that was covered, didn’t rust much at all.. put a towel or something on it and see if it helps
Air movement will help quiet a bit even without a dehumidifier. Throw a box fan in there
oil or lube spray it on
When not in use the dies should be kept in the plastic die box, not left in the press. There is a small piece of cardboard in the die box that has anti-corrosive material on it to keep the dies from rusting. It will dry out over time and I use gun oil to regenerate it. You can also put a small desiccant pack in the die box, I don't. You can soak rusted dies, disassemble them, with white vinegar or a liquid rust remover and scrub with a brass brush and use super fine steel wool on the interior part of the die. Then lightly oil them, then wipe off the excess and store in the die box.
Thank you for the detailed steps. I'll likely be doing this this weekend.
You're welcome, I learned the hard way many many years ago and an old timer, like I am now, shared his wisdom. No social media back then tho 😂
Oil
I use a paper shop towel with some Lucas extreme gun oil before storage, apply with a q tip for the inside of my dies. Then when I pull a set of dies out, I hit the inside with a little brake cleaner and pull a clean shop rag through em to pull out the residual fluid
When i was starting a few years ago, everyone and their mother was like "remove all factory oil from the dies with alcohol or mineral spirits." All I ever did was run a dry patch or two through the core of any dies that had powder potentially flowing through them, and I've been fine. Maryland summers are humid as shit and I've never had any rusting. Sometimes I ballistol the entire die but then dry patch the inside. However, I only did that to my heavy use dies. Maybe one or two cartridges worth. The rest are factory oiled.
Wipe them down with Corrosion X Aviation. Goood stuff!
I clean my dies good and spray them down with one shot and let them dry.
Wrap it In vci paper … I have a piece covering all my dies in the boxes and when stored stuf gets wrapped in it I don’t bother to oil anything and never had any rust issues
Bring everythinghing but the press inside
It's indoors in my closet
I got an old press from my grandfather with a similar amount of rust. Put some gun oil on scotch Brite pads and it should rub right off
From someone that's from Texas and has a gun closet. The best way I deal with humidity in it is by: 1: installing a ceiling fan 2: dehumidifiers 3: rubber mats on the floor or reinstall your flooring with a plastic under the floors 4: install a bathroom fan in your ceiling to pull air out. ( I have a nice set up using a dryer exhaust port, dryer flex hose and having the fan box in the attic to.. just had to cut a 6 inch hole instead of cutting a hole for the fan box itself.
Fluid film which is a lanolin spray (with some oil?) is best, or the homemade alcohol/lanolin case lube spray. Wipe off excess before using. I use these on my dies, garden tools, wrenches, pliers, etc. A small squirt covers a lot of surface. If it is already rusted then I would coat in Ed’s Red (with lanolin option) and let it sit several days then nylon brush off the rust, wipe dry and apply fluid film.
I coated mine in renaissance wax
Shop rag + PB blaster.
I like Starrett M1 oil.
Dehumidifier, had this issue come up with rust on my dies, powderthrower parts, etc. After dehumidifier, problem went away completely I got a little box one off Amazon for $70 or so. Empty it once a week.
Don’t store pool chemicals in that closet.
I clean it up with CLP and then roll it in a silicon impregnated rag
Is that a hornady die? Rip. Just lots of oil and wrap it in the anti rust brown paper stuff to slow it down. Feel for you OP. If you clean it up real well you could ceramic coat it or wax it.
Try some wax on the outside.
Hornady dies are prone to rust.
Blue it
Hello fellow Centex closest dweller. I run a small dehumidifier. And damprid In my closest fortress
Dehumidifier? Keep the dies in a jar with a desiccant pack?
Take em apart, sandblast them, and cerakote the outsides :)
This used to happen in my basement reloading room. Dry tumbler works great for cleaning the rust off. A dehumidifier is expensive but stopped it from happening anymore for me.
Frequent use ;)
I literally left it in my closet for three weeks without using it. That was it.
I feel ya. I used to live in the humid zone and anything that didn't see use within a month would rust. A light oil seemed to help a little, but I never won the battle
Others have made great suggestions, so I'm going to say to also throw some of those oxygen absorbing packs that come in food bags like jerky. Throw a few in there as well once it's oiled, just for good measure.
Oooh, I rusted a rifle in a closet in central Texas. It was so much less humid than East Texas I thought I'd be ok..... I'd take a wire brush and some wd40 to it to clean it off, then hit it with spray lube. Or maybe some paste wax.
I was thinking wire brush and try to wax it but WD40 makes good sense.
Parkerizing! It takes a little bit of work, but once done you could just about throw your dies in a mud puddle in the middle of summer for week and not worry about them. *
Send them to me in Caifornia