[darbo]

A person can learn lessons the hard way or the easy way. Well I have now learned a reloading lesson the hard way. I will share my learning experience so other noobs might learn the lesson the easy way.

If you haven't, you should read my post titled _&)&*(^^%^*%$#$(*((__(&$ or something to that effect! This afternoon I got the case unstuck from the die. I was happy with that. Although I looked inside the die and there was some very nasty galling. So I decided to size a case and see how things went. Well as you can imagine the case came out with big scratches in it. Well isn't that dandy! So it's obvious I won't be sizing any more cases.

My next plan is to check case length and get the primer pockets cleaned up on the brass that I sized before the case got stuck. So now I'm starting to look at cases and I'm seeing big long scratches in them. Long story short, I scrapped about 80% of a Folgers coffee can worth of .223 brass. Apparently sometime during my resizing the die got contaminated with something and it galled the inside of the die and of course ruined the cases.

The lesson I learned was to check things more frequently as I'm working through a large quantity, as I tend to do. Don't just slam away at them and expect everything to be ok. Had I checked along the way I would have seen the scratches and stopped to investigate. And that investigation might very well have prevented the stuck case too.

So there it is, my hard lesson learned for the weekend. Oh, of course I'm out the cost of a new die too, if I can find one.

 

[Bender]

Sorry to hear buddy. I loaded a bunch of .38 specials once and I was soooo proud of how they looked.... Being my first reloads and all......I was so busy making sure the bullet was seated properly...... I was not putting powder in the cases.......I had to pull 20 or so apart. But I missed 3 and then had three slugs to pull out of barrels.... Lesson learned.

 

[andreew]

A person can learn lessons the hard way or the easy way. Well I have now learned a reloading lesson the hard way. I will share my learning experience so other noobs might learn the lesson the easy way.

If you haven't, you should read my post titled _&)&*(^^%^*%$#$(*((__(&$ or something to that effect! This afternoon I got the case unstuck from the die. I was happy with that. Although I looked inside the die and there was some very nasty galling. So I decided to size a case and see how things went. Well as you can imagine the case came out with big scratches in it. Well isn't that dandy! So it's obvious I won't be sizing any more cases.

My next plan is to check case length and get the primer pockets cleaned up on the brass that I sized before the case got stuck. So now I'm starting to look at cases and I'm seeing big long scratches in them. Long story short, I scrapped about 80% of a Folgers coffee can worth of .223 brass. Apparently sometime during my resizing the die got contaminated with something and it galled the inside of the die and of course ruined the cases.

The lesson I learned was to check things more frequently as I'm working through a large quantity, as I tend to do. Don't just slam away at them and expect everything to be ok. Had I checked along the way I would have seen the scratches and stopped to investigate. And that investigation might very well have prevented the stuck case too.

So there it is, my hard lesson learned for the weekend. Oh, of course I'm out the cost of a new die too, if I can find one.

I'm not familiar with other brands, but Lee's sizing die looks like it'll be easy to remove stuck cases: loosen the collet, then drive out the decapping pin (and in so doing, push the stuck case out).

I've seen videos where they scrub dies out with a shotgun bore brush. Maybe that might help. If all else fails, maybe you can send it back to the manufacturer. These reloading equipment manufacturers seem generous about product replacements.

 

[glenwolde]

You could try to polish out the die. Nothing to lose......

"Another question that comes up is, "Can I do any internal polishing?" Again, the answer is, "Yes, with care!" The best arrangement is to chuck the die in a lathe, after stripping it down and removing the internal parts. Use #400 or #600 wet/dry auto body paper wrapped around a small wooden dowel. Keep the paper wet with a thin petroleum product with the consistency of WD-40 or kerosene. Using this method, you will easily be able to remove any foreign material or brass build-up from the inside of the die."

Scratched Cases: Causes and Cures | Redding Reloading Equipment: reloading equipment for rifles, handguns, pistols, revolvers and SAECO bullet casting equipment

 

[darbo]

You could try to polish out the die. Nothing to lose......

"Another question that comes up is, "Can I do any internal polishing?" Again, the answer is, "Yes, with care!" The best arrangement is to chuck the die in a lathe, after stripping it down and removing the internal parts. Use #400 or #600 wet/dry auto body paper wrapped around a small wooden dowel. Keep the paper wet with a thin petroleum product with the consistency of WD-40 or kerosene. Using this method, you will easily be able to remove any foreign material or brass build-up from the inside of the die."

Scratched Cases: Causes and Cures | Redding Reloading Equipment: reloading equipment for rifles, handguns, pistols, revolvers and SAECO bullet casting equipment

Thanks for the heads-up. I was rather discouraged after learning what I had done to the die and to so many of my .223 cases so have not messed with it much since then. I have quite a bit of experience with wet sanding and metal polishing so i will take another look at the die. Maybe I can get it cleaned up and keep it as a backup tool as I will replace it with a new undamaged part.