After purchasing a set of new dies from Forster or Hornady or Whidden Gunworks you will want to disassemble them, inspect them, and then remove any internal grease and/or a waxy coating that was placed on the dies. Two videos are provided below that demonstrate how to clean and de-grease dies when they first arrive from the manufacturer. The videos will also show you how to clean dies after they have been used regularly. Cleaning your dies can help remove carbon, brass shavings and lubricant residues that may have gotten inside. Bill Gravatt, Creedmoor Sports’ President, shows different methods for cleaning dies, both when they are new and after accumulating carbon and lubricant after use. This video is worth watching. In the second video a Hornady tech shows how to degrease dies before the first use. In the video, a convenient aerosol spray is used. You can also use liquid solvents with a soft nylon brush and cotton patches. NOTE: You may want to apply some light grease after cleaning to the external threads on your dies. Bill Gravatt’s Creedmoor Sports Die Cleaning VideoHornady Video Showing aerosol cleaner
Regularly clean your Sizing Dies and body Dies
The same techniques can be used to clean dies that have been used in reloading. Hand-loaders who are otherwise intelligent often forget to clean their dies. This allows contaminants such as old case lubricant, gunk, carbon and other residues to accumulate inside the die. You should clean your dies regularly, especially if you don’t tumble or ultrasonic your cases in between loadings. The most important thing to do is keep the full-length sizing dies and body dies as clean as possible. These dies quickly accumulate lubricant and carbon residue.
