Die problem

artemistrad said:

View attachment 107722 hi who can advise me in following problem:
30-06 Forster FL die at first i got Nice and smooth cases and casenecks out of this die. Now after a 400 cases the necks are unsmooth, ribbeling (See picture). I polished (with polishpaste) and cleaned the expander as wel as I cleaned the die inside. Stil the problem occurs. Following questions:
- what do I wrong?
- can the problem be solved and how?
- is my die ruined
- is the die or the expander doing this
- Is it having a effect on accuracy or is this normal after a while. I am not that long into reloading.

Hope someone can help me here.

Thanks

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Clean it good and then make sure you're not over lubing the die or cases. The scrapes are from dirt, dust, other particles.

artemistrad said:

Is it better to lube everything with redding wax? I use dry lube in the neck area beacause it is easy to brush it out after sizing

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The Hornady spray lube leaves less residue than anything and works great. Just let it dry for about a minute after spraying so the solvent can evaporate.

artemistrad said:

I always recap before cleaning with a decapdie. After cleaning the brass I size. I check the necks to be clean. I use redding size wax for the case and grafite (dry lube / powder) for the necks.

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You should take the expander ball out of the sizing die and hide it somewhere where you'll forget where you hid it. It's not necessary to size the neck and expand it back up. Just let the bullet be your "expander" plus you'll reap the benefit of tighter bullet tension/pull. I usually decap first, but if you want to size and decap in one step replace the expander ball with an undersized one so it won't touch the neck. I also use the sizing wax. It's better than most lubes out there.

Well, I continue to use dry lube. I even brush it inside the necks with a nylon brush after I sonic clean cases so that the expander works easier and bullets seat easier.
I just clean my dies a little more often. Seems it was about 3~400 rounds before I start seeing the buildup on my dies too.

Carbon is hard and seems like once it builds up, it starts scratching the necks like that.
The problem might also be the carbon imbedding in copper stuck to the wall inside of the die as 243winxb suggest. A copper cleaner like Butches Bore Shine or Sweets might clean the die too. Think I will try that first next time I notice buildup to see if it fixes it.

After each sizing session I run a patch with something like charcoal starter fluid on it to clean out the die. Repeat as necessary followed by a dry patch. Xylene/xylol or toluene if you can find it in small containers work too. I'll decap and clean primer pockets. Then size sans expander and wipe the cases with a paper towel. Throw em in the tumbler for a spell then I'm good to go.

At the shoulder neck junction of the die there are burs and rough areas. And these rough areas will pick up brass and then you have brass rubbing on brass. This can happen to any make resizing die, it has happened to my Redding, Forster and RCBS dies.

The problem is made worse with new brass or wet tumbled cases with a peened case mouth. Meaning cases that are not trimmed and deburred. It also happens if the case necks are dipped in powdered graphite and the outside of the neck is not wiped off.

Simple fix, use a snug fitting shotgun cleaning mop and chucked in a drill. Then apply J&B Bore paste, automotive rubbing compound, Mothers Mag and Wheel polish etc to the mop. Now polish the die and apply pressure pushing the mop hard into the shoulder neck junction.

You can also try to just put the body of the die into a dry vibratory tumbler with treated walnut media. Just let the die tumble all night and it will come out looking better than new. This method also works to remove rust and corrosion from any die and polish it like new.

And a special "Thank You" to Barrelnut for bringing up the graphite powder. It took me a long time to realize the dry graphite powder was adding to the problem.