The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Hi All
I have just purchased a set of Hornady (.223) dies and I notice that the instructions suggest that a coating of 'protective oil ' is removed before use and that any commercial solvent or cleaner should be used
Any suggestions as to how this could be easily done without resorting to buying any more chemicals? I did see somewhere on the web that soap and hot water was as good as anything (I'm not too keen on that idea either!)
Any suggestions would be appreciated
Thanks
Ed

Depends what you have around.

Acetone, isopropyl alcohol, meths, carb/break cleaner and such like all work as degreasers.

I mainly use neat Simple Green for degreasing as well as sticking in boiling water with a few drops of washing up liquid, dissasemble the dies and pop them in for couple of minutes and then take them out and dry thoroughly when cool, the boiling water heats up the metal and helps with the drying. Be aware that any aluminium parts (Lee dies) will discolour.

Ultra sonic baths work as well and can be had cheaply on occasion from Aldi and such like shops, they work good enough for degreasing small parts.

Thanks Dromia
Just what I needed to know
I didn't want to mess about with Acetone or similar but meths sounds just the job!
Back to the reloading room !
ATB
Ed

White spirit or lighter fuel and a kitchen tissue is another way of getting the worst of it off. Meths evaporates rather quickly.

Redding recommend just cleaning with your normal gun cleaning solvents.

How often are you guys cleaning your dies ?

I clean mine when I remember for the body section and give the neck bushings a clean out at the end of every reloading session.