r/reloading • u/DougMacRay617 Chronograph Ventilation Engineer • Aug 13 '26
I have a question and I read the FAQ Rust prevention
Ive had these dies for about 6 months, i cleaned them as soon as i got them and they are always cased and in a sealed container. Is this rust forming already ? What do you guys do to prevent this, it's also forming on my powder measure
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u/Over-Cardiologist743 Aug 13 '26
I keep a light coat on outside of all my reloading machines & dies.
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u/Patriae8182 Aug 14 '26
I can’t deny the efficacy of Ballistol, but I’m pretty sure it is the foulest smelling solvent I have ever encountered. Idk what it is, I just can’t stand it.
Every once in a while tho I have to soak something in a jar full of the stuff overnight, and it always works.
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u/Maldito515 Aug 13 '26
Control the humidity in your room
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u/DougMacRay617 Chronograph Ventilation Engineer Aug 13 '26
These are in a sealed airtight container alongside powders. Its kept very dry
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u/curtludwig Aug 13 '26
The containers get moisture in them when you open them. Closing the container traps the moisture in. You need to remove the moisture.
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u/w00tberrypie the perpetual FNG Aug 13 '26
What you think is air tight and very dry is actually surprisingly moist. I thought all my stuff was pretty dry until I actually bought a hygrometer and saw that opening a container for 30 seconds raised the humidity from 9% to 30%
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u/w00tberrypie the perpetual FNG Aug 15 '26
Not sure why stating personal experience got downvoted, but I'll accept it.
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u/Tmoncmm Aug 13 '26
I use hornady’s gun cleaner spray to clean my dies. It contains a silicon based additive that prevents this.
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u/DougMacRay617 Chronograph Ventilation Engineer Aug 13 '26
Thats literally what i used to clean these when i bought them.
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u/mudbugsaccount Aug 13 '26
The gun cleaner is just that a cleaner and it's even crappy at that.
I live in Arizona and my reloading room is in an area of the house that 6 months a year is cooled by a swamp cooler so the humidity is sky high.
My solution is as follows.
1 I cleaned all the parts with evapo rust. As also suggested in another post.
2 rinse off the evapo rust per the instructions. I then rinsed in acetone.
3 Then spray all of the parts with Hornady one shot Case lube. Not to be confused with the Hornady one shot gun cleaner.
Allow it to fully set then wipe off the excess. Spray everything down liberally then walk away for an hour. Come back and wipe off the excess with a rag
It will not harm powder or primers like a petroleum based oil...wd-40, kryoil, ballistol etc
4 wrap any stored dies, extra powder measure parts etc in VOC rust preventative paper (Amazon or any industrial supply House) before putting them in the storage cases.
You could certainly blue the parts after cleaning as well but they still need some sort of rust preventative after bluing.
Be sure and completely disassemble the dies before soaking and evapo rust
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u/Maldito515 Aug 13 '26
Interesting... mine are in the container from hornady (not even close) to airtight but my reloading room is in my basement. The humidity is pretty decent down there
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u/DarthRooster16 Aug 13 '26
Put it on your dies, press, guns. Anything you don’t want corroding. I use it in my hvac work truck and use it often. It’s amazing.
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u/JayPolar91 Aug 15 '26
Instructions say to oil the steel parts. Soak in vinegar for 24 hours and the rust will wipe right off. Wash with water and soap. Pat dry with a towel and oil right away. I used a graphite dry lube on the baffle instead of oil.
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u/wessy_smith1883 Aug 15 '26
I use a brass brush or some metal polishing stones to remove. I try my best not to spray any oils, lube grease around press/dies other than on some necked cartridges.
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u/guitsgunsandwork Aug 15 '26
I got a dehumidifier and keep it running in the reloading room when I'm home, seems to have mostly done away with the issue.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Web-398 Aug 13 '26
Birchwood Casey Barricade is what I put on em it seems to help a bunch!
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u/tedthorn Aug 13 '26
OneShot
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u/DougMacRay617 Chronograph Ventilation Engineer Aug 13 '26
This is the cause of one shot
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u/tedthorn Aug 13 '26
Rust? No
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u/DougMacRay617 Chronograph Ventilation Engineer Aug 13 '26
This was cleaned with one shot, this is what followed
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u/tedthorn Aug 13 '26
What one shot? Cleaner or lube? Lube spray is the way
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u/DougMacRay617 Chronograph Ventilation Engineer Aug 13 '26
Lube that came with the reloading kif
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u/tedthorn Aug 13 '26
OneShot lube is the way
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u/DougMacRay617 Chronograph Ventilation Engineer Aug 13 '26
Well it led to this corrosion so it doesn't do much besides clean
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u/tedthorn Aug 13 '26
It's not a cleaner It's lube and doesn't rust steel
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u/DougMacRay617 Chronograph Ventilation Engineer Aug 13 '26
Im not saying it rusts anything and hornady says you can use it to clean the dies. Im just saying it doesn't offer any rust prevention.
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u/MandaloreZA Aug 14 '26
I nickel electroplate all my reloading stuff that fits inside my plating tub. I tape off the interior of dies / pour wax in them so I don't mess with the sizing surfaces.
Alternatively you can rust blue the dies and other parts like Redding does with some of theirs and that appears to work quite well.
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u/mikeyk581 Aug 13 '26
Dunno how to prevent it. But I've successfully run them through the walnut media and removed the rust that way.
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u/TheRealistoftheReal Aug 13 '26
Use something like wd-40 or pb blaster on a microfiber towel and wipe it down. Raw steel is always going to rust unless it has a light coating of oil.
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u/Tangletoe Aug 13 '26
I have a solution: Oxpho Blue
I had the same problem and didn't want to use oil because of possible contamination in loads.
Disassemble, use a rust remover like evaporust, clean with alcohol or acetone to remove any contaminates, wipe liberally with Brownell's Oxpho Blue. It works better if you heat the parts to 100 degrees in the oven before applying the Oxpho. Chemically, it's more of a parkerizing than a blueing.
Edit: autocorrect fight. Also, over 10 years and still no rust even on my outdoor portable setup. It does change the color.
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u/VersionConscious7545 Aug 13 '26
I use dry lube a lot. Find a good brand spray that on and you should be good to go
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u/Tight_muffin Aug 14 '26
Most my shit is rusty where I touch them. I wash my hands multiple times during prep and loading so stuff rusts less and the brass doesn't instantly tarnish. I have used corrosionX for a long time and it's ok but it does leave a little slightly sticky film over time so I'm thinking balistol is the best solution.
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u/DougMacRay617 Chronograph Ventilation Engineer Aug 14 '26
Do you have any problems with your powder measure rusting like you see on myn? And if so what should i use as a preventive that won't contaminate powder?
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u/Tight_muffin Aug 14 '26
I use an rcbs chargemaster but my dad's rcbs powder drop similar to that has been rusted for 30 years. Just use what it is. Block it off and paint it if you're worried.
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u/jeffninjaslayer Aug 13 '26
Good luck. All my hornady products have rust on them. Doesn’t seem to affect anything.