Rust……

[PinesAndProjectiles]

I keep my reloading gear, firearms, etc. all in my basement.

I run a dehumidifier during all the spring months, through fall until the humidity drops in the winter time.

My firearms don’t rust, but all of my dies are starting to get little patches of surface rust on them.

I’ve purchased the little pouches of desiccant (similar to what’s in a bag of beef jerky) and put a few in each die box, but I still get the oxidation.

Will coating my dies with a light coat of oil fix this?

Are there any other remedies that will work?

Everything still works as it should but it’s annoying as hell.

 

[hafejd30]

Pick your least favorite child,
Put them in the basement,
Use their bedroom as a reload room

I had issues in a basement as well. Wether it was due to change in seasons, condensation from water lines and heat pipes etc. I reload in a spare bedroom in my house now. Zero issues whatsoever with rust or moisture

 

[308pirate]

My basement is heated and air conditioned. I've had firearms down there for over 20 years without a speck of corrosion.

 

[Supersubes]

Yes, light oil will protect them.

 

[PinesAndProjectiles]

My basement is heated and air conditioned. I've had firearms down there for over 20 years without a speck of corrosion.

My firearms are fine, it’s the reloading stuff that’s a problem.

 

[spife7980]

Its because you got your nasty body oils on them, rub some 0000 steel wool over them to remove the rust and then oil em up again. Its pretty normal.

 

[Fig]

Get steel storage cabinet for your dies and anything metal and put a Golden Rod in the bottom, problem solved.

My safes are in an un-HVAC garage, and the golden rod and some cans of silica desiccant keep the humidity like Arrakis in there. Never had a spec of rust on anything in decades. The only people who don't have a choice about storing metal in humid environments are those who live in swamps or on boats.

 

[hafejd30]

My basement is heated and air conditioned. I've had firearms down there for over 20 years without a speck of corrosion.

His firearms are fine you dumb dumb….pay attention



He’s trying to watch adult videos in his basement while reloading. OP, keep it in a Kleenex and you’ll be fine!

 

[308pirate]

His firearms are fine you dumb dumb….pay attention



He’s trying to watch adult videos in his basement while reloading. OP, keep it in a Kleenex and you’ll be fine!

Guns and reloading dies are made of steel. It should be obvious that both should be kept rust free the same way.

 

[hlee]

The easy button to keeping rust away is climate control. If your storage area has large seasonal-or daily- swings in temperature, then rust will likely be a problem.

 

[PinesAndProjectiles]

The easy button to keeping rust away is climate control. If your storage area has large seasonal-or daily- swings in temperature, then rust will likely be a problem.

The temp swings aren’t bad.

The humidity in spring and summer is a mofo.

 

[hlee]

The temp swings aren’t bad.

The humidity in spring and summer is a mofo.

Laughing in Houstonian…

 

[smoothy8500]

body oils on them, rub some 0000 steel wool over them to remove the rust and then oil em up again.

spife hit it on the head. Bare steel and fingerprint oil/salt is the issue. You give your guns a wipe down with oily rag, reloading equipment deserves the same...

 

[PinesAndProjectiles]

Thanks guys.

 

[spife7980]

And it happens even in climate controlled conditions. Happens to me and mine stay in air conditioning at 75° 24/7

 

[gopherslayer]

I wrapped a bore brush in 0000 wool chucked up in a cordless drill with some CLP to clean mine up.

 

[CNJarvis]

Keep running the dehumidifier, wipe them down before storing them and throw a zerust tab in the box with them.

 

[GMZ]

Many ways to skin this cat:

-Wipe them down with oil after use.
-Put a VCI tab in the box.
-Put them in a VCI bag.

 

[JoshPutman]

He's trying to watch adult videos in his basement while reloading. OP, keep it in a Kleenex and you’ll be fine!

So tube socks aren't the way to go now?

 

[hafejd30]

So tube socks aren't the way to go now?

I work at a paper mill. Job security

 

[Snipe260]

My basement is heated and air conditioned. I've had firearms down there for over 20 years without a speck of corrosion.

Only thing rusting in my basement is the bitch I got chained to the radiator

 

[hafejd30]

Only thing rusting in my basement is the bitch I got chained to the radiator

Peanut butter everywhere!!!

 

[PB&J.]

Guns and reloading dies are made of steel. It should be obvious that both should be kept rust free the same way.

Strange. I've never seen blued, cerakoted or parkerized reloading dies before.

All of the ones I own are bare steel, and I'm probably not alone in that regard.

 

[brian1]

Use Boeing's BoeShield. Really great stuff. Dries waxy, not greasy like LPS. I use the stuff nearly every day.

 

[308pirate]

Strange. I've never seen blued, cerakoted or parkerized reloading dies before.

All of the ones I own are bare steel, and I'm probably not alone in that regard.

The bores of all but one of my rifles are bare steel. No rust there.

Blued guns rust if you let them. So do parkerized ones. Even 416 stainless will.

 

[DustBun]

I use Starrett M1 Oil on my milling machine bed and other machine tools.

 

[PinesAndProjectiles]

I use Starrett M1 Oil on my milling machine bed and other machine tools.

$154 for a 12oz can? It’s be cheaper to buy new dies.

 

[DustBun]

$154 for a 12oz can? It’s be cheaper to buy new dies.

You can get it through McMaster Carr for $12.31 / can or other places. I get mine through them when I order other tools to save shipping. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[PinesAndProjectiles]

Look like that price is for a 12 pack, not a single can...I had to do a double take myself

So it is. My bad.

 

[PB&J.]

The bores of all but one of my rifles are bare steel. No rust there.

Blued guns rust if you let them. So do parkerized ones. Even 416 stainless will.

And how often do you touch the bare steel of your bores with bare hands compared to your reloading dies?

Your comparison is not apples to apples...

 

[shoobe01]

This.

Dies are bare metal. They need oil generally. You touch them which makes it all worse. They will rust even in nice dry environments.

Favorite similar story to say "but guns" is when I ultrasonic cleaned the bolt carrier of my SIG and let it dry while I went to do something else. Hour later: flash rust all over. Had to carefully scrub that off, then oiled it.

Metal in the white rusts. Oil it. Something protective like Boeshield as mentioned above is a good idea but any oil (not WD40) will do.

 

[Hairball]

Put all your dies in a drawer and place one of these in with them, they won't rust. I use a few emitter shields in the safes but I don't need anything in the garage were I do my reloading, humidity is too low.

Products

www.bull-frog.com

 

[308pirate]

And how often do you touch the bare steel of your bores with bare hands compared to your reloading dies?

Your comparison is not apples to apples...

None of my motherfucking dies have any rust on them. I touch them almost daily and I can't remember the last time I oiled any one of them.

I said my guns are stored in a climate controlled environment, I thought that everyone would have the common sense to recognize that "climate controlled" was the key part. Not coincidentally, that's also where I do my reloading/

You can just now fuck off.

 

[DocRDS]

Wipes the dies with oil and a rust preventer. Some of us have more corrosive skin/oil than others. I touch anything it rusts. My mother's wrist would eat through metal wristbands like a sandwich.

I even started wearing latex gloves during reloading. Its not so much the environment or the humidity--its YOU!

 

[Ndbowhunter]

kroil seems to be the answer

every summer i'm in the UP the same thing would happen. started kroiling.. no more problems.

 

[TriggerJerk!]

Check this out:

Comprehensive Corrosion Test: 46 Products Compared | Day At The Range

By: DIY_guy We all want to use goods quality products on our guns, bows, fishing gear, knives, autos, hunting and lake front gear and like you I?m not a fan of letting things get rust on them nor am I a fan of items wearing out prematurely. To protect my investment in gear, I began

dayattherange.com

 

[PB&J.]

None of my motherfucking dies have any rust on them. I touch them almost daily and I can't remember the last time I oiled any one of them.

I said my guns are stored in a climate controlled environment, I thought that everyone would have the common sense to recognize that "climate controlled" was the key part. Not coincidentally, that's also where I do my reloading/

You can just now fuck off.

Get off your high horse, you aren't as clever as you think you are. You have a habit of making big statements and then getting shitty and trying to backpedal when someone points out a flaw in your logic.

This thread is about keeping rust from forming on reloading dies, not storing firearms in a climate controlled environment.

What I said is that you can't compare a rifle's coated metal to a dies bare metal in terms of rust prevention from skin oils.

Climate controlled, not climate controlled, it doesn't matter. If you touch the external surface of a firearm and touch the external surface of a reloading die, the bare metal reloading die will rust much faster than the coated metal of the firearm, regardless of environment.

Again, your example was comparing apples to oranges. Sure. They're both fruit, but they aren't the same thing.

 

[308pirate]

Climate controlled, not climate controlled, it doesn't matter. If you touch the external surface of a firearm and touch the external surface of a reloading die, the bare metal reloading die will rust much faster than the coated metal of the firearm, regardless of the environment.

My dies don't rust. I never wipe them down with anything after use.

I couldn't give a shit less if you think otherwise because I'm looking at them and see that you're wrong.

 

[PB&J.]

My dies don't rust. I never wipe them down with anything after use.

I couldn't give a shit less if you think otherwise because I'm looking at them and see that you're wrong.

Are you dense? You are failing to grasp the core concept here.

I'm not talking about your sizing dies. I'm saying skin oils will corrode coated metal (such as rifle exteriors) at a much slower rate than bare metal.

You said if it works for rifles then it will work for dies. Wrong! The rifles are more corrosion resistant than the dies so just because it works for the more corrosion resistant object, doesn't mean it will for the lesser corrosion resistant object.

Now, if you had have said if it works for sizing dies, then it will work for rifles. You would be correct, as the dies are less corrosion resistant than the rifles and of course if you are adequately protecting the lesser, the greater will also be protected. But that's not what you said.

C'mon man! It's not rocket science and you got it ass about.

 

[Dill]

Minnesota resident here as well, and one with a basement that the humidity will go north of 80% in the summer without a dehumidifier (I do run one pretty much 9 months a year as well) I store my dies in plastic bags with a 3x5 index card in each one that is soaked in 3 in 1 oil or even WD40. No issues as of yet.

 

[PinesAndProjectiles]

Minnesota resident here as well, and one with a basement that the humidity will go north of 80% in the summer without a dehumidifier (I do run one pretty much 9 months a year as well) I store my dies in plastic bags with a 3x5 index card in each one that is soaked in 3 in 1 oil or even WD40. No issues as of yet.

That acts as a desiccant?

I never would have guessed. Thanks.

 

[Dill]

That acts as a desiccant?

I never would have guessed. Thanks.

I can't claim the idea as my own, I picked it up from @elfster1234

 

[Mike Casselton]

Laughing in Houstonian…

Laughing in coastal Florida

 

[hlee]

Laughing in coastal Florida

Are your reloading dies rusty?

 

[Mike Casselton]

That little paper looking disc in the RCBS die box has oil impregnated into it.
Hornady dies used to come with a tiny plastic desiccant container in them. Not sure about that now.

The 3x5 oiled card works pretty well

 

[Mike Casselton]

Are your reloading dies rusty?

Fuck yeah, and I keep my shit pretty clean and always wash my hands before I load.

I'll probably go through the dies again and do the 3x5 card thing.
I had forgotten about that trick.

I've got setups in the garage and also in the house.
The stuff I use the most is loaded indoors at 76° and whatever humidity the AC system holds at.

 

[Mike Casselton]

I will say that I have a lot less issues now that I got rid of the boat and have the entire garage as a work space now.

The boat always got washed and dried before parking it in the garage, but I believe it's made a big difference not having it in there.

 

[elfster1234]

Get a thick freezer zip lock bag, spray inside with hd40, spray index card or small piece of thick cardboard with wd40, and put dies inside zip lock bag = no rust

 

[elfster1234]

And I do the heavy cleaning on died with non chlorinated break cleaner and follow up cleaning with hornady dynaglide dry lube inside and out

 

[elfster1234]

Don't need to go over board on the wd40 either... I think dehumidifiers are a fire hazard personally