Rip VanWinkle: Old Dillons
Quote from Reloader on February 16, 2009, 3:26 amI have been out of reloading for many years after a couple of children and 3 moves. I own a converted 450 and a 550. My presses were stored for roughly 7 years in a Florida garage and all in all everyting faired well except for various die bodies and the powder funnels. The funnels have a light coat of rust along with various other pieces and parts of the press that are made out of steel.
Suggestions as to getting them back into shape ? I did the ram head tonight which was not very bad by adding a small coat of Liquid Wrench penatrating oil then scrubbing with 0000 steel wool. Eventually I'll get back and use touch up blue but the powder funnel and any dies, not sure exactly if I should do the same or if that would cause problems with the shells.
2nd question, there is a lot of "gummy dust" dust from years of storage in a garage all gunked up from lubricants on the ram and pivot pins, a lot where the compression washers are. I was going to drive the pins out, took the snap rings off and tried driving with a drift but they were very difficult to budge, is this normal? I am interested in stripping the whole press down, clean degrease and lubricate again and start fresh. The presses treated me well for many years and I want to start off by treating them with some respect and give them the cleaning they deserve before we continue on for many more years of reloading.
Rich
I have been out of reloading for many years after a couple of children and 3 moves. I own a converted 450 and a 550. My presses were stored for roughly 7 years in a Florida garage and all in all everyting faired well except for various die bodies and the powder funnels. The funnels have a light coat of rust along with various other pieces and parts of the press that are made out of steel.
Suggestions as to getting them back into shape ? I did the ram head tonight which was not very bad by adding a small coat of Liquid Wrench penatrating oil then scrubbing with 0000 steel wool. Eventually I'll get back and use touch up blue but the powder funnel and any dies, not sure exactly if I should do the same or if that would cause problems with the shells.
2nd question, there is a lot of "gummy dust" dust from years of storage in a garage all gunked up from lubricants on the ram and pivot pins, a lot where the compression washers are. I was going to drive the pins out, took the snap rings off and tried driving with a drift but they were very difficult to budge, is this normal? I am interested in stripping the whole press down, clean degrease and lubricate again and start fresh. The presses treated me well for many years and I want to start off by treating them with some respect and give them the cleaning they deserve before we continue on for many more years of reloading.
Rich
Quote from Reloader on February 22, 2009, 11:04 pm
Hi Rich,
You are where I was a few years ago. I called Dillion up and asked them to go through my RL550B and clean or replace anything that would adversly affect the safety and precision of my favorite press. I boxed the 550 and the powerder measures and heads and every bit I could find and shipped it to them. Dillion cleaned, restored and replaced everything that was questionable for a reasonable cost and I've been using it ever since. If you have older dies that show signes of corrsion or rust you may want to replace them with newer dies if you are a competative or precision long range shooter. There have been some major improvements in bullet seaing dies and neck size only dies from Redding that can make huge improvements in accuracy and consistency. Give the good folks at Dillion a call!
HTH!
Hi Rich,
You are where I was a few years ago. I called Dillion up and asked them to go through my RL550B and clean or replace anything that would adversly affect the safety and precision of my favorite press. I boxed the 550 and the powerder measures and heads and every bit I could find and shipped it to them. Dillion cleaned, restored and replaced everything that was questionable for a reasonable cost and I've been using it ever since. If you have older dies that show signes of corrsion or rust you may want to replace them with newer dies if you are a competative or precision long range shooter. There have been some major improvements in bullet seaing dies and neck size only dies from Redding that can make huge improvements in accuracy and consistency. Give the good folks at Dillion a call!
HTH!
Quote from Reloader on March 4, 2009, 6:51 amI have a 450RL that is coming out of storage soon after a 10 year storage stint, and it's been used a whole lot from around 83 when I got it new to the first storage in 86-90 and then had a lot more rounds thru it until 96. I have a new garage to reload in, and just moved my bench into position, and can't wait to get everything set back up. I still have my old bench, a 2x4 ft workhorse that I made in 90, and it will be next to the new one, but the new one is 8ft long. I'm sure that our humidity here in Oklahoma isn't what you have experienced in FL, but there's probably some surface oxidation on it, as there was when it came out the first time around from storage. Sounds like you have a plan on working it back up to speed, and I wish I had an answer for you on the pins but I've never had to mess with those. hopefully someone will have an answer for you. At any rate welcome back in to the reloading fold, and good luck with your project!
I have a 450RL that is coming out of storage soon after a 10 year storage stint, and it's been used a whole lot from around 83 when I got it new to the first storage in 86-90 and then had a lot more rounds thru it until 96. I have a new garage to reload in, and just moved my bench into position, and can't wait to get everything set back up. I still have my old bench, a 2x4 ft workhorse that I made in 90, and it will be next to the new one, but the new one is 8ft long. I'm sure that our humidity here in Oklahoma isn't what you have experienced in FL, but there's probably some surface oxidation on it, as there was when it came out the first time around from storage. Sounds like you have a plan on working it back up to speed, and I wish I had an answer for you on the pins but I've never had to mess with those. hopefully someone will have an answer for you. At any rate welcome back in to the reloading fold, and good luck with your project!
Quote from Reloader on August 25, 2010, 3:58 pmRich,
I moved and then had several back and neck surgeries, and my "stuff" stayed in storage during the 7 years of recovering and unloading. I live in coastal South Carolina. The humidity is like Florida. I too, had rust on everything. I lost two sets of dies that had interior pitting. I was able to save every thing else, including my three Dillon presses (and 6 others). They need to be soaked in PB blaster or simular product until you can move them some. Then work them back and forth. The pins on the Dillon have to be knocked out in sequence. One is hollow. Insert a long blunt punch (or 40PN nail) through and knock out one side. Then reach through and knock out the other side. Clean em up with bronze wool and a scrubber pad and apply grease. Clean the shaft the same way, and apply oil to it. I used a bronze brush to clean all other parts. If you have doubts, box it up and send it to Dillon. They'll have you up and running fast.
Tom
Rich,
I moved and then had several back and neck surgeries, and my "stuff" stayed in storage during the 7 years of recovering and unloading. I live in coastal South Carolina. The humidity is like Florida. I too, had rust on everything. I lost two sets of dies that had interior pitting. I was able to save every thing else, including my three Dillon presses (and 6 others). They need to be soaked in PB blaster or simular product until you can move them some. Then work them back and forth. The pins on the Dillon have to be knocked out in sequence. One is hollow. Insert a long blunt punch (or 40PN nail) through and knock out one side. Then reach through and knock out the other side. Clean em up with bronze wool and a scrubber pad and apply grease. Clean the shaft the same way, and apply oil to it. I used a bronze brush to clean all other parts. If you have doubts, box it up and send it to Dillon. They'll have you up and running fast.
Tom