Don't soak RCBS dies in CLR

[dead meat]

I recently got some die sets at auction, a RCBS and a Hornady had a little rust on the knurling. Tossed them both in a small tub of CLR for a couple of hours, The Hornady die looks like normal but the RCBS is black. Not sure if they have a coating that was removed by the CLR or what the hell went on. The CLR liquid looks the same as it did before the soak and the Hornady die looks the same minus the bit of rust it had. The black coating will come off the RCBS die with a hard rub with steel wool. I guess next time it's just a spray with brake clean.

 

[Hitzy]

Evapo-rust is what you want if you ever need to get rust off metal soaking it.

 

[propliner]

Don't put them in the dishwasher.

 

[huntingfamily]

Kroil works well for die cleaning and corrosion. Use with good ventilation.

 

[6.5 shooter]

Fluid film works wonders

 

[spooksar]

CLR is acidic must have reacted to the metal in the RCBS dies, you now have a set of blued dies

 

['Boo]

I don't know what sort of anti-corrosion coating RCBS uses on their dies but if there is any zinc present the CLR will turn it black.

 

[dead meat]

Ya this die has a tough black coating that resists Brake Clean and Evapo-rust. Haven't tried anything else to remove it.

 

[B]

CLR is 5 or so different acids plus some bonus chemicals. The black finish is probably black oxide which wouldn't last long against most any acid as you unfortunately found out.