rusted press

[204cat]

i put the rcbs o press away for the winter. last weekend i pulled it out. gave the handle a pull. nothing. it was stuck. rusted stuck in place. pulled out the wd44 and a hammer. sprayed the presses shaft real good. waited about an hour. hit it with the hammer. it moved slowly. rust gunk everywhere. so instead of reloading for the weekend i decided to do some serious cleaning. enjoyed the warm weather cleaning my remmy and the press. then practiced some dry firing. did a lot of scoping. nothing in the area. just trees with out leafs. a little more practice reading the wind. i do not recall reading about anyone else that this has happened to. am i the only one this stuff happens to ?

[acloco]

Where do you live (state)?

Was this stored in a humid environment?

[204cat]

i put it in what i thought was a dry room. had it since i purchased the 204. never had any problems with it. i do not think i spilled any liquid on it.

[Clint E]

Go to your local chevy or gm store ask to buy a can of heat valve lubercant. Hear is the part #1052627.I use this at the shop and home it will clean your press up nice . Works great for freeing rusted in hitch recivers to.Cost about $12 or 13 dollars. Also repels moisture rather well.

[kenbrofox]

I thought it was a criminal offence to stop reloading for the 204 during the winter!
Moral: don't stop, no rust.

[204cat]

thank you hunt4em for the info.

I thought it was a criminal offence to stop reloading for the 204 during the winter!

i thought so too.

[Rick in Oregon]

Wow, and to think I thought I was doing what all shooters did during the winter.......prep and reload varmint cases! There's no time for a press to rust up around these parts; if I stayed out of my gun room for even a day, wifey would check to see if I was still breathing.

[OldTurtle]

I was restricted to reloading in the garage when I lived in FL for a couple of years and my rams would pick up a little surface rust from time to time... All it took was a little Kroil and steel wool to take it off....But it did require a total dismantling about every six months...

[204cat]

i try to read about reloading every day . does that count ? probably not . some things i have to learn the hard way .

[Wrangler John]

Then there's me - always the eccentric off in left field. My 40 year old RCBS Rockchucker can't rust because I have a syringe of AMSOIL HD Diesel engine oil sitting under the bench to lube the ram! Raise the ram, squirt a few drops around it and lower. Wipe off excess. After lubing the ram floats on a film of oil that removes most of the slop, sort a like a observatory telescope that floats on a very thin oil film. I don't use the press to prime, so the oil isn't a remote problem.

My RCBS case activated powder measure parts developed a few thin rust spots, but can't use oil there. So I cleaned the rust off with steel wool and coated everything with Hornady's One Shot lube. Burnished with a rag and recoated. Let dry. Now it smells like alox, but hasn't rusted since. I suppose auto wax would do as well.

Then, if you're as crazy as me, pick up a bunch 40 gram silica gel absorbent packs, http://www.amazon.com/Dry-Packs-Indicat ... B0025OO8DO is a source, place your stuff in a box and toss one in. If your press stays mounted to the bench, place a gel pack on it and cover with a plastic bag. Protects up to 3 cubic feet. When it turns pink, toss it the oven at 300 degrees and it'll be good to go. Lasts a lifetime. I use cheap plastic sealed storage boxes from OSH to store bulk loaded ammo, toss one in each box.