While loading 148 gr. Missouri Bullet Company DEWC bullets in 38SP cases I had a case buckle a bit. I inspected the die and there was a buildup of lead inside the die. I had already loaded about 30 cases and was working inside my garage with heat over 100 degrees. Maybe the bullets got a little soft. I could use some help on what I should use to remove the lead from my LEE bullet seating die. My exisiting solvents have not worked and I don't want to get aggressive with just trying to scrape it off mechanically without asking first.

Did you shave the brass case before you belled them to accept a cast bullet?

No, I had not heard of that before.

Be careful chamfering case mouths. It's easy to do too much and end up with premature case mouth splits.
Leading in seating dies is easy to remove with a brass brush or careful scraping. You can easily make a tool out of a discarded brass rifle case.
But, there are two things to also consider:
1) Take care to seat bullets as straight as possible while seating.
If your lead build-up consists of a lot of crescent shaped curls this might be your problem.
2) Be aware that most sizing dies, particularly carbide sizing dies reduce the case by far too much, at least if you're a lead bullet shooter. If your inside case mouth diameter after sizing is less than .002-.003" than your intended bullet diameter, your cases are being sized too much. Straight wall cases are not, in fact, straight. They are tapered. Only a steel sizing die will likely be cut to match.
Sure, you can use a larger case neck expander to open up the case mouth without over-belling the mouth itself. But, that's a lot of work hardening of your brass.
Old style steel die sets made when cast bullets were the most common pistol-revolver projectile will usually work best. You should be able to start a bullet in a sized and belled case with hand pressure to a depth of 1/16 to 1/8th of an inch.

One other thing... lots of folks put considerable thought into selecting the proper size cast bullet to fit their firearm. But, they overlook the fact that undersized cases will swage (reduce) the diameter of their lead bullets when seated.
Try this: load a dummy round with your favorite lead bullet. Then, pull the bullet with a kinetic bullet puller and measure it. You'll be surprised how often, when using newer carbide die sets, that the bullet will be smaller in diameter than before you seated it. And, quite often it's the base that is most affected.

When loading lead wadcutter bullets you must expand the case and bell the mouth to accept the larger lead bullet . Most dies are set up to reload jacketed bullets .357" ... lead bullets are soft and .358" so if the case is not properly expanded and the mouth belled ... you will shave lead off and it builds up .
Wadcutters are deep seated so the case must be properly expanded and belled .
Easy answer is Lyman M-Die ... it is made for seating oversized cast lead bullets correctly ... there are other answers but the easy answer is the M-Die . Sets of dies advertised as " Cowboy Dies" or "Cowboy Action Shooting" will contain this die as that sport only allows the use of lead bullets .
Once you get the cases expanded and mouth belled be sure and start the bullets straight in the case ... if the bullet leans to one side ...it will scrape lead off that side ...
remember crooked going in = crooked coming out .
Dies are hardened steel , brass brush ok ... clean them like a gun barrel .

I don't chamfer cases to get bullets to seat ...that just thins the case mouth edge...chamfer after trimming just to remove any burrs ... bell the case to seat bullets .
Gary

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Lead melts at about 621.5 degrees F.

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If you haven't already, do yourself a big favor and get a good reloading manual; then, read the how-too section thoroughly before loading another round. It will save you a ton of grief in the future.

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Pisgah

Built up lead inside the seating die..
Remove the Seating Plug from the top of the die. Take it right out of the die.
It may resist a bit as it has some lead swaged in around it on the inside.

Once the Plug is out, clean that up. The lead on it can be peeled off with a the careful use of a pocket knife. Careful in not letting the blade dig into the plug itself, but just snagging the lead and pulling it off the surface.
Use a piece of sharpened brass if you feel more comfortable. A cartridge case flattened works good or a piece of brass rod or wire the same.

Inside the die there will likely be some of the same lead build up.
Use the same method to loosen and remove that as well.

The lead is just stuck to the surfaces of the die/die parts.
Sometimes a decent penetrating oil soak for a time will help loosen it before scraping.

I give case mouths a .006" bell for cast boolits. No need to chamfer if you're belling.
A bore brush will clean the die.

I have had this happen with high volume loading of Zero wadcutters on a Phelps press. Disassemble the die and scrape out the lead/lube ring, no problem.

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Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

As a Navy Gunner's mate, I HATE the word, "Scrape", when working on firearms.

Copper or brass objects will remove lead from any die as well as a little
cleaner or solvent made for the job
but time and elbow grease, is your best tool and don't be in a hurry.

Are you seating and crimping in one single stage. If you are that is why your case buckled. The 38 special is a long case when compared to semi auto cases and this increases the likelihood of bucking the case. When you combine the seating and crimping the case edge will dig into the bullet as the crimp closes because that bullet is still moving. End result of that is increased force on the bullet at the end of the stroke, a ring of lead (or jacket) at the edge of the case, and flattening of the bullet tip.

The solution for this is to seat the bullet in one operation and crimp the case in the following operation. You will find your seating die stays nice and clean and you wont see lead or brass loading up at the crimp ring in the crimp die.

Agree that the problem is probably from shaving the bullet when seating. I often tell newer cast bullet reloaders to use as much flare as needed to seat bullets straight to get good shooting handloads now, and worry about case life later ("over working" case mouth). Any flare is removed when crimping, revolver rounds roll crimped and semi-auto deflared with a taper crimp die. Too much flare is when the case mouth scrapes the seating die ID or at the worse, wont enter the die.

copper chorboy pads should fix you right up.
odds are, however, that it is not lead, but rather bullet lube build up.

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it just needs more voltage

I nominate this as one of the best posts in recent years. Very concise and to the point.

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Life of the party until 8:00PM

This right here.

They sell dies that are designed to seat and crimp in one step. I have been loading 38 (plus a bunch of other handgun cases) for over 50 years and have yet to buckle a single case.

After loading lead boolits, I always follow up by cleaning the die with a brass brush. Its an easy peasy 30 second job.

The only time I ever used a FCD with a second step was with plated bullets, that require a taper crimp or the plating will be broken.

OTOH, I have never seen lead buildup unless the flare was too light. My buildup is always Lee liquid alox.

I had to check this out. I have been reloading lead almost every week since the 80's and never had this problem and never had to clean a die with lead. I have stuck a few bullets and had to disassemble the dies but it was my fault. I have had to clean a few dies from alox and lube-but never lead.<yet>I have slowed down since the primer shortage.

Yes, seating is a function of motion, crimping is to arrest that motion.
They are, mutually exclusive.
separating these steps will result in less runout, better crimps and reduced damage to the bullet.

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it just needs more voltage

copper chore boy to remove lead.

A M type expander to open the sized case to prevent leading.
Expanders | NOE Bullet Moulds

I have only use Lee stuff since I started loading years ago. Never had to clean lead out of die. Only a couple of times I cleaned the dies of the TEK coating. As stated be sure to bell the case enough. Too tight and will shave off lead or the coating and push it up into the die. It is better to bell the case a little too much than not enough. I also set my seating die so it does not crimp. I use a separate crimping die for that. I have always used a four die carbide die set on any pistol reloads. I quit doing rifle reloading years ago.

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Ron
Southern IL

I appreciate all of the help. Based on these comments I soaked the die in Shooter's Choice for several hours and used a dental pick and was finally able to disassemble the die and clean it completely. I have the Lee Factory Crimp Die and was just being lazy and tried to crimp in the same step as seating the bullet. After cleaning the die I went back to the FCD and all is well.

I made a point of using deep seating black powder sizing dies, the old M-Dies work very well, I even use them with jacket bullets, they provide a much smoother seating of bullet. I can usually set the depth of seating by raising the cartridge with bullet at mouth up into the die and turn the knob until the desired OAL is achieved, you get the hang pretty quick .

That's not being lazy, its simply following Lee directions.

If your boolets are lubed with liquid alox, both dies will need to be cleaned after every 50 rounds anyway. If your flare is not wide enough the seating die will continue to collect lead.

The FCD is fine for plated bullets, but in most cases its a solution to a non problem.