wll wrote:
...most of my reloading dies and presses were ruined from water damaged where I had them stored....
wll
wll,
Perhaps a few minutes in a your sonic cleaner, or that of a hand loader friend in the area, would do the trick with the rusty dies or parts, if they aren't too badly damaged on critical surfaces. I have some great used dies that were slightly rusty on the outside that work perfectly and are in spec. You could them offer them for sale here or elsewhere, with the proper honest provisos that they were rusty at one time. In that way, you can possibly recover some of your investment.
Another solution:
RCBS and Dillon both have amazing lifetime guarantees on their stuff. If you can retrieve what you threw away, you might be able to replace needed parts, or even the whole die, by calling or e-mailing RCBS or Dillon.
As a new hand loader, I once ruined the clear plastic cylinder of my RCBS Uniflow measure by leaving the powder in it for a week during humid weather. The powder etched the plastic so that I could not see how full the container really was. I told RCBS precisely what I had done. They sent me another one, postage free, no questions asked. They have replaced parts to some second-hand equipment (purchased from a another hand loader who "upgraded to Dillon") more than once in the same way, even though I admitted to them that this was not an original purchase.
Dillon claims that their guarantee - a "No BS Guarantee" in their words - is even more inclusive, although I don't see how. If it is broken or damaged or doesn't work, it seems, they will replace it, no matter what. Anyway, I would put their promise to the test!
Cheers -
John