Primer Pockets

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  • WyldeShot

    Expert
    Rating - 100%
    3   0   0
    Jan 28, 2011
    1,248
    38
    Greenville
    I have only been reloading for about a year or so. I was taught to clean the primer pockets before priming. A friend that also reloads was over yesterday while I was cleaning the primer pockets on a large container of .40 S&W brass. He asked me why I was cleaning them, and I said me cause I thought you were supposed too. He told me that he just inspects the flash hole.

    Cleansing the primer pocket is time consuming but not too bad for me since I invested in the RCBS case prep station.
    Does everyone else take the time to clean the primer pockets too?
     

    Vamptepes

    Expert
    Rating - 100%
    1   0   0
    Jul 20, 2013
    859
    18
    Eagledale
    I do. I deprime and resize then tumble. Then go back through and recheck cases and primer pockets and flash holes. I'm not making any fancy ammo so i'm not making uniform flash holes but i check to see if they are plugged up and i clean em out. I figure it's a good habit because if something happens i know i checked that are many times so i should be something else.
     

    Vince49

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    3   0   0
    Apr 13, 2010
    2,174
    38
    Indy urban west.
    I do not. I tumble and then reload on a progressive press that de-primes and re-primes at the same (first) station. Many thousands of rounds of 9mm and .45 ACP and never an issue.
     

    8th SPS USAF

    Expert
    Rating - 100%
    20   0   0
    Jan 8, 2011
    922
    18
    Hobart , In
    I tumble, check/sort out the bad ones and reload. Rifle you may want to if using a non-progressive press. Pistol never unless you want to retire after your first 100 or so.
     

    Whip_McCord

    Expert
    Rating - 100%
    2   0   0
    May 14, 2010
    762
    63
    NWI
    I have been reloading for 33 years and I do not clean the primer pockets. When I get new rifle brass, I deburr the flash holes and uniform the primer pocket depth. That's all I do for primer pockets.
     

    IndyGlockMan

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    23   0   0
    Jul 19, 2011
    1,943
    38
    Fishers
    I deprime then wet tumble with stainless media and the primer pockets get about 80-90% clean.
    That's more than clean enough for pistol brass.
    I leave the decapping pin in the sizing die and that will clear out any flash hole blockages.
     

    throttletony

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    12   0   0
    Jul 11, 2011
    3,630
    38
    nearby
    good thread -- the consensus thus far is typically NO primer pocket cleaning on pistol, and generally YES on rifle. Just precision rifle? (i.e. - what about plinking 223 rounds?)
     

    gabrigger

    Marksman
    Rating - 100%
    15   0   0
    Apr 20, 2008
    198
    28
    Wayne County
    No need to clean primer pockets for handgun. I also wouldn't worry about cleaning primer pockets on rifle, unless you are shooting benchrest competition, etc. I have never cleaned primer pockets in 25 years of reloading.
     

    USMC-FF

    Marksman
    Rating - 100%
    6   0   0
    Mar 20, 2013
    144
    18
    New Palestine
    On handgun brass, i'll wet tumble with stainless tumbling media then go into reloading without cleaning the pockets. On my .308 precision rifle i'll clean prior to depriming, deprime then use a uniforming tool to clean & uniform the pockets prior to reloading.
     

    WyldeShot

    Expert
    Rating - 100%
    3   0   0
    Jan 28, 2011
    1,248
    38
    Greenville
    Thank you everyone. Now I just wish I would have posted this before I cleaned the primer pockets on 2000 pieces of brass. I guess I just sped up the process on my pistol rounds.

    Thanks again everyone!!!!!
     

    tenring

    Master
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Oct 16, 2008
    1,999
    38
    Martinsville
    Use this tool,Hornady Lock-N-Load Power Case Prep Trio 110/220 Volt, to work the flash hole and primer pocket depth, after I had a friend at a machine shop adapt my tools to work with it. When prepping one K .223 cases this winter, when the weather was horrible and I had my right hand in a cast due to surgery, it was a snap. Fired cases will go into labeled coffee cans, and the pockets will be easily cleaned in no time, again when the next of Al Gore's global warming hits. Being primarily a rifle guy, I love those one hole groups in the 2's and 3's at a hundred yards. I rarely shoot pistols, so that doesn't figure in.
     
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