newbie seeks advice on primer pocket cleaning

"Thinner walls? Thus stretched more when fired? Opinions on this?"


You are wasting too much time thinking. Do more loading and shooting.
 
Nick,

I have that exact pocket cleaner, came in the deluxe turret press package. Now that most of the posters here have convinced me I don't have to use it, you come along and make me feel that I should... :rolleyes:
 
I have only kept detailed records and round counts for about the last one hundred thousand rounds. Of those, figure probably less than one thousand of those have been high pressure, bottle neck rifle rounds. The rest have been handgun rounds across about a dozen or so different calibers and literally many dozen different handguns.

In that time/volume span, ZERO primer pockets have been cleaned and I have experienced ZERO "gas leaks" in 25+ years of handloading and shooting.

I will ALWAYS agree that doing little things that seem necessary to YOU will impact the confidence you have in your loads and this will positively impact the confidence in your shooting.

I spend quite a bit of time sorting headstamps in ALL calibers that I load... many do not and some people believe it is ludicrous to do so -- that bothers me not in the slightest.
 
I clean primer pockets, rifle and pistol. I used to use a Lee primer pocket cleaner and it was a pain. Now I decap before wet tumbling and they are cleaner than ever before without the hassle.
 
The Lyman 49th edition of the reloading handbook says "While not absolutely essential, it is advisable to clean primer pockets"

Some clean, some do not clean, it is up to the reloader as to what to do.
 
I have cleaned primer pockets for at least 20 years. I know it doesn't improve accuracy or have any other positive impact. About 8 years ago I started uniforming primer pockets. When I uniform it cleans and cuts the bottom of the pocket square and to a uniform depth. I was having some issues with primer failures on handgun brass, and to see if it had any impact on my more accurate rifle brass.

I certainly wouldn't say it is required, but I don't load without uniforming primer pockets. I really like the consistency of seating a new primer in a clean primer pocket that is cut to the same depth. I have the time, and take pride in my loads.
 
Sorting handgun brass by headstamp does a few things to benefit me, and I will list only the ones that I am CERTAIN of:

--in the most critical phase of the three totally different dies, sorted headstamps give me extremely consistent feedback in my press handle. That is, the seating & crimping. There is a particular resistance and feel that I recognize (easily) and demand when making my ammo. If you use a myriad of headstamp, expect no consistency here whatsoever.

----subpoint: if you chronograph handloads you can see how much the result is impacted in some rounds when the bullet pull/case mouth tension or simple "grip" on the slug varies. In heavy revolver rounds with slow burning powder, a solid & consistent crimp is paramount

----subpoint: in semi-auto pistol rounds, a pistol is by it's very nature an extremely harsh environment and rounds without solid bullet pull/case mouth tension can lead to unintended/unnoticed bullet setback. The result of bullet setback is a radical pressure spike and can be catastrophic. When you get the feel you look for and demand when seating bullets, you NEVER have the mystery of "sufficient bullet pull?"

--all of THAT removes doubt, inspires confidence in my ammo... easily and consistently contributes to more confident shooting, better results

--all of THAT and a box of 50 rounds that look the same and felt the same during assembly offers simple pride in a job well done, satisfaction, and extreme confidence in the ammo. Makes it easier to focus on the firearm and the shooting-- worrying or evem casually wondering about the ammo is out of the equation.
 
Sevens, I made a connection between what you said and my aside from earlier. The foreign brass "feels" different going through the resizer (a whole lot stiffer, and I am still hoping someone will offer a possible reason for the drastic difference). The Rem and Win brass I can't tell apart, but perhaps I will develop a subtler feel for it... I get what you're saying and that's extremely helpful insight. I will go back and sort them and keep them separate as I load. Once I have gotten all the useful life out of the 5-gallon buckets of factory once-fired brass in my garage, I will likely stick with one make and it won't matter. Meanwhile... thanks!
 
Nick,

You and someone else spoke of wet tumbling, which I hadn't heard of. Sounds like this method cleans the pocket whether you like it or not.

Unfortunately I already invested in a traditional tumbler. I did one thing smart though. Instead of getting ripped off buying "tumbling media" at a premium, I went to Petsmart and bought a bulk sized bag of walnut shell that is sold for lining bird cages. The manager there just happens to be a reloader himself and told me it was identical to the stuff packaged as "tumbler media" but at a fraction of the cost...

Maybe when I have used all that up...
 
Unfortunately I already invested in a traditional tumbler.
Click to expand...

I use my vibratory tumbler regularly still. We all have our own way of doing things, but I'll try to briefly explain my process:

When I get home from the range, the brass takes a trip in the vibratory tumbler in corn cob. This gets the "range crud" off so I can run them through my dies without worry.

After I decap/resize, and mouth flair, they then get an excursion in the Frankford Arsenal wet tumbler with SS pins. This process gets the inside clean, as well as the primer pockets. It's amazing how much crud gets suspended in the liquid.

After an air dry on an old towel (using old towels absorb better and maintains domestic tranquility with the wife :D) here in dry California for a couple days; they're then ready for loading.

I like my process. It's more handling than some care to endure. But through trial and error, this is a process with which I'm comfortable. I really like loading with brass that looks near-new. Makes me happy. Looks good out at the range too.
 
Nick, yea I was wondering about the ramifications of putting the brass through a resizing-decapping die before wet tumbling, so I dug a little deeper and found the Lee universal decapping die. I was thinking I could buy one of these and set it up on its own turret, do all the decapping as my first step (the brass doesn't need to be clean because there's no resizer involved) and I would remove the decapping pins from all my Lee resizing-decapping dies so as to not risk setting off any live primers when I get down to auto-indexed loading. This would eliminate the pre-cleaning step you describe. Your thoughts?
 
Shootest, I might just pull the trigger on one at that price. I could either adopt Nick's 2-stage cleaning method or put the dry tumbler up for sale...Thanks for the tip.
 
I clean the pockets (tumbling with SS pins) because I might have OCD, I'm a perfectionist, I like shiny brass, I reload in the house and I like to keep it clean. I also use a vibratory tumbler for the final finish.

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Universal Decap

putting the brass through a resizing-decapping die before wet tumbling, . . . do all the decapping as my first step
Click to expand...

I viable approach, yes.

I tried it. Got my universal decapping die (RCBS) - sends the primers flying everywhere. Too messy for me. The primer catcher that came with my press, stands no chance at catching these flying projectiles. None at all. Not even if I try to cup my hands around it. Oh well, it's still nice to have a UDCD on hand for general purposes. I've used it for other things since then.

Once my brass is wet tumbled, I don't like to tarnish them with my hand oils, and so I wear gloves for the loading process (reduces lead exposure too). Tumbling them first means wearing gloves during the resize and flair processes too. (I'm on a single stage, btw.)

Also, since I SS pin tumble after reconditioning my brass, I go ahead and use lube for the resize - which I really like (my dies are carbide). The SS pin tumble washes off the lube. If I tumbled first, I would not be able to lube - at least, not without having to deal with getting it off.

So that's why I don't do it that way. For me, it isn't the best way to go.
 
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