Primer pockets….

N

Nathan

New member
What if I quit cleaning and just load them as is? What could possibly happen? Thinking bolt action rifle loads shooting 0.5-1 MOA currently.
 
On my general plinking ammo……I never worry about cleaning the primer pockets.

For my handgun hunting ammo then yes, I clean the pockets.

For my rifle ammo, I only clean the pockets I’m reloading for hunting or target (not general plinking).
 
I always decap before wet tumbling so primerpockets come out fairly clean. As long as a new primer fits and doesn’t fall out, I don’t do anything else with primer pockets.
 
I clean my primer pockets because it makes me feel better ...
Same reason I take a shower ...

No Clean Police will issue you a ticket for not cleaning primer pockets or taking a shower .

Seems like I remember my Momma telling us " Cleanliness was next to Godliness "... but I'm not sure what she meant by that ... usually she was trying to get us into the bathtub for a Saturday night scrubbing !
Gary
 
Whether you clean it specifically or as part of tumbling doesn't matter. The only downside I can think of to not cleaning it ever is the possibility of the ash building up to the point where you cannot properly seat a new primer.

Doubt that happens much, but its possible, I suppose.

I do clean mine, couple twists with a "baby crocogater" while inspecting the decapped brass.
 
What if I quit cleaning and just load them as is? What could possibly happen?
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The crud in primer pockets is ground glass, in priming compound which burns off but leaves toxic lead residue. I deprime, then wet tumble with pins. The wet tumble solution (Blue FART Juice and RO water) comes out afterwards as a vile black liquid, now including chelated lead and anything else. I put mine down the toilet, but if you are on a septic system, find some other way to dispose.
My wet tumbling is to remove hazardous waste from my process. It does clean the primer pockets, but I have a hand tool for touching up.
You could skip it, but I prefer to control toxic waste in my house/gargae/yard.
 
Board member Hummer70, a former two-time national Palma match champion who was also a test director and firearm incident investigator at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, says he has demonstrated that leaving residue in primer pockets increases the rate of throat erosion when it is blown down the bore. This matters most at the highest pressures and bore temperatures, so it isn't much of a problem in the older, lower-pressure handgun cartridges.

As to the effect on accuracy, that probably is invisible in most handgun shooting. In rifle shooting, it is possible the slight cushioning effect of the residue could affect ignition timing and speed, resulting in barrel time variation that could conceivably detune load. That would also allow variability in small mechanical disturbances at the instant the bullet leaves the barrel. These sorts of effects would be most apparent in benchrest competitions where one-hole groups are being produced. They are also most likely only going to show up if the primers are very precisely seated, as most folks get more velocity variation from primer seating irregularity than they would likely see from primer residue cushioning.
 
I'm a post-decap wet tumbler - one of the advantages of doing so, is that primer pocket hygiene becomes a non-issue. Prior to my tumbling days, I did clean primer pockets by hand. But that's just me.

Sevens has mentioned on more than one occasion that he doesn't clean primer pockets and has yet to have a problem. I trust what Sevens says so leaving primer pockets untreated is likely of little significance. At least, that's how I see it.
 
You’re creating, not controlling, hazardous waste by flushing.
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Not True. If you read the thread, the Farnkfort Arsenal Ultrasonic Cleaner recommended for use in the FART for wet tumbling includes citric acid which chelates the lead so that it is stable, and thus no longer toxic. In fact I said exactly that::confused:
wet tumble solution (Blue FART Juice and RO water) comes out afterwards as a vile black liquid, now including chelated lead and anything else.
Click to expand...
 
Unless you’re a bench rest shooter trying to get a 2 inch group at 1000 yards with your 6mmGT, clean primer pockets makes literally no difference. None.

But … if you still insist on cleaning primer pockets I have a machine I want to sell you that makes your car run on salt water. Only three easy payments of 10K.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I used to. Then found it made no difference in accuracy for my shooting needs. So I quit the practice years ago now. Only tumble my cases when I think they need it too ... and with the primer in place. Each to there own though :) .
 
I deprime, then tumble in a HF rock tumbler using just lemishine and Dawn in hot water without any pins. It doesn’t quite clean the primer pocket 100% but it’s plenty clean enough to prevent any issues. About a 1/4 tsp of lemishine and a small squirt of Dawn are enough for this smaller size tumbler. Each drum can do about 100-.357mag or 150-9mm cases.
 
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