rodrick

I quit cleaning primer pockets about 10 years ago, doesn't seem to make a difference. Also on progressive and turret presses you don't see the primer pockets anyway.

dagger dog

If you absolutlely,positively,wan't your cartridge to fire the first time maybe, then it's not a bad idea to clean your primer pockets.

Really, why not, takes a little more time and very little labor and $$$ ?

The average shooter-hunter, reloading, bullet caster will gain little cleaning primer pockets on handgun or longgun cartridges.

If you're a pro and make your living popping caps on targets, a misfire caused by a high seated primer will only cause shrinkage of your wallet.

On the other hand, if you are betting your life on that cap going off, and stopping the charging buff from grinding your poor shooting gun toting paycheck into sausage, or the hyped up crystal meth breath thug from slitting grannys throat during a hostage situation ----------- well you make the decision.

grandpabear

I clean all my primer pockets. Just seems like the right thing to do. I'm relatively new to reloading and don't want to leave anything to chance.

stargeezer

I run mine for a couple cycles, sometimes three if the pockets aren't clean. My cleaner is also heated, a few friends have the ones that are not heated and don't get as clean. I don't know if thats why yours are not clean, just wondering?

tglazie

This is what it comes down to for me. I do not load for big game hunting or SD/HD, and with my loading process (indexing turret), cleaning pockets is a significant factor in production rates. If I literally had nothing else to do I might consider it, but at this point in my life any time I save reloading is time I can spend shooting or cleaning my guns.

Additional trigger time with a clean weapon is going to improve my shooting much more than shiny primer pockets will.

MidLife

Consider this, primers work on an anvil seated on a hard (well, relatively hard) flat surface. Cartridges are designed to be used once and discarded.
Reloading used cases is not considered in manufacturing factory new ammunition. So, any crud buildup resulting from a previous firing of the cartridge will affect the performance of the primer, whether this is detrimental effects, that is up to the reloader to decide. I clean the pockets. I think it's more important to clean the pockets than it is to clean the cases ('cepting crud on the outer cases walls that would affect chamberring the cartridge.) . What does tumbling do? Makes things on the outside nice and shiny. Less important than primer pocket cleaning, IMHO. Areas I would clean would be the primer pocket and the cases neck that comes in contact with the bullet. Next would be to remove buildup on the outer case that would effect sealing in the chamber.

tglazie

What does cleaning the crud off the outside of a case do? It protects your dies and your chambers. Those are 2 things that are pretty dear to me.

The next time I have a FTF for any reason will be the first, and if I ever have a properly seated Federal primer FTF due to primer pocket crud in a handgun case I will eat my hat.

I am of the opinion that if someone has a mind to be extra careful and extra precise they are not doing anything wrong. This is a hobby that you get out of exactly what you put into it. Likewise, if you are intentionally omitting unnecessary or minimally productive steps, willfully and knowingly, you are not doing anything wrong. On the contrary, you are immersing yourself in the total reloading experience rather than just following a set of instructions.

MidLife

deleted.

Sr40ken

the only round ive not had ignite was factory load. In tens of thousand rounds of reloads I've never not had primer go off.

GunBlue

I've reloaded countless thousands of rounds of dozens of calibers over 40 years. The first five years or so, I dwidled the pockets with a pocket cleaner, and they all went bang, proving it worked. The remaining 35 years, I left them as they were, and they all went bang, proving that the first five years of obsession was time wasted.

The main thing is this... Tumble your brass only with the old primers in place, as the biggest source of difficulty is not the residue in primer pockets, it's tumbling media getting under a primer. As far as primer residue is concerned, it doesn't build up. It's the same after ten shots as it was after the first. When your firing pin hits, it drives the case forward in the chamber and when the headspace is fully forward, the primer compresses. At the instant of ignition, the primer backs out of the pocket by the length of the headspace. Super-heated gasses fill the gap between the primer and pocket, baking things on. At this instant, the forward section of the case expands and grabs the chamber walls, and the rear of the case travels backwards to fill the headspace and reseats the primer. Any residue gets crushed and pulverized. The loose stuff falls away during decapping and the remaining portion is a hard glaze.

It's not in the least a cushion for the anvil. Over the years, I've discovered what contributes to accuracy and reliability with very careful testing and analysis, and primer pocket cleaning does nothing except sell widgets to reloaders. Even bench rest shooters don't concern themselves about such things, and I've been there. Well, there are the fussbudgets, and I know such things help them sleep better.

Anyone who has misfires should investigate hammer and firing pin issues. I have never had a primer malfunction in my entire life, except with contaminated old commercial ammo. And I mean really old.

That being said, if you keep your slippers aligned under the bed and polish your light bulbs each week, I'd suggest a vigorous cleaning of the primer pockets with an ultrasonic cleaner, followed up with a Lee dwidler, and a Q-tip with Brasso under a lighted magnifier.

Clovishound

I am new to reloading. I picked up some 100 box primers of the same make at two different LGSs. Both my buddy and I had multiple failure to fires from these two boxes of primers. Two different guns used.

We both switched primer brand. Have not had any failures since. While it is possible that there was something we were doing during the primer seating process, like not fully seating the primers, I put my money on the primers themselves. If the problem resurfaces with a different brand, we will look further into the seating.

tglazie

Were the primers seated flush, or below flush? What brand were those that FTF? Were the new primers (the brand that did fire) seated to the same depth as the first brand?

MidLife

The answer is: you need to clean your primer pocket if you need to clean your primer pocket.

If your primer pockets do not allow primers to be seated properly, you need to clean and/or uniform your primer pocket.
Also, there is no need to scatch out the sections in your Lee Modern Reloading manual or your Speer or Lyman reloading manuals that address this issue.

FlyerTom

I can't relate which primer brand (or loaded ammo brand for that matter) is dirtier than any others. I use CCI and Winchester primers exclusively because that's what my LGS carries. They all leave a coating of crud in the bottom of the pockets although the severity varies wildly. I'll have 10 cases (.45 Auto, for example) with just a three-point smudge, and then there'd be 40 with the bottom completely covered with grime. I've been in metal-working and a machinist for all by life, and mating one piece of metal with another that's dirty just goes against the grain.

Clovishound

The primers all seemed to be seated slightly below flush. I am now using a ram prime for mine. My buddy is still using the same Lee hand primer that the FTF ammo were loaded with. He is no longer having trouble with his, now that he has switched primer brand. I assume he is seating them to the same depth.

The ones that didn't fire were all Winchester.