clean the primer hole ?

[newbie1234]

Are you using stainless steel pins when you wet tumble?

I do, and the primer pockets come out as shiny as the cases.
I also use hot water and a squirt of Dawn soap.
I set the tumble timer for 1-1/2 hours and walk away and do other stuff while it's tumbling.

What's your method?

Wet tumble NO stainless steel, hot water + Dawn dish washer + Lime Shire + 2 hours.

[micro911]

I clean the primer pocket for my rifle cartridges, as I single load each round. For pistol rounds, I tumble the brass with the old primer in, then I just use a progressive loader and do not clean the primer pocket. It worked fine for me so far.

[divingin]

Please...on what caliber? If you are cleaning 9mm pockets...well, i would like to have your free time, if you are asking about long range 308 then yes.

308 and 6BR. Those are my bolt guns. Brass gets fired, soot on the neck wiped off with steel wool, sized and decapped, pockets cleaned (manually), primed and loaded. Unless it's annealing time, in which case that's done before sizing.

Pistol and AR ammo gets wet tumbled, which, as I said, takes care of cleaning the primer pocket.

[Rizzo]

Wet tumble NO stainless steel, hot water + Dawn dish washer + Lime Shire + 2 hours.

OK, thanks for the reply.
I highly recommend using the stainless steel pins.
You will see the difference and it will put a smile on your face.
Caution: They come out so shiny you should use sunglasses when looking at them. (grin)

I forgot to mention that I also add a 9mm case full of Citric Acid (from Walmart) to the solution.

[Lead Waster]

After remove the primer (decapper), run the wet tumbler , I saw lot of brasses still have the residue inside the primer hole, do I need to clean those primer hole one by one ? Oh man, that is a lot of work.
Edit: On pistols rounds. (9mm, 45ACP, 38SPL, 380ACP,44SPL....)

I wet tumble with the spent primers in them. If I decap them after, there is still crud in there. Doesn't seem to matter. When you run it through your press, the sizing die's decapping pin with push any crap out of the way and clear the hole. As long as everything is dry, I don't think crap will fall into the hole after that stage. Also, primers are strong enough in themselves to clear the hole when they fire.

So ... I never worry about it.

[Lead Waster]

OK, thanks for the reply.
I highly recommend using the stainless steel pins.
You will see the difference and it will put a smile on your face.
Caution: They come out so shiny you should use sunglasses when looking at them. (grin)

I forgot to mention that I also add a 9mm case full of Citric Acid (from Walmart) to the solution.

I've used lemishine and citric acid. I feel lemishine works a touch better. However, currently I'm working my way through a large bottle of lemon juice that we left in the fridge without using and expired at least a year ago. Seems to work as well, plus a good way to make use of foolishly wasted lemon juice.

[divingin]

I wet tumble with the spent primers in them. If I decap them after, there is still crud in there. Doesn't seem to matter. When you run it through your press, the sizing die's decapping pin with push any crap out of the way and clear the hole.

The problem with dirty primer pockets is that the new primers may not seat fully. The compacted/baked on ash cakes the pocket and the primer seats on the ash. This can cause high primers, or poor ignition (as the legs of the anvil are resting on the ash rather than being butted up against the brass at the bottom of the pocket.)

[ysr_racer]

I started shooting USPSA in the late 80s, and only have loaded tens and tens and tens and tens of thousands of .45 and 9mm. Now I'm loading .38 special.

In all that time I've never cleaned a primer pocket. I dry tumble, then load (including de priming, and priming). In all that time I've never had an issue.

For pistol don't over think it. You'll probably loose the brass at the range before you have any issues .

[Lead Waster]

The problem with dirty primer pockets is that the new primers may not seat fully. The compacted/baked on ash cakes the pocket and the primer seats on the ash. This can cause high primers, or poor ignition (as the legs of the anvil are resting on the ash rather than being butted up against the brass at the bottom of the pocket.)

That is a reasonable hypothesis, but have you ever experienced this though? I've not seen high primers due to this, but I never look at the decapped primer pocket really.

If I had one of those automated 1050 presses, I'd certainly set up a tool head with just a decapper and pour brass into it to auto-decap brass.

I actually had my 550 set up with just a decapper and the case feeder, then I'd pull the handle, index the plate, repeat. With a 650 (assuming Dillon) you'd just need to pull the handle a bunch of times.

My only issue doing this on the 550 was that without a seated bullet to topple the case over, the cases didn't always fall off the last stage into the catch bin, they'd get caught up in the ejector wire. Plus it is pretty boring to decap so many cases. So I gave up and just decap and primer on the press without a primer pocket cleaning stage.

For lower volume rifle cartridges, I can see doing it, but FOR ME, it's too tedious to decap before cleaning. I DO however, case gauge in a 100 hole gauge, which leaves the cases all at a level and I can feel if there are any high primers.

[divingin]

That is a reasonable hypothesis, but have you ever experienced this though?

Personally, I have not. I have seen a couple of shooters who have, though I can't say for sure that was the cause of the problem. They both said they had started skipping pocket cleaning a few shot cycles previous.

[bsumoba]

If anything, it helps with keeping primers in the case

No need to clean them. It has no bearing on accuracy or reliability

[fguffey]

Reloaders that have case prep centers have the advantage; the RCBS case prep center has 5 stations. It is possible to preform 5 functions when prepping the case.

There are very few reloaders that have s flash hole gage. When using the flash hole gage it helps if the reloader measures the diameter of the flash hole before firing and again after firing.

F. Guffey

[ysr_racer]

Cleaning the primer hole is pretty useless unless you're also using a flash hole deburring tool.

https://usa.palmettostatearmory.com/rcbs-flash-hole-deburring-tool-30-88148.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw9L_tBRBXEiwAOWVVCUWD79gTqx-xOo-Z3mu8G6NlUEwnRa3Qg1rKJfG9Mcu7SftnUwIboRoCYjwQAvD_BwE

[Lead Waster]

Reloaders that have case prep centers have the advantage; the RCBS case prep center has 5 stations. It is possible to preform 5 functions when prepping the case.

There are very few reloaders that have s flash hole gage. When using the flash hole gage it helps if the reloader measures the diameter of the flash hole before firing and again after firing.

F. Guffey

I think we're talking about high powered long distance competition if you are measuring flash holes and deburring them or whatnot. For pistol shooting I think most of this is more work than the results may warrant.

[bruce381]

i never clean pocket it helps to pre load the primer