Remove primer before or after cleaning

[Sub95]

I dont lube for pistol. pistol cases I clean, de-prime, size, load.

Rifle cases, I tumble, lube/ de-prime/size, check case length, if needed trim de-burr, and clean primer pockets, then tumble.

[Whiterabbit]

I USED TO decap before tumbling. Then I realized that tumbling before or after decaping resulted in NO CHANGE to the primer pocket.

So now I tumble, then decap and size at the same time.


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If I ever finish building my rotary tumbler and go to stainless media, then yes I will go back to using a universal decapper before tumbling. The clean primer pockets are awesome.

[Cowboy T]

There's nothing "wrong" with decapping and cleaning the primer pockets before resizing any type of case. It just takes extra time, that's all.

I don't do it for either pistol or rifle, since the "kill zone" for a deer at 100 yards is such that even an AK-47 could hit it reliably. Now, if I were doing high precision distance shooting, say, benchrest competition, then yeah, it might make a difference. But I don't do that. MOA is good enough for me with the rifle, and at the handgun ranges I shoot (25 yards or less), the shooter's ability will be an issue long before any difference with primer pocket cleaning would be noticed.

[NotEnufGarage]

I also deprime mine before tumbling since I use the stainless steel media. 1 hour in the tumbler and they look like new!

Do they come out clean enough with corn media? yes, but I like bling!!!!

I tumble mine in walnut and Flitz for about 1 hours, then deprime, then tumble in corn cob and NuFinish for about 3 hours and they look just like yours.

[xrMike]

I do it on both. :P 45acp and 223. Then again I'm new so maybe I'm doing it wrong. But I don't think I will stop unless someone gives me a reason why I should not clean the primer pockets..

When I first started shooting/reloading, I went all out too, and cleaned my pistol pockets with a scraping tool for the first couple K rounds, then realized (like CowboyT says below) that I would NEVER be a good enough pistol shot that scraping primer pockets would matter. I don't think anybody is that good with a pistol actually.

For bench rest rifle shooters (and loooong range hunters --> 300+ yards), then maybe scraping primer pockets MIGHT yield some benefits in accuracy.

I guess if you've got tons of primer build up in your pockets to where you can't seat your primers fully, then yeah, you should clean 'em out no matter what. That's a safety issue. Bad things can happen in semi's if your primers aren't flush with the case head. I've never had that problem though.

I wasn't trying to imply that you're doing anything wrong. I did it that way myself for awhile. But I don't think the cost/benefit is worth it anymore, so I quit. But hey, reloading is a zen thing too, so if doing that makes you feel more confident in your ammo, you should do it!

Thanks for all the info. Raises one question about tumbling media. I see some people use walnut first then corn while others use corn first then walnut. Does it really matter?

I did the walnut (for cleaning) + corn (for polishing) thing too in my early days, but then realized that walnut got my brass adequately clean for my purposes, so that's all I use now.

Hi Mike... Nice to meet you...

(now you do )

I clean the primer pockets on my .45ACP and .357 Magnum brass because I have rifles that shoot both of those cartridges. I never know if I'm going to be shooting the rounds I am reloading through my Camp 45, my lever gun, my 1911 or my revolver, so I clean them all.

Overkill? ...probably.

Heheheh, right on. I used to clean my rifle brass pockets too. But then I decided to try a batch without doing it, and couldn't tell any difference in the results. But then I'm only shooting an iron-sighted AR at 100 to 300 yards. It might actually matter if I was shooting a scoped gun and trying to shoot groups that you can cover with a dime. It all depends on what you're trying to do and what's acceptable to you.

MOA is good enough for me with the rifle, and at the handgun ranges I shoot (25 yards or less), the shooter's ability will be an issue long before any difference with primer pocket cleaning would be noticed.

You ever see a show on TV called "Long Range Pursuit"? I think it's on the Outdoor Channel. Those guys routinely harvest deer/elk/sheep anywhere from 300 to 700+ yards! I'm pretty sure they're cleaning pockets, but yeah, no need at typical hunting distances.

[Briancnelson]

I'm pretty anal about doing all the steps including primer pocket cleaning, but that's only because I enjoy frittering around with the brass while I watch TV. If I didn't like it, most of it would be skipped, because it has little or no practical effect on my accuracy, which is mostly limited by me, not my equipment.

[Enter_the_Dragon]

Tumble first then resize/decap.