I kept hearing about how you have to clean your brass to save your dies from being worn and scratched. Kept reading about how you have to clean primer pockets to get the finest accuracy and have your primers go bang.
Since I'm apparently a natural skeptic, I decided to test both claims. Have down been using several sets of dies for well over a decade to size unpolished brass, and the dies keep working fine. Have never found any difference in accuracy between cleaned and uncleaned primer pockets, even in some smaller-bore rifles that average 5 shots in less than 1/2" at 100 yards (including a couple that average under 1/4"), and several big game rifles that group three shots into less than two inches at 300 yards.
So I quit doing both, allowing me to get more handloading done.
Same here. Although I'm sure my testing was far less scientific than yours.
Thinking about this now my .17 Remington dies were bought 23 years ago and have never seen a tumbled round. And I bought 'em used.
Travis
