Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Cleaning primer pockets

How often do you do this? I have a tendency to scrape too hard, and this has to led to misfires from the primers being seated too deep. Happened in two different guns, so I’m pretty sure my technique is the cause. Any help is appreciated.

Only when super duper bored as really unnecessary. If I do I use a brush that doesn’t remove metal

I'll do it after about 4 firings. As the carbon starts getting caked in there by that time. I hit it with my frankford arsenal case prep tool. Its not a wire brush, but it works well.

I use a primer pocket tool from Sinclair and do it every time.

Get a cleaner that shoulders on the base of the case, then it will not constantly get deeper...

This but I don’t do it every time. I do it the first time and they get clean when I clean the brass.

I pop the primers out with a Frankford Arsenal deprimer, then wet tumble the brass. No need to ever clean them again.

"every time" is an overkill. Cleaning the flash hole and making sure it is burr free is far more important. Also, if the tool removes any brass from inside the primer pocket, you are taking life away from the brass each time you do that and may end up in the same boat as the OP..

I'd throw that hand deburring tool as far as I could chuck it.. Then I'd probably run it over with the lawn mower. I hate those fugging things..

A Sinclair tool should only remove brass once. They have a stop collar.

That is a good thing. No harm in cleaning the primer pocket with that tool then. I understand that guys can be real anal about some things, but I have not found cleaning primer pockets to be a necessity for getting the utmost precision out of your handloads. Now, if the carbon is interfering with seating depth or you are getting some weird detonation problems like hangfires or something, I'd investigate the primer pockets and make sure the primers are getting seated properly. Also keeping in mind this is the "big game" reloading section, not the precision reloading forum.. If you are into shooting in the .1's or .2's with a full blown bench rest rifle you may want to be that nit picky, but for reloading hunting rifle ammo, nah..

I've had the Sinclair tools for a long time, but in almost sixty years of handloading, I've not seen a need to clean primer pockets. I did uniform some primer pockets for a benchrest gun once, but I'm not sure that was really a necessity.

I think it’s not necessary to clean primer pockets, though I have at times. I have a wet tumbler that cleans everything but I think that’s a PIA. I also have a vibratory cleaner and I have the same steel pins in it that are used in the wet tumbler, I like that more than the wet tumbler for most uses. The wet tumbler is the way to go with black powder cartridges cases IMO.

I use a brush and clean the pocket every time I reload, no big deal it takes about 5 seconds.....Hb

I’m waiting for someone to prove that cleaning a primer pocket is even necessary. I doubt anyone here has shot many more rounds than I have, and I will guarantee, no one has cleaned less primer pockets.

Zero, out of 10’s if not 100’s of thousands of rounds.

I won’t argue someone shooting bench rest competition, I have never done that. Outside of that, there has never been any evidence that cleaning a primer picket was the least bit necessary.

One comment “it only takes 5 seconds” would add so much time to reloading, I wouldn’t have time to shoot for the time I would spend cleaning primer pockets…

I clean pockets with an RCBS brush to make sure primers are fully seated.

For test loads, I have reprimed rifle cases without cleaning when I see a clear passage and feel the primer fully seated.

All my rifle loads, cleaned or not - fired at expected fps.

FWIW - on a few pistol loads, I've had primers not fully seated due to grit causing cylinder rotation stoppage on a Ruger and Colt.

So at least on pistol loads, I'll check every one for flush fit.

+1

Clean them every time with a hand held RCBS wire brush. Sometimes I put the brush in a cordless drill. Does it help with accuracy? IDK? Does it make me feel better? Yes.

It is a pain though, I am almost done with about 300 .243 cases right now.

There's 50 7x57 cases in the tumbler now....

If you think that it helps, then it does. Competitive shooters understand this.

If primer pockets ever get cleaned on my brass, it has happened when I throw them in the tumbler, and the brass is sort of groddy so I put some mineral spirits into the media....

that shines up every thing if left over night, to include the primer pockets...

other than that I have never noticed any accuracy or inaccuracy contribution, one way or the other...

A complete waste of time IMO. Ranks right up there with barrel break-in.

You can clean primer pockets?

Thumblers tumbler works real well, cleans inside and out.

So just a basic walnut hull type tumbler but with dry steel pins?? I’ve wondered about that before but was unsure the vibratory element was strong enough to run the pins. If that’s what you use how deep do you fill the bowl? Thx

Seafire, as far as you can tell do mineral spirits have any effect on the poly bowl of your tumbler? Do you concern yourself about clearing any leftover spirits from the inside of your cases? Thinking the dry pins Bugger uses along with a little wet solvent might be the best of both worlds. No functional reason to clean primer pockets I just like clean cases. Think it was Mule Deer that said pocket crud doesn’t accumulate in the space occupied by the spent primer; so the new primer is seated in clear territory as well. Or something to that effect.

I guess they get cleaned a little if I remove the GI primer crimp or throw them in the vibratory, otherwise never.

This !....
If you're going to wet tumble with pins anyway just decap first. Primer pockets will be as clean as all the other outside and inside like new brass.
One of the reasons I do wet, cuz personally I like clean stuff.

I have done it both ways, clean and dirty, never could tell the difference. I picked up one of those ugly Lyman tabletop case prep machines a couple years ago, and one of the included tools was the primer pocket scraper that looks like a little flat blade screwdriver, so I started cleaning them again.

Only takes a second or two, can't hurt nothing, no big deal.

Something else I do that i bet you dont is I thoroughly clean my rifles/handguns/shotguns (including the barrel) every time I get done shooting them and I also wash my truck every week or so, what can I say? I like to keep my stuff clean and I dont mind the little extra time it takes to keep it that way.....Hb

I clean all mine

I have one of the RCBS prep stations with a mouth brush, inside and outside mouth bevels, and primer pocket brush station. I've been using it every time on the brass that seems to carbon up more than others, in the sequence I use to debur and chamfer the inside and outside of the mouth, then the primer pockets. The whole process including the primer process takes about 5-10 seconds per case, but I don't load the quantities some of you do.

I do debur the inside of the primer flash hole on every new case as you only have to do it once on each case. That often takes me a bit more time but I feel it is an important step for that little incremental advantage and I think it gives a lot more consistency in ignition in my loads...

Bob

Your truck and guns won’t be any cleaner than mine, probably not as clean. Primer pockets are a different story. If you like to clean primer pockets, you are free to do so, but there is no way in the world you shoot as much as I do and clean primer pockets as you describe…

No way, I don't even clean my brass.

Yep, id say you do shoot more than me as I only shoot twice a month or so at maybe 40-50 rifle rounds per trip....So it aint so bad for me to clean primer pockets....Hb

Tell me more.


Okie John

Not something I've seen as helpful. So I don't do it.

On rainy days when I have already numbered every bullet in the house and recorded its weight in a notebook, sorted all of the coins in the house by denomination and date, recorded every book in the house by (1) author, (20 subject, (3) number of pages, (4) color of cover, and (5) date of publication, arranged the pencils (after sharpening) in the pencil drawer by length, and completed a few less important chores, if I have any time left, I might clean primer pockets.

Never intentionally.
Sometimes unintentionally, when tumbling tarnished cases.

I clean, it’s just how I was taught, so I do it.

Do you remove your hat when you do it? (From another thread.)

I have a Sinclair tool, use it sometimes, usually just a mild scrape with the small RCBS tool.

In a hunting rifle, say a Mod 70 fwt 30-06...is "deburring" the Flash Hole of Winchester/Remington brass really necessary? I have only had a few really tight, blueprinted, custom jobs that I could tell it worked on. Same with cutting the primer pockets with the Sinclair Tool. For along time I only used lapua, Norma and Nosler brass that was already prepped during manufacture.???

To be honest, I probably couldn't tell if deburring the inside of the flash hole made any difference for most loading, but it gave me a warm and fuzzy doing it just to be sure I was covering all my bases. I've come to the conclusion that loading is a total of a lot of sequential processes depending on how accurate you want/need your loads to be. Each process is incremental to the end product, so skipping one step in the process like deburring the flash holes, or chamfering the case mouths, or cleaning the primer pockets may or may not make a difference by themselves, the incremental nature of the whole process contributes to the end result.

To make a long story longer, it probably doesn't really matter all that much for hunting loads as long as you're not shooting extreme long range. In fact, in most cases I doubt you could measure the group difference in most hunting rifles with/without the extra steps. In a target rifle or across the course rifle it will probably be measurable, but I wouldn't know for sure....

Bob