Brass cleaning, and primer pocket concern

[Palladan44]

I typically try to load up for what i think ill use within the next year or so........thats a lie. Im a loading fiend, and my loads have no time frame when theyre to be shot.

With that in mind I have reloads/handloads that are several years old. Many of them i had cleaned the brass, with spent primers in them. Then after shaking loose the cleaning medium, i load them up. Didnt clean the primer pockets. Hmm. The soot in the pocket usually doesnt cause any problems, when the ammo is used in a reasonable time period, and there never is enough grit or crusties to inhibit the seating of the new primer. The deprimer clears the flash hole just before priming....I dont see a huge problem with this....well, but...

Ive since changed to a new system, de priming prior to cleaning with liquid and metal rod tumbling; a system owned by an acquaintance I get to use. Wow what a beautiful job that system does, ive since given away my vibratory tumbler....

My concern is tarnishing or oxidation over time from the small amount of crud left in the primer pocket of certain reloads from batches from the past. Any oxidation or further contaminant near the primer could contaminate priming compound, block the flash hole, and possibly cause a list of pretty annoying, and possibly dangerous problems.

Best I fire these reloads sooner than later?

 

[Rule3]

I

My concern is tarnishing or oxidation over time from the small amount of crud left in the primer pocket of certain reloads from batches from the past. Any oxidation or further contaminant near the primer could contaminate priming compound, block the flash hole, and possibly cause a list of pretty annoying, and possibly dangerous problems.

Best I fire these reloads sooner than later?

Life is to short to worry about such things.

 

[Palladan44]

Life is to short to worry about such things.

Ive found in handloading, the Smallest details DO matter.

 

[Blue68f100]

If your using the wet SS pins, they clean the pockets too if you deprime before cleaning. Most of us use ArmorAll Wash& Wax since it leaves a protective coating of wax behind. This slows the tarnishing process down greatly. They should be no problem with corrosion unless your using a strong acid and have not rinsed good or run a neutralizing solution.

 

[Johnnyd]

I would have not given away my vibratory cleaner. If you ever start reloading for rifle how do you plan to remove the lube? Wet tumble and dry again is time consuming.

When I wet tumbled, which is seldom do these days, I would tumble the loaded ammo in corncob with NuFinish to prevent tarnishing. You could do the same with your cases.

You could also use armor-all wash and wax instead of dawn when wet tumbling. This should give you protection against tarnishing.

 

[splattergun]

I would have not given away my vibratory cleaner. If you ever start reloading for rifle how do you plan to remove the lube?.

Simple. wipe it off with a rag. Worked for many, many of us for many, many years.

 

[243winxb]

Any crud left in the primer pocket, that may block the flash hole, is blown out when the primer fires.

Worry more about shooting a metal rod (steel pin) down the barrel.

 

[HDMontana]

Simple. wipe it off with a rag. Worked for many, many of us for many, many years.

This is how I remove it.

 

[cfullgraf]

Most gun scribe experts have found that cleaning primer pockets has no improvement or detrimental effect on accuracy.

I've gone through periods of cleaning primer pockets and periods of not worrying about it.

I have some reloads that are 10-15 years old that fire just fine when I drag them out. Most are full power 357 Magnum ammunition but also I have some rifle ammunition and other handgun ammunition.

I do store my ammunition in the air conditioned house where humidity and temperature is under control.

 

[Charlie98]

Simple. wipe it off with a rag. Worked for many, many of us for many, many years.

I don't have time like that... I dump them in the tumbler for 15-20 minutes while I size the next batch. This has worked for me, for many, many years....

As far as primer pockets... meh, I wouldn't give it a second thought.

 

[Pivot Dr]

I’m anal, I clean my primer pockets, all of them. however; that wasn’t always the case. I’ve got some shells that I loaded oh, about 50 years ago. The primer pockets were not cleaned, nor were the cases tumbled, just wiped clean before sizing. They look just like they did when I put them in the boxes 50 years ago. I’ll bet they all go bang just fine. Oh yes, they were loaded with WWII surplus H-4831, I still have a few pounds of it today. It shoots as good if not better than current off the shelf 4831 does. I should shoot some of it up sometime, just to be sure! I’m sure I still have those 3 rifles from those days. In fact I did shoot my Sako 243 I bought in Stuttgart in ‘72 just the other day, but with recently loaded shells. Yup, I better be shooting some of that old stuff before it goes bad on me, it wasn’t wet tumbled or pockets cleaned, might be a, na....

 

[1MoreFord]

Of all the 10's of thousands of rounds I've reloaded I've never de-primed before tumbling and never once have I had a failure to go bang because of my de-priming and reloading practices. If there are any accuracy gains to be found I don't shoot pistols well enough to find it.

 

[Demi-human]

Best I fire these reloads sooner than later?

Yes! The sooner the better!
Then you can clean them properly and load and store them without concern.

No, the residue from spent primers in the primer pocket will not continue to corrode and grow into a crystalline structure blocking the flash hole. Not with 5,000 to 8,000 PSI of primer pressure to clear it.

If you ever start reloading for rifle how do you plan to remove the lube?

A towel?

Unless they’re greasy and sticky from excessive amounts of improper lube, why remove it, just to replace it with carbon and grit?

 

[lordpaxman]

My concern is tarnishing or oxidation over time from the small amount of crud left in the primer pocket of certain reloads from batches from the past.

If it’s keeping you up at night, do what you need to do to sleep. For me, I’ve not read or heard of any scientific study that would suggest reloads are going to fail over time due to crud in the primer pocket. I’ve not even seen any Internet lore suggesting that would happen. If I had a FTF on my 30 year old .22-250 round I’d more attribute it to me mishandling the primer than anything else. If you want to sweat the small details, worry about how that NuFinish is going to mix with the nitro in the powder and migrate into the primer.... Better store your rounds bullet down... Good luck.

 

[Johnnyd]

Simple. wipe it off with a rag. Worked for many, many of us for many, many years.

I use a spray lube and it does get inside the neck.

 

[WeekendReloader]

Shoot them up. Having ammo on the shelf I reloaded years ago is like leftover bacon. I've never heard of such a thing.

 

[Bill M.]

I do not know anything about stainless pins but I do know that I will never again clean de-primed cases with walnut hulls. The grit sticks in the flash hole. I clean the brass before depriming.

 

[Juiceking]

Ive only wet tumbled so cant reallly compare but i love the results...a little pricey maybe but this is how i dry brass in winter time and it heats up my garage so im nice and toasty working on my projects...i have but never use steel pins...and I just got Lee universal deprimer which i love...i deprimed all that brass, 9mm 40sw 223 308 & 30.06...and i just used 30.06 shell holder...i way prefer cleaning after depriming..great die for what it does...also ive used lube pad and now spray but never had issue getting lube off

 

[lightman]

I've always cleaned primer pockets and deburred flash holes. Its just the way I roll! Someone said something about sleeping well! My thoughts were mostly about making sure the primer was seated properly. I never thought about the old residue affecting the primer or powder charge.

I tumble with stainless media and I'm very careful to make sure there are not any pins left in the case. The only time that I remember having pins trapped in cases were with small cases like the 17 and 22 Hornet.

 

[HowieG]

I do not know anything about stainless pins but I do know that I will never again clean de-primed cases with walnut hulls. The grit sticks in the flash hole. I clean the brass before depriming.

Change the grit size on your walnut.

 

[HowieG]

I typically try to load up for what i think ill use within the next year or so........thats a lie. Im a loading fiend, and my loads have no time frame when theyre to be shot.

With that in mind I have reloads/handloads that are several years old. Many of them i had cleaned the brass, with spent primers in them. Then after shaking loose the cleaning medium, i load them up. Didnt clean the primer pockets. Hmm. The soot in the pocket usually doesnt cause any problems, when the ammo is used in a reasonable time period, and there never is enough grit or crusties to inhibit the seating of the new primer. The deprimer clears the flash hole just before priming....I dont see a huge problem with this....well, but...

Ive since changed to a new system, de priming prior to cleaning with liquid and metal rod tumbling; a system owned by an acquaintance I get to use. Wow what a beautiful job that system does, ive since given away my vibratory tumbler....

My concern is tarnishing or oxidation over time from the small amount of crud left in the primer pocket of certain reloads from batches from the past. Any oxidation or further contaminant near the primer could contaminate priming compound, block the flash hole, and possibly cause a list of pretty annoying, and possibly dangerous problems.

Best I fire these reloads sooner than later?

Boy, I thought I was OC! You have me beat. My years old ammo always works just fine.

 

[Bartojc]

I haven't cleaned a pistol primer pocket in many years. I've had no issues either.

Most of my bottleneck rifle reloads are done in small batches of 20-50 so I do clean the pockets, but not because I feel I need too but because I'm already handling them more. All of these rifle loads are for hunting or target practice. No competitions of any kind.

-jeff

 

[Rule3]

Ive found in handloading, the Smallest details DO matter.

But long term storage "uncleaned" primer pockets is not one of those details.

 

[Kp321]

I am in the never clean primer pocket school. Been loading for close to 60 years and can’t see that not cleaning the pockets has made any difference.
I only tumble dry, never wet tumble but if I did I would deprime first. I had a batch of brass a few years back that had been wet tumbled with some type of cleaner (by someone else). Several of the primers were stuck and/or corroded such that the decap step popped the top off the primer, leaving a metal ring in the pocket.

 

[HowieG]

As far as the pockets to start with, this is what Glen Zedicker says in HANDLOADING FOR COMPETITION, page 298:

"If someone doesn't want to use the uniformer each loading, or doesn't want to use it at all, then the pockets should at least be cleaned of residue from the last firing (and that's whether deprimed cases have been tumbled or not). Some say pocket cleaning doesn't matter at all, but, if nothing else, it makes good sense to get the buildup out of the pocket because enough of it might affect primer seating."

So, at least knocking the crud out is recommended by at least one expert to insure good seating and proper ignition. No one says anything about long term storage.