Reloading 9mm-Do You Clean Your Primer Pockets?

[gerrym526]

I'm reloading 9mm, from brass picked up at the range. I've checked all cases by condition and headstamp, and picked out S&B, Privi, Winchester brass and thrown out the goofy miltary brass (Romanian,etc.-) because they seem to be really hard to set primers into. Using an RCBS Universal Hand Priming tool.
My question is-is reaming/cleaning out primer pockets necessary? Haven't added this to the cleaning process after brass comes out of the tumbler.
Wondering if you guys find it important to clean out the primer pockets before re-priming.

Thanks in advance for the help.
Gerry

 

[ny32182]

Mine go from the ground, to the tumbler. After that I sort them into crimped vs. non crimped (and check for splits, etc, at the same time) then the non crimped go straight to the 650, so no I do not clean primer pockets.

Your funky military brass is probably crimped, which is why it is hard to impossible to seat a new primer.

 

[rcmodel]

No, not really, but I do it anyway while doing case inspection after sizing & depriming.

Just a twist with a primer pocket cleaner or small flat blade screwdriver knocks the crusties out.

Then I tumble.

rc

 

[GLOOB]

Haha, no.

When the round is decapped, you know the flash hole is clear.

When you seat the primer fully and it's flush or below flush, then you know it's going to go into battery and go bang.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Nope

 

[W.E.G.]

Crimped-primer ammo usually needs the pocket to be chamfered or swaged in order to reliably seat primers.

 

[HOWARD J]

If I was still using my Dillions I would not clean the pockets but I am retired & have nothing to do so I use a turret press & clean the pockets.
Don't ask me to give or sell the Dillions as my grandkids would object.
Have fun -------------------

 

[1KPerDay]

I don't bother... doesn't seem to make any difference.

 

[cfullgraf]

I tumble after resizing and decapping. Some of the primer pockets gets cleaned in the tumbler, the rest of the loose stuff gets knocked out when I clean the tumbling media from the primer pockets.

Sometimes I wet tumble cases with stainless pins. Cases are spotless then.

Primer pocket cleaning is a by-product of other cleaning operations.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I clean mine in a sonic cleaner so it takes care of that for me. It works very well at cleaning the primer pockets if you use it correctly.

If I didn't use a sonic cleaner I would clean them out with my drill bit that I flattened on a grinder and it get almost everything out of there with just a twist. What ever works.

 

[FROGO207]

Clean primer pockets on pistol brass??? Not hardly grasshopper----I reloaded for years and never bothered to clean them in anything. Then came the internet and all those that said you must or your ammo would not work (already proved wrong) so I tried it for a while. Found no difference with my ammo either way. Then happened onto a Thumlers tumbler and purchased some SS pins. Now I get that done without ANY extra effort when cleaning the brass otherwise I would not bother to do it anymore.

 

[SlowFuse]

So, are you saying you toss S&B, Prvi and Winchester brass? Sorry for the odd question, I'm just unclear...

On the original question, I clean pockets on everything. Takes an extra 2 seconds to grab the tool and do one or two spins.

 

[Walkalong]

Nope.

 

[floydster]

Noper.

 

[wally]

I never do, the odd crimped in primer I handle individually With a Lee hand tool, when the primer doesn't seat with the normal pressure in my Dillon XL650.

I quit sorting cases a long time ago.

 

[1SOW]

"WIN" 9mm brass will seat just fine. "WCC" brass is crimped.

No, I domn't make a speciasl effort to clean primer pockets. After sizing & depriming, then tumbling, they are plenty clean enough to load.

Crimped 9mm will normally look like the center one---the third is a crimped brass that has been chamferred and can now be primed:

 

[jrkfantom]

I've never seen a benifit from cleaning the pocket. I have some WCC brass in that I trimmed down for my cz-82 in 9mm Mak, and it takes a little umph on a single stage press priming on the press but I've loaded them dozens of times and no kabooms shoving the primer in!

 

[BADUNAME37]

Yes, to me, it is all part of the reloading process.

What kind of quality should I expect if I were to "cut-corners" during reloading?

I like to take pride in my reloads, as opposed to seeing how fast I can reload X number of rounds.

 

[Hondo 60]

Haven't cleaned ANY primer pocket in years.

When I first started reloading I cleaned 'em all, cuz that's what the book said to do.
After reading here that many don't, I stopped doin' it.
And I haven't noticed any difference.

Just maybe I would IF, I was reloading a hunting rifle caliber.
But all I have is handguns & an AR

 

[CZ9shooter]

On basic target loads, usually including an unjacket bullet, made exclusively for range use, I do not.

Occasionaly I will reload with quality hollow point bullets and higher velocities. Or mabe make some rounds that go into long term storage. In those cases, yes, I clean the primer pockets.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I clean them with fire.

 

[thump_rrr]

I decap then wet tumble all of my brass.
This gets the primer pockets, flash holes, interior and exterior of the cases sparkly clean.
It isn't necessary but it's nice.

 

[Josh45]

Sometimes.

Just depends if I feel like it or not.

 

[Flatbush Harry]

I clean all primer pockets on all the rounds that I load. Habit I developed years ago.

FH

 

[tglazie]

Heck no. I havent even seen my last 10K handgun primer pockets unless you count range pickups that the primer fell out of.

0 FTFire using Fed primers. I deprime, size, and prime at station one 100% of the time when loading for handguns.