Are These Primer Pockets Clean Enough?

[mdi]

Nope! Redo them. The second one from the top on the right side looks to be a bit darker (dirtier?) than the rest. Don't forget to sanitize them before priming...

 

[tightgroup tiger]

It's just tarnish because he didn't wax them yet. Shame on him.

I worry more about the flash hole being way off center in the primer pocket than I do as to how clean they are. Of center flash holes can affect performance. Mine are pretty clean coming out of my ultra sonic but I certainly don't worry about the ones that aren't.

 

[kelbro]

If you live to tell about the day a cartridge blew up in your face because a primer was sticking out too far and the chamber wasn't completely closed, maybe you will understand why it is important not to cut corners like not cleaning the primer pockets. It happened to me once. I load thousand of rounds, for myself and for my family. It may not happen to you, but then why take a chance. Clean pockets will always give you good ignition, which is important especially in winter. And finally, I have found debris stuck in the flash hole that I would have never seen unless I was cleaning the primer pocket.

Good confirmation on the practice of running my thumbnail across every primer pocket after seating.

 

[peeplwtchr]

Are you using Citric acid or Lemishine when you wet tumble?
I use auto wash and wax and citric acid (about a .45 case full)
The citric acid/Lemishine makes a difference.

You can find citric acid in the canning section of your grocery store (usually) or on Amazon.
I just ordered 5lbs from Amazon $15
https://www.amazon.com/Milliard-Cit...=1&keywords=citric+acid&qid=1599163530&sr=8-3

5lbs is enough to last a LONG time....
1lb is $10 still a lot but 4 more pounds for another $5....I couldn't resist.
I may die of old age and still have 2 lbs left

I saw the acid/lemmeshine trick. I just bought the Franklin stuff. Works well.

 

[Riomouse911]

I used to clean the pockets on revolver cartridges. Now only if they’re really filthy. Since I’ve stopped I’ve seen zero change in the quality of my ammo.

Those are just about spotless by the way. Load up and fire away.

Stay safe.,

 

[Walkalong]

If you live to tell about the day a cartridge blew up in your face because a primer was sticking out too far and the chamber wasn't completely closed, maybe you will understand why it is important not to cut corners like not cleaning the primer pockets.

No need to scare anyone, if you had an out of battery slamfire it wasn't because there was a little leftover crud in the primer pocket from the previous primer.

 

[Dudedog]

If you live to tell about the day a cartridge blew up in your face because a primer was sticking out too far and the chamber wasn't completely closed, maybe you will understand why it is important not to cut corners like not cleaning the primer pockets

Curious, so you had an out of battery that you pulled the trigger and it fired or a out of battery slam fire?

I would think the pocket would have to be really really dirty to keep you from seating the primer to the correct depth and if it was very high you would have noticed getting it out of the shell holder.
I would also tend to think if it was that dirty you would notice something amiss when you seated the primer. (hmmm that one felt funny better look at it)
I wet tumble now and get clean pockets, but I dry tumbled for years and never cleaned a pocket on say10K 9mm cases and had no issues so I find it hard to say not cleaning the pockets is cutting corners.
You do need to make sure your primers are seated correctly, high primers can result in a failure to fire or something worse.

 

[JJFitch]

What exactly is your accuracy objective?

For general range use and accuracy inside 50 yards it is not necessary to have squeaky clean primer pockets.

Uniform flash holes maybe necessary if you are starting with a nearly clogged flash hole!

In precision rifle beyond say 600 yards attention to detail at every step and some "secret" steps make a difference!

Most 9mm pistol accuracy is important inside 35 yards unless it's 50 yard Precision Pistol!

Smiles,

 

[peeplwtchr]

What exactly is your accuracy objective?

For general range use and accuracy inside 50 yards it is not necessary to have squeaky clean primer pockets.

Uniform flash holes maybe necessary if you are starting with a nearly clogged flash hole!

In precision rifle beyond say 600 yards attention to detail at every step and some "secret" steps make a difference!

Most 9mm pistol accuracy is important inside 35 yards unless it's 50 yard Precision Pistol!

Smiles,

These are self defense target ammo at 7 yards. Possibly 9mm PCC at 50, gotta see what I can do load wise.

 

[Steve S.]

Plenty clean pockets - very nice. I hit all of my rounds with a primer pocket brush - I would say not necessary but my anal brain makes me do it. Doesn’t hurt anything and is not a waste of time if you like it for your reloading ritual.

 

[GBExpat]

... My question is, would you reload these without using a primer pocket eaner?

Absolutely.

 

[JJFitch]

These are self defense target ammo at 7 yards. Possibly 9mm PCC at 50, gotta see what I can do load wise.

I don't sort or surgically clean brass based on your requirements. (Over 100,000 rounds in competition in 30+ years!)

12" Steel hates my PCC out to 100 yards!

Maybe for yourself and the rest of us you can do your own testing a report back your results!

I know I've done lots of testing to figure things out like: "The effects of bullet deformation and the affect on accuracy". Bullets may have pretty bad deformation before it affects accuracy inside 15 yards. Possibly because of the bullets lack of stabilization!

Smiles,

 

[cfullgraf]

Hi All-

I realise that I may get laughed for this, but I am new to reloading. I just wet tumbled my first batch of deprimed brass. I went through about 30 casings, and pulled the worst I could find for this picture. Many had zero residue, and then varying degrees, up to this level. My question is, would you reload these without using a primer pocket eaner?

Thanks!

Geeze, if you think these are dirty you should see the primer pockets after dry tumbling.

And dry tumbled cases prime and fire just fine.

Just an added comment, make sure the cases are completely dry before they are reloaded. Maybe I'm stating the obvious but you know they say about "assume".

 

[mdi]

I can only share my experiences. I started reloading way pre-web and didn't hear much about cleaning primer pockets, especially hand gun caliber brass. In my opinion, primer pockets only get so dirty, and sort of "self cleaning". The only time I had a primer failure was from my not seating one or two correctly, maybe 1976-78 (?). Never in all my reloading/shooting have I had a "high" primer slam fire, never any headspace problems nor binding cylinders. In all that time I may have cleaned a few (less than 10) handgun case primer pockets and at one time I averaged 500-600 rounds per month, mostly 357 Mag. and 44 Mag. Ninety percent of my reloading has been handgun cartridges with a few .223, some 308 Win. (less than 2,000), and a few thousand 30-06 for my Garand. For my 308 I processed my brass carefully, yep, even cleaning pockets and flash holes. Long story short, I was able to get 7/8"-1" groups with both my high processed brass and my quickie LC brass. Tried a few 30-06 primer pockets, nothing noticeable. I don't have a favorite headstamp and treat all my brass the same (but I do have a lot of good loads with HXP). The only thing I do to the primer pockets is decrimp military brass.

But, If you feel better about your handloads being reloaded with pristine, perfectly formed primer pockets, by all means clean them (I've noticed if one likes their handloads, they will shoot better). I can't remember the last time the Reloading Police visited my shop, so it is up to the reloader if he likes shiny primer pockets or brown sooty looking ones....

 

[murf]

As long as the old primer is completely out of it, it’s good to go.

for some reason I get primer anvil pieces in the bottom of the primer pockets of my 380 cap reloads. no other cartridge does that. I uniform the primer pocket to solve that problem.

fyi,

murf

 

[ilbob]

Hi All-

I realise that I may get laughed for this, but I am new to reloading. I just wet tumbled my first batch of deprimed brass. I went through about 30 casings, and pulled the worst I could find for this picture. Many had zero residue, and then varying degrees, up to this level. My question is, would you reload these without using a primer pocket eaner?

Thanks!

They look fine to me. I was never all that concerned about how the cases looked as long as most of the grit and dirt was removed.

When I first started reloading, I used to put my cartridge cases in a dirty sock, tie the top of the sock off, and throw it in the washer with my dirty clothes when I did laundry. The cases came out clean, but stained. They went into the dryer and came out dry, but still stained.

 

[Thomasss]

It was an out of battery slam fire. It blew away the follower. I'm glad it didn't blow away any else. Now tell me why only one happened out of the entire brick of primers? Or one out a box of 50 that I loaded that day? RBCS has a class on reloading. The first thing the teacher asks is, "Has anyone had an incident reloading" It doesn't hurt to be careful and follow the rules.

 

[Walkalong]

Now tell me why only one happened out of the entire brick of primers? Or one out a box of 50 that I loaded that day?

I can't answer that, other than to say it wasn't because of a dirty primer pocket, and there is a high likelihood that a high primer was involved, and high primers can happen with clean uniformed primer pockets. We see my rounds didn't fire/high primer issues here all the time.

 

[Skeeter300]

Looks good to me. My pockets get clean for wet tumbling, but I don't stress on how clean they get.

 

[Average Joe]

Why clean them, they are only going to get dirty again.

 

[peeplwtchr]

Geeze, if you think these are dirty you should see the primer pockets after dry tumbling.

And dry tumbled cases prime and fire just fine.

Just an added comment, make sure the cases are completely dry before they are reloaded. Maybe I'm stating the obvious but you know they say about "assume".

Yeah, I got a frankford case drier. They are cheaper than the food dehydrators I looked at. I can dry cases this time of year with an hour in the sun. Not as much the rest of the year though.

 

[jonb32248]

If I have to actually clean any cases it's only when they get carbon soot on the outside and only then do they get a bath. The bath consists of a splash of vinegar and water swished around for a few minutes in a milk jug then rinsed.They don't gleam like new brass but they're good enough to load and shoot.Don't waste your money on tumblers and all the accessories.

 

[peeplwtchr]

If I have to actually clean any cases it's only when they get carbon soot on the outside and only then do they get a bath. The bath consists of a splash of vinegar and water swished around for a few minutes in a milk jug then rinsed.They don't gleam like new brass but they're good enough to load and shoot.Don't waste your money on tumblers and all the accessories.

I've seen that solution, I'm sure it works great. However I am the guy that cleans all my guns after every shoot. If anything is going to fail on me, or possibly wear out faster, it's not gonna be my fault under even a one in a million chance, because sometimes there may not be a second chance. If my legs can't get me out of an unexpected and non-avoidable situation, my very last defense are my tools. Thanks for the feedback though, every post counts to more people than me.

 

[peeplwtchr]

I saw the acid/lemmeshine trick. I just bought the Franklin stuff. Works well.

BTW Last time I tumbled cases I used the prescribed 2 capfulls of the frankford cleaner, and tumbled for 2 hours. It left small discolorations on the cases, which presumably over time may eat the cases (Instructions state discoloration means left in cleaner too long). This time I did same amount of brass (3/4 full tumbler) with 1 cap of cleaner, for 1.5 hours, perfect result. I can still eat off the cases.

 

[Demi-human]

Check them at shorter intervals too.
Mine are gleaming at thirty five minutes.

Dirty to dry, under an hour.

I tumble to have the clean pockets. Winchester primers leave a goodly amount of residue that causes problems with seating in 45 Auto cases, for me.
I hand prime so many at a time I want zero problems. Smooth force, flush seating, rhythmic work flow for maximum concentration and consistency, and heightened quality control.

it's self limiting.

Well, yeah, but only if I can get another primer in to blast the residue out with explosives!