New to Reloading Question

[Snagglepuss]

I have now assembled my tools for reloading. I know I will have many questions but here are the first, please bear with me. my questions are universal but just in case I will be loading pistol rounds.

Do I need to clean out the primer pockets with a brush or will they clean out during tumbling?

I have new brass, I primed it. Can I just remove the primer remover from the expander die and use it in this condition to expand the casings?

Thanks in advance.

 

[The Bushmaster]

To clean primer pockets (and many say you don't have to, but I do) You can purchase a manufactured tool or you can make one yourself. I use throttle/choke cable pull handles and leave about an inch of the solid wire on.

Did you prime the new cases before you resized them? If you did you will need to remove the decapping pin from your resizing/decapping die. Not the one that expands (bells) the case mouth. Or you can just load and fire those as they are. You don't need to remove the decapping pin from the expander die as it doesn't have one. Only the resizing die has a decapping pin.

Next....?

 

[Sheldon]

I don't bother with cleaning my pistol primer pockets. I think most don't as well.

Some will say you need to resize even new brass as it may have been deformed during shipping. I have gone without doing so with no problems, but it just depend on whether your cases were damaged or not. You can back the decapper off so that it will not knock the new primers out and still use the sizer die to "size" the cases.....or expand them in your case. What caliber is it and what brand dies are they that have the decapper with the belling die??

 

[Jeremae]

Just returned to reloading after almost 30 years.

The primer pocket (outside of the case) should not need cleaning in most instances, unless you have trouble seating the primer or it falls out.

Yes you can back the de-cap rod out of the die and just size.

 

[dakotasin]

Do I need to clean out the primer pockets with a brush or will they clean out during tumbling?

i clean rifle primer pockets, but don't get too excited about handguns. and to answer your question, they will not come clean during tumbling.

I have new brass, I primed it. Can I just remove the primer remover from the expander die and use it in this condition to expand the casings?

on my new brass for pistol, i don't size it (which is where your primer removal takes place). just bell it a bit, and you're fine.

 

[Snagglepuss]

Sheldon, I may have mixed up the dies in my question. They are RCBS dies. I will be reloading, .357, .45acp, .44 mag., and 10mm.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[P0832177]

Decapping before tumbling your brass may or may not clean the primer pocket, it depends on the make of brass and the type of tumbling media used. For my use I clean my 223 rifle brass with primer pocket uniformer in lieu of a brush. I clean my 308 brass using an ultrasonic cleaner, and that method cleans the brass to darn near new looks! I have not ever cleaned handgun primer pockets. I see no need. Then again I load on a Dillon 550, so my handgun reloading is retrieve clean stored brass, load brass, store loaded ammo, shoot up loaded ammo, and retrieve brass for cleaning in the future.


Regular pistol dies consist of three dies.
#1 Die is size die and decapping die
#2 Die is expander or belling die
#3 Die is Seater/Combo Crimp die

It is possible to crimp and seat in one pass, but they are two seperate and distinct operations in my book. So your best path is to seat the bullets to the correct OAL, and then crimp the bullet. Autoloaders have taper crimp vs the roll crimp for the revolvers. Most revolver bullets have cannalure for use as a crimping groove!

 

[Ol` Joe]

A quick twist with a small screwdriver will remove scale from the pockets.

I don`t bother with handgun brass but use a RCBS case prep machine with my rifle cases.

 

[Rico567]

I clean rifle primer pockets, never pistol. I tumble them with the primers still in, then run them (.45ACP, .40 S&W, .45 Colt, .38/.357) right through my Dillon 650. Primers seat properly, ammo works fine, and the primer decapping pin removes any grains of the media that might remain in the flash hole. I admit that there may be special applications for pistol ammo requiring extreme accuracy where cleaning the primer pocket might be of some value, but not for my general-purpose shooting.

 

[Nhsport]

With pistol cases I generally do not bother with the pockets but be carefull that tumbleing media isn't jammed in the flash hole. If I have a batch of cases I am haveing trouble seating primers I will clean the whole batch. I also take the time with any ammo I plan on useing for hunting or matches. All my rifle ammo gets the full treatment.

 

[Byron]

I have been reloading about 35 years. I use a RCBS primer pocket cleaner brush for small and large primer pockets. I clean all primer pockets for handguns and rifles after decapping. The possibility of a high primer is avoided that may cause a slam fire or in a revolver a binding primer. I have witnessed a slam fire on what was a nice Gold Cup. No one was hurt.This extra time is well worth the safety. Byron

 

[The Bushmaster]

Thank you Byron...Well said.