Primer Pocket Cleaning. Which method?

[k4swb]

no one has ever shown that cleaning primer pockets does a thing to improve accuracy or reliability.

I have proven it to myself that cleaning the primer pockets does indeed help in the reliability and ease of primer seating. Can in no way be detrimental to accuracy.

 

[ranger335v]

"...but no one has ever shown that cleaning primer pockets does a thing to improve accuracy or reliability. "

"I think there's a whole lot of benchrest shooters that will disagree with you."

Doubt it, but I know many of them do it. Okay, so do I. But not because we have any "proof" it helps, we just know it doesn't hurt and it MAY help... a little...occasionally. And while the possiblity of trimming groups by .01 MOA thou IS hopeful/helpful for BR competitors it doest mean a thing to the rest of us so your comment is meaningless in the context of the question.

 

[Canuck-IL]

stainless steel pins in a tumbler? What kind/brand of tumbler? Like a rock polishing tumbler? This sounds interesting...

There are several articles around the web ... here's one with a few pics
http://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/reloading/brass-cleaning-with-stainless-media/

It works well, media lasts forever, no dust, have to dry out the cases and reclaim the odd pin that sticks in a wet case but overall, I like the approach. Pins vary in size but .041 * .25 long seems a popular size. You can find them for half the price mentioned in the linked article.

The standard tumbler is probably the Thumler Model B - 15 #s max load ... Lortone also makes some heavy duty models that are supposed to be pretty good. The Thumler is $180 at Cabela's.
/B

 

[788Ham]

rc,

Thanks for the tip Boss, I'm off to get a couple in the morning, I knew that Dremel had better uses!!

 

[gamestalker]

I totally forgot in my first reply why I find it necessary to work with nicely tumbled brass. It is rather easy to mis-read pressure signs and also easier to miss the first stages of fractures, separations, and general deformations or problems that might other wise be over looked. I noticed others addressed the primer pocket cleaning quite well, but, I still feel it important to reiterate one of the primary reasons why myself, and a good number of others hand load, which is directly associated with how we treat the brass. There are plenty of good reasons to hand load, and for many it is to load as many rounds, as quickly, and as inexpensively as possible, why not. But for myself I have my own reasons which begin with quality custom ammunition that exceeds anything offered in a factory produced round. Second to that is economics, which I consider to be the icing on the cake. I guess I consider economics to simply be a benefit more than a reason for hand loading.

 

[popper]

I tried the HF ultrasonic, forget it. I bought some .40 once-fired that evidently had been ultrasonically cleaned. I punched the primer out and the pocket was absolutely CLEAN.
Just have to find the right unit.

 

[USSR]

However a pocket uniformer does , in fact, make an excellent primer pocket cleaner.

Yep, kills two birds with one stone.

Don

 

[amlevin]

The Stainless Steel Pins for tumbler media work great. I recently bought 5# of pins for use in my RCBS Sidewinder. A teaspoon of Dawn, 1/4 tsp of Lemi-shine (from Wal-Mart) and 1/2 gallon of water cleans a load of brass. It does take a while, about 4-5 hours depending on quality of brass going in. This process even cleans the crustiest military brass and makes it look like it just ran off the end of the production line.

The "pin" process doesn't shine the brass like jewelry but it is clean and bright. Primer pockets and the INSIDE of the case are clean, totally free of any carbon from the previous firing.

When the tumbler shuts off I merely pour the brass, pin, and solution into the case/media separator and separate just like with dry media. Pour off the dirty solution, replace the pins in the tumbler and get ready for another batch.

As for drying, I just leave the brass in a box lined with a couple layers of paper towel. Shake it a couple of times and let dry overnight. Once the brass has been "processed" once with primer pocket uniforming, neck turning, and flash hole deburring, it's only a matter of tumbling, inspecting, trimming if necessary and then reloading.

It's like shooting a handload that is made with new brass, everytime. Cases actually look better than those of most factory loaded ammo.

No more dust and lead contamination worries. Lifetime media so no more searching for a good deal on lizzard litter or ground corncob in smaller than 50# bags.

Only downside is that it doesn't work in a vibrating case cleaner/polisher. I'll keep mine for any cases I want to polish with a "jewelry like finish".

 

[wyobruce]

I guess Im the OCD one here. I tumble my brass to get it clean, decap and size, tumble again, clean the primer pocket (rcbs brush and my dremel), steel wool the neck and shoulder if "needed", tumble again, paperclip to clear the flash hole of media, prime, charge, seat the bullet......

several reloadings, and/or the occasional use of "non premium" primers can leave fouling along the wall of the primer pocket which can affect the seating of the primer, and thus the consistancy of ignition......