Primer Pockets (Case Prep)

Ammunition & Reloading
1

How much attention do you put into primer pocket prep?

In every aspect of reloading, it is easy to get lost in the weeds with the minutiae.

What is the minimum acceptable level of pocket prep, do they need to be squeaky clean, does every crumb of soot need to be cleaned out. Do all pockets need to be uniformed and scraped clean or is a "pretty clean pocket still acceptable?

What say you?

2

Most people just leave the old primer in until reloading. I have found that they can still have water in there from cleaning so I do decap every piece of brass before cleaning. I have also seen enough buildup in the primer pocket to stop the primer from going all the way in. Again…stainless steel pins for the win. All cases come out better than new. For Nato type rounds with crimped pockets is is always better to decap and swage the pocket before loading as it will become a nightmare when you run them through the press with prepping them first.

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3

Dry tumbling pistol brass, I never bothered to look at the primer pocket. It gets cleaned with the old primer in place and gets deprimed immediately before the new primer is seated on the press.

For wet tumbling with SS pins, I manually deprime first and the pins make the primer squeaky clean.

I don’t reload rifle ammo for accuracy so haven’t looked into whether it makes a difference how clean the primer pocket is.

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4

And definitely go to Ballistics Tools and buy their Large and small Primer go-no go tools. A quick check with this tool tells you everything you need to know.

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5

I use an RCBS primer pocket brush chucked in my low speed dremel to clean the primer pockets.
Makes them clean enough for govt work!

And the stud from the RCBS swaging set tells me whether that particular piece of brass needs swaging.
I was taught that it’s better to MOVE brass then to REMOVE it.

6

https://ballistictools.com/store/original

7

I reload a lot I picked up a rcbs station for cleaning pockets it’s fast and easy

Especially on hornady brass from factory loaded ammo

There primer pockets are a nightmare when it comes to seating new primers ,the funny part is there factory new brass I don’t have this issue

Personally I clean all my pockets for rifle I take my time reloading to be fairly consistent

When it comes to pistol I load four diff cals on Dillon square deal Bs i let it rip half the time I don’t even tumble my pistol brass but that is due to when I load hand gun ammo it’s usually a fare amount quantity wise