Primer pockets: How clean? Ream, uniform, or swage?

May 02, 2020, 04:23 PM

Hey all-

What's your method re: primer pockets? Tumble brass before or after primer removal? (I wet tumble with SS pins).
Brush the pocket till some gunk is gone or till it shines like new brass?
Swage or ream or uniform?

And what the hell do we do with flash holes after we buy the "flash hole uniform tool"? Is it just for removing hanging chads or are we smoothing it out? Do you toss brass with larger/oval holes?

I have been trimming and chamfering brass for the last couple of days and it's making me more and more detail obsessed

Bruce

"The designer of the gun had clearly not been instructed to beat about the bush. 'Make it evil,' he'd been told. 'Make it totally clear that this gun has a right end and a wrong end. Make it totally clear to anyone standing at the wrong end that things are going badly for them. If that means sticking all sort of spikes and prongs and blackened bits all over it then so be it. This is not a gun for hanging over the fireplace or sticking in the umbrella stand, it is a gun for going out and making people miserable with." -Douglas Adams

“It is just as difficult and dangerous to try to free a people that wants to remain servile as it is to try to enslave a people that wants to remain free."
-Niccolo Machiavelli

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all. -Mencken

May 02, 2020, 06:00 PM

smschulz

Removing the primer is my first step.
Then I pocket prep.
I have a Dillon Swage but prefer to ream for accuracy and precision.
Flash holes redone as needed ~ you usually can visually check fairly easily.
Then I wet tumble with SS.
Anything massively out of whack that can be fixed is tossed.
FWIW, trimming is way down the assembly line.
I use a series of Husky bins in a stack that I label for different stages.
That way I can do certain part and just move it down the bin until finished.
Easier to keep track of that way.

May 02, 2020, 06:59 PM

sourdough44

I don’t see the cartridge mentioned? I’m more ‘as needed’ with primer pockets. Of course with crimped primers, one has to swage it out, I use a hand tool.

With casual shooting, one would pick up an issue if you started having misfires, I don’t. My loads are mostly handgun, prairie dogging, or hunting loads. Can’t hardly remember the last ‘misfire’.

I do look, make sure it’s clear, then set the case upside down before priming.

Even the simple act of priming, there’s a ‘feel’ to it. If the primer isn’t fully seated, that also can cause problems.

The brass itself can dictate, type, number of firings, history, etc.. Even when using the ‘uniformed’ tool, not much is uniformed.

May 02, 2020, 07:33 PM

RNshooter

This is .308 brass. Federal Gold Medal Match, once fired. I cleaned it, deprimed it, then trimmed it to 2.005, then chamfered and cleaned primer pockets with the Trim Mate power kit.

Bruce

May 03, 2020, 05:34 AM

sourdough44

Kinda obvious, but one doing ‘precision rifle’ could very well include more steps than the casual, high round, pistol reloader.

I remember a meet with a gunsmith years ago, he was also somewhat into precision rifle shooting. At the time, most of my reloading was casual handgun & prairie dogging ammo.

He asked me to go over my steps to reload a 223 case. When done he mentioned that I left out a few, most to do with primer pocket attention.

Again, even after trips to dog town, I don’t remember having any duds.

May 03, 2020, 06:55 AM

El Cid 92

A lot depends on the caliber and brass..

6Dasher, 6.5 Creedmoor Competition - deprime, stainless tumble, inspect. If there is residual then I use a RCBS pocket uniformer. Two twists and move on.

223 or 308 - deprime, stainless tumble, inspect. If there is a crimp, chamfer to remove and hit with uniformer.

I don't spend a lot of time or effort on the primer end of the cartridge. It is the least critical component of the process.

I routinely have SD of 3-5 on my competition brass.

Andrew

Duty is the sublimest word in the English Language - Gen Robert E Lee.

May 04, 2020, 09:29 AM

Haveme1or2

I enjoy bench rest competition shooting 100 - 1000.
I have match rifles.
To answer the primer pocket cleaning question. I use an rcb wire brush on a electric screwdriver. I'm thinking a prep station would sure be nice but I've done really well as I'm doing.
I buy lapua brass it's always been perfect but chads are possible so i lightly spin a flash hole tool both sides.
I've heard of some cheaper cases missing the punch and there was no hole so it's good to check.
I do allot more on brass, primer, bullet prep ... But that's another thread.

May 06, 2020, 11:39 AM

RNshooter

quote:
Originally posted by offgrid:
Suggest to let the target show you what works.

Offgrid- While I have no doubt you are correct, I am at the learning stage of eliminating variables, not interpreting them. I humbly submit that I would have no clue as to which what causing what, on the target.

But, I will, later!

Bruce

May 08, 2020, 01:40 PM

NikonUser

As I explain in my stickied thread, I do as little as possible to the primer pocket. The virgin brass I buy, Lapua, has drilled flash holes, no hanging chads to remove. When I loaded with Winchester, I would knock off the chad from the punch from inside the case only once.

I do not like to insert anything but a primer in the pocket as it will get too big soon enough.

I did not read where you actually resize the case, but I left the depriming pin in my resizing dies and I deprime the case during the resizing operation. Then I throw the cases in rotary tumbler for a few hours. After that, it's trim/chamfer/deburr and ready to prime and load.

I don't worry about a little dirt left in the pocket.

May 08, 2020, 02:18 PM

RNshooter

Foe the dirtier cases, I was using the universal decapping die to deprime. I am using the resizing die to deprime, now. Trimming after.
I have mostly Federal GMM brass that was fired once in this rifle along with a few Lake City from some M118LR that shot well. I have a flash hole deburring tool arriving today as a number of flash holes are kind of ugly.
The Lapua brass is very pretty. I won't do anything to that. As a matter of fact, the Lapua brass will sit there until I have a few more cycles of loading and firing the brass that I am currently using.
I will make my mistakes on the less pricey stuff and apply the lessons to the good stuff.

Bruce