lee safety prime

[mitchell38]

this primes on the press after the old primer is removed,but the primer pocket is never cleaned with this system,do you not need to clean it?

[LDBennett]

This is the same if you load progressively. There are tons of Dillon, Hornady, RCBS progressive press owners that do not clean out the primer pocket, especially on handgun rounds. In 25+ years of reloading I have yet to clean a primer pocket on any of my many, multiple loaded handgun cartridges.

I also don't always clean out the rifle primer pockets either (they too can get loaded progressively). But if I determine the lot of rifle cases needs trimming I do it then (I NEVER trim handgun cartridge case).

Cleaning primer pockets is nice but not always necessary.

LDBennett

[howlnmad]

It's like trimming pistol brass.

[PanhandlePop]

I'm with the previous. Been loading pistol cartridges for 30+ years and never cleaned a primer pocket. Never intend to.

[soundguy]

do they not get grungy like a rifle cartridge? I have seen some pockets so grungy that it is difficult to hand prime.. makes me worry about detonating the primer from force... cleant he pockets and then they go in normall..

[gdmoody]

I have cleaned a few primer pockets just to see what it was like but it seemed so unnecessary that I quit doing it. Those few that I did clean was with the Lyman case prep center I bought for myself last Christmas!! I just wanted to "play" with it!!!

[whip]

Like L D said I have never cleaned handgun ammo primer pockets. But rifle ammo I normally clean them every time. I resize deprime, then clean brass in a tumbler then clean rifle primer pockets next.

[mitchell38]

i guess ive been wasting my time then,i have a couple hundred more range pick ups and i will clean them like i did the other 300 so i know they are all the same

[LDBennett]

A couple of things:

I don't clean pistol case primer pockets...ever. Some of my cases are 25 years old and reloaded many times and the primer pockets never cleaned. I have never had a problem re-priming.

When I have a "lot" (say 100 or so in the same caliber, I tend to organize my reloading in lots) of rifle brass that needs reloading, I take a few samples and size them as a test. If any of those need trimming the whole lot gets sized and then trimmed. I single stage size and de-prime on my Dillon RL550B and then trim them to size. Since trimming requires chamfering and de-buring the case mouth and the the primer pocket is empty, I use my RCBS case preparation station to do that and to clean the primer pockets. I usually get several reloads before I have to trim almost any rifle cartridge so I DO clean rifle primer pockets but only because they are already in my hand when I chamfer and de-bur them. The primer pocket brush is spinning right beside the chamfer and de-bur tool so why not?

I also NEVER clean de-primed cases in my vibratory cleaner. One time years ago when I did, I had a clump of the liquid polish plus corn cob media get stuck in the primer flash hole of one case. It blocked the primer pocket flash hole, unknown to me, and caused the bullet to travel into the barrel and stop in the barrel, not exiting. The primer created enough pressure to push the bullet out of the case and into the barrel but not enough spark to ignite the powder. My then high school age son was shooting the gun. Fortunately he stopped and got me. If he had continued to shoot he might have gotten hurt or the barrel bulged. Since then I only clean cases with the spent primer still them. If any media lodges in the primer pocket then the de-priming pin of the sizer die pushes it out.

LDBennett

[soundguy]

i have a lyman prep station.. and use a flash hole leaner too.. very good for the odd piece that makes it to the pocket

[Twicepop]

Unless you are shooting a bench rest or match grade rifle, you probably will never notice any difference in accuracy. I do it with most all my cases, rifle and pistol. I use a Lyman power case trimmer that has a powered primer pocket brush on the opposite end of the trimming operation that only takes a second or two to give the primer pocket a quick motorized brushing, then on to the trimming operation. I also do this after sizing my cases and before putting them into the tumbler. Maybe it's not necessary, but it also give me an additional chance to inspect the cases for any damage.

those who beat their guns into plowshares, will plow for those who didn't

[soundguy]

deffinately a good time to inspect cases while handling them near the trim operation.

i trim then case prep mine..