Dirty primer pockets and sonic cleaner

[Betarider]

Also perfected my ultra sonic cleaning regimen using lemishine and a little dishsoap A little Lemishine goes a long long way. I keep the batches to under 75. Run them for 45 mins to an hour. Put them in a separate dish inside the sonic so I can just dump the water and rinse them.
As someone else mentioned, I also just blow the water out with compressor and let them air. Dry. I used to use distilled to rinse but once you get most of the water out, any potential deposits are minimized. I never have any powder residue left in the pockets.

75 cases? My Hornady sonic clean holds 25 cases in 416 Barrett,but at that rate only 20 will be clean enough to pass the other 5 are not clean enough, usually the primer pockets. If I only put 20 in to start with,they all come out clean.
After about 3 sets of 20 cases I have to replace the whole fluid to get the same cleaning effect as well
Just what I have seen in two years of use and all I need for my shooting.

 

[misterc01]

Cleaning primer pockets, why? It's a waste of time and does nothing to improve accuracy in any way.

After takign the time to uniform them, might as well keep it clean.

 

[misterc01]

Yes, this is my experience precisely with Lemi-Shine. Just a little works fantastic, and too much causes discoloration.

Vettepilot

With a level 1 tsp Lemishine and a "drop" of dawn in the ultrasonice - the longest I run it is 8 minutes. No rose or off-colored brass.

 

[Huntz]

Cleaning primer pockets is a useless task unless you just like the looks of a clean pocket.It serves no purpose.

 

[bpcrshooter]

primer pockets down, you can only put in maybe 15 308's. put them in the center of the cleaner, doent take long you can almost sit there and wait for it, maybe 3-5 min. Pins would be your best but, you use what ya have right! I used to clean my BPCR cases this way an they came out looking new in the primer pockets

 

[milo-2]

I have a sonic cleaner, 6 pucks, 340 watts, what I learned, with my mix of Alconox and Citronox, if your pockets are clean, your necks are spotless also, and dry, brass is void of any lubricating properties. You do not want to be there.
I will never sonic brass again, unless I am just cleaning for recycling purposes.

 

[Betarider]

I have a sonic cleaner, 6 pucks, 340 watts, what I learned, with my mix of Alconox and Citronox, if your pockets are clean, your necks are spotless also, and dry, brass is void of any lubricating properties. You do not want to be there.
I will never sonic brass again, unless I am just cleaning for recycling purposes.

Funny thing with this reloading format Some care less about a clean primer pockets and others can't stand it. I have a thing about putting dirty brass in a die and expecting perfect performance. With the Hornady one shot there's a film that helps control oxidation. Not sure if it helps during sizing but I know that there's no case with a goubber on it going to mess every case that comes to the die after it.

 

[Rardoin]

Funny thing with this reloading format Some care less about a clean primer pockets and others can't stand it. I have a thing about putting dirty brass in a die and expecting perfect performance. With the Hornady one shot there's a film that helps control oxidation. Not sure if it helps during sizing but I know that there's no case with a goubber on it going to mess every case that comes to the die after it.

I am not in the shiny brass camp but we are in agreement on not running dirty brass into my sizing dies. I wash fired brass in water and a little Dawn in a bucket for a minute or so then dry, lube and size. I don't worry about my primer pockets and have shot great scores at 600-1000yds with cases fired well over ten times without touching the pockets. I used to uniform every pocket and clean them every firing. When loading up to 400+ rounds for big matches every unnecessary step I can eliminate frees up a lot of time. No harm is done by cleaning every case and pocket and it does not add much to a regimen if you are loading smaller numbers of cartridges. My match loading process is MUCH faster in the past couple of years after testing what makes a significant measurable difference and what cannot be reliably measured and focusing on the things I proved out that mattered.

 

[Blackhawk]

Dirty brass goes hand in hand with dirty primer pockets
Here are some points to ponder:

An unclean primer pocket can lead to erratic primer ignition, a cartridge not completely seated in the chamber
, hard closing of the bolt, brass being slammed back against the bolt face upon ignition, marring of the cartridge head against the bolt face, stuck case, uneven pressure, blown primers, just to mention a few possibilities.
Not to mention the problems caused in the revolver style of handguns.
Cylinders refusing to index in time, or even index at all. In single-action revolvers unable to fully close the loading gate, or unable to open it at all.
All because the primer pocket was dirty and did not allow the primer to fully sea to the correct depth of .-003" below flush.
It's such a simple task, so I pose this question to you.
When handloading who wouldn't want to produce the best most accurate, and most reliable ammunition possible?
I know that I certainly do!
To that end I myself will take no shortcuts.
So just remember that that poor guy on the shooting bench who is having a lousy day because of the shortcuts that he used in order to just throw some ammunition together haphazard and expect it to function correctly.
Well, that guy just could be you.
Then think about how you would feel.
Of course, it is all up to you in how you assemble your hand loads.
PS: I have been at my range and seen this happen on more than one occasion.

 

[Rardoin]

Sorry Blackhawk, many of the things you would attribute to dirty primer pockets are not accurate. Poorly seated primers...yes on some you mentioned. I have never had dirty primer pockets not allow proper seating of primers whether using an RCBS or other more expensive hand primers. I have never have seen evidence of erratic ignition, a round not seating completely in the chamber, brass being slammed back against the bolt, marring of the case head, stuck cases, blown primers etc.. A poorly seated and proud primer will cause issues but unless you have an anvil remaining in the pocket the usual residue does no harm. I don't mean to be a contrarian but I also do not want inaccuracies to stand.

Robin

 

[Upsidedownjack]

Being kinda "old school" I still use a thumblers tumbler. rouged walnut and Corn cob. Clean primer pockets and necks with brush and then, clean the "flash hole "inside". Depending on the brash, I might swag the primer pockets. Load em up and shoot. After the first time doing all of this, a lot of these things do not need to be done again! Never worried about my brass looking like new, but did want it CLEAN!
just me,

 

[Aled24]

So, clean pockets with tool before using the sonic cleaner? Sounds better than waiting for things to dry and then cleaning with a tool.

It is interesting that some of the pockets come out spotless and others are pretty gunked up when doing the way I've been doing it: sonic clean and then clean if needed after dry.

Hi I will put the sonic cleaner on for 6 min 3 times giving the basket a good shake inbetween cycles.

 

[Blackhawk]

Sorry Blackhawk, many of the things you would attribute to dirty primer pockets are not accurate. Poorly seated primers...yes on some you mentioned. I have never had dirty primer pockets not allow proper seating of primers whether using an RCBS or other more expensive hand primers. I have never have seen evidence of erratic ignition, a round not seating completely in the chamber, brass being slammed back against the bolt, marring of the case head, stuck cases, blown primers etc.. A poorly seated and proud primer will cause issues but unless you have an anvil remaining in the pocket the usual residue does no harm. I don't mean to be a contrarian but I also do not want inaccuracies to stand.

Robin

Sir, I pose these questions to you:
How many revolvers have you shot?
You have never ever had a cylinder not index correctly?
I have personally witnessed a revolvers cylinder lock up so completely that the handgun needed the attention of a gunsmith, and he could neither index, nor remove the cylinder.
Ultimately it was sent back to the manufacturer and even then the weapon needed to be scrapped.
All this was attributed to a primer that was not seated correctly and the owner of this revolver forcing the cylinder to index
after feeling resistance. The caliber, in this case, was .454 Casull, and yes indeed they were carelessly assembled reloads.
After looking at his reloads you could see that they indicated primers that were incorrectly seated, and this was truly a disaster that could have been prevented.
You would not know about erratic ignition unless you
1) you were chronograhing your load when it happened!
2) examined your primer pockets after discharging around that just felt different than the rest?
All of what I have stated, I have seen take place as an NRA certified RSO however I appreciate your input on this matter.
Thank You very much for taking the time to reply!
That is the beauty of this web site, and that is that everyone has a free voice and is entitled to his/her opinion.

 

[Rardoin]

Blackhawk, I am in complete agreement that poorly seated primers will cause some of the issues you described in your first post...no doubt. I have not found that primer pocket fouling in rifle cases interfere with proper seating of a primer. I have never loaded my own pistol ammunition so my experience is only with rifle ammunition.

Respectfully,

Robin