Cleaning brass and primer pocket

[e-mishka]

Hello guys,

im just starting out with reloading and I have a couple of rookie qwestions:

1. Is it necessary to clean pistol brass in a tumbler (9mm,.45)?

2. Cleaning primer pockets?

[a.roberts]

1) Clean brass will let your dies last longer. Always a good thing.

2) No.

[JThompson]

Hello guys,

im just starting out with reloading and I have a couple of rookie qwestions:

1. Is it necessary to clean pistol brass in a tumbler (9mm,.45)?

2. Cleaning primer pockets?

1) Yes for no other reason then to get the nasty stuff out/off of it.

2)nope

[GrumpyOne]

Hello guys,

im just starting out with reloading and I have a couple of rookie qwestions:

1. Is it necessary to clean pistol brass in a tumbler (9mm,.45)?

2. Cleaning primer pockets?

1. Yes...

2. No

[Youngeyes]

1. Yep

2. Nope

As Grumpyone always says,"Shiny brass is happy brass."

[OUshooter]

I have to concur with the others. Clean brass is happy brass. As long as the flash hole is clear and the primer fully seats, then primer pocket cleanliness is nothing to worry about.

I forgot to add one thing. When it comes to tumbling if you are going to use a case feeder stay away from dry media. Ask me how I know.......

Edited July 30, 2011 by OUshooter

[fudd]

OK, OUshooter

How due you know? I have a Dillon 650 not put together yet with case feeder. If not dry media, then what?

[VinceU1]

1) Clean brass is also easier to find on the ground.

2) Doesn't need to be clean.

And as to what to use, "I love the smell of Lemishine in the morning."

Edited July 30, 2011 by VinceU1

[buckaroo45]

1. Clean brass is happy brass

2. Only caveat for clean primer pockets is if you shoot revo w/ a serious trigger job it can be difficult to seat those Federal primers below flush. One click and you're toast in revolver. Gotta go bang everytime.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Changing over to shooting revolver is the natural evolution of things, like learning to walk upright."

D.H. Busching

[MemphisMechanic]

Almost all of us use dry meadia, OUshooter. And lots of us are running 650s with casefeeders. Working great for me.

Make sure you sift the hell out of it it (I use Cabela's rotary media separator) and aside from having a coupl of 12ga shotshells taped under the holes in the casefeeder to catch the dust... it's never given me an issue.

[wirecounter]

Hello guys,

im just starting out with reloading and I have a couple of rookie qwestions:

1. Is it necessary to clean pistol brass in a tumbler (9mm,.45)?

2. Cleaning primer pockets?

1. Yes.

2. No, but i keep a can of compressed air to blast out shavings from the primer seater from time to time.

[OUshooter]

OK, OUshooter

How due you know? I have a Dillon 650 not put together yet with case feeder. If not dry media, then what?

Seems like no matter how much I sift there are always a few kernels of media that make their way into the feeder tube, or rain down onto the shell plate and cause issues.

Since I got a liquid system figured out, I threw out all my corncob and walnut. I can process a lot more brass in less time.

[theycallmeingot]

cleaning primer pockets becomes necessary on heavily reloaded brass, if you care about seating them properly and getting booms instead of clicks. i clean the pockets on my brass about twice a year, when a good portion of them won't let a primer seat well. i shoot .45, so i get over 20 reloads per brass. stuff tends to gunk up in the pockets.

[wide45]

cleaning primer pockets becomes necessary on heavily reloaded brass, if you care about seating them properly and getting booms instead of clicks. i clean the pockets on my brass about twice a year, when a good portion of them won't let a primer seat well. i shoot .45, so i get over 20 reloads per brass. stuff tends to gunk up in the pockets.

Never saw that.

My experience was that when you fired a round, it might blow out all the old crud, and deposit a new layer, but would never build up.

A case that had been fired once, would have no more primer residue than one that had been fired 20 times.

[theycallmeingot]

cleaning primer pockets becomes necessary on heavily reloaded brass, if you care about seating them properly and getting booms instead of clicks. i clean the pockets on my brass about twice a year, when a good portion of them won't let a primer seat well. i shoot .45, so i get over 20 reloads per brass. stuff tends to gunk up in the pockets.

Never saw that.

My experience was that when you fired a round, it might blow out all the old crud, and deposit a new layer, but would never build up.

A case that had been fired once, would have no more primer residue than one that had been fired 20 times.

my experience is different. over time, my primers seat shallower and harder each time with my 550, allowing even more room for crud to build up. the crud doesn't just blow out. eventually the primers will not seat fully. i have to end up scraping out the corners of the pocket: the only part of the pocket that really has any substantial buildup. just did it a week ago, and the 400 rounds i've loaded since then, the primers have all slid in blow flush with little effort, like they're supposed to.

if you're in the habit of losing your brass before you get it loaded 20 times, however, this point is pretty much moot.

[e-mishka]

What tumbler/media to use for cleaning brass?

Should I get new/used, what brand have a best warranty?

[theycallmeingot]

What tumbler/media to use for cleaning brass?

Should I get new/used, what brand have a best warranty?

different strokes for different folks. i use walnut with a shot of mineral spirits, and i like it enough not to need to try anything else.

i have some offbrand blue tumbler. i can't remember the name right now. works perfectly fine. if i could do it over, i would have bought dillon, just because their customer service is so spectacular, and i try to buy as much from them as possible. but my current cheap tumbler has had no issues yet.

[g56]

cleaning primer pockets becomes necessary on heavily reloaded brass, if you care about seating them properly and getting booms instead of clicks. i clean the pockets on my brass about twice a year, when a good portion of them won't let a primer seat well. i shoot .45, so i get over 20 reloads per brass. stuff tends to gunk up in the pockets.

I've got over 100,000 rounds on my Dillon 550, about 90% of that is 38 special, loaded for competition and practice when I was still competing actively in PPC in the Master class, using a custom PPC revolver with the springs pretty light, the ONLY primers that will work in that revolver are Federals, if I try to shoot Winchester primers in that revolver I get about a 50% misfire rate, so the loads for that revolver HAVE TO BE RIGHT, EVERY TIME. Misfires are unacceptable, high primers will bind up the cylinder and are unacceptable. During match season I was loading and shooting 800 to 1,000 rounds a week for practice. I NEVER* cleaned a primer pocket, some of those cases were probably reloaded 100 times, the match loads are very easy on the brass. Primer pockets don't accumulate residue, you will have no more residue left in the primer pocket after its been reloaded 100 times than you will the first time its fired. Its no more difficult to seat a primer in that case after many reloadings than it will be the first time. Primer pocket build up is an old wives tale, there is absolutely no evidence of it happening, it doesn't affect seating a new primer, and it doesn't affect accuracy at normal pistol distances.

*When I say never, it means that when I got the Dillon I quickly found out it was a complete waste of time, so never means starting in 1985 when I got my Dillon.

[theycallmeingot]

removed.

Edited August 1, 2011 by theycallmeingot

[astephenson]

Almost all of us use dry meadia, OUshooter. And lots of us are running 650s with casefeeders. Working great for me.

Make sure you sift the hell out of it it (I use Cabela's rotary media separator) and aside from having a coupl of 12ga shotshells taped under the holes in the casefeeder to catch the dust... it's never given me an issue.

This sums it up for me, too.

To answer the OP's original question (again...)

1. Affirmative

2. Negative

[wirecounter]

What tumbler/media to use for cleaning brass?

Should I get new/used, what brand have a best warranty?

Grainger sells 40 pounds of corncob media for around $25.00. It is listed under "blasting media." They have two different sizes/grits, smaller number (grit) = larger media size.