By John Kleespies
Whether or not to clean the primer pocket is a point of contention for some reloaders. I do it… rarely. Here’s my criteria.
Revolvers are infamous for displaying a Failure to Fire (FTF) quirk where the primers are not seated 100% in the pocket, ostensibly due to fouling, and the hammer pushes the primer slightly forward when struck. Add this to some slop in the chamber that causes the entire cartridge to shift forward, and the hammer can theoretically be robbed of enough power to make the primer go bang. Is this a myth? Alas, I have experienced revolver FTF’s and cleaning the primer pockets proved to be the solution. For what it’s worth, if I were shooting a revolver for competition, hunting, or self-defense, I would clean the pocket. For all other scenarios, then it’s not worth my time.
If I’m shooting autoloading pistol cartridges, then I don’t bother cleaning the pockets, unless it’s an extraordinary situation, like for home-defense loads that will be used to protect my family. The chamber will hold the cartridge securely in place, and I’ve never experienced an FTF that I could attribute to a shifting primer, like the revolver situation, above.
If I’m loading rifle in volume—for instance, .223rem for an AR—then the answer is the same as for autoloading pistol cartridges.
For precision rifle, on the other hand, I clean the pockets because this “extra step” isn’t really an extra step, given how I make my precision brass.
You see, I neck size so that my precision loads utilize brass that is fire-formed to my bolt-action’s chamber. Since my neck sizer doesn’t deprime – which would be the case if I used a full-length sizing die – I have no choice but to separately run my precision brass through a deprimer. So, I simply deprime my dirty brass first, and then I wet tumble, thus cleaning the primer pocket “by happenstance.” Because it’s not adding any special steps to do it this way, then why not?
Seeing those shiny pockets warms my heart. This, in turn, makes me think that my precision rounds might shoot better… and maybe that’s enough to make me shoot better.
