What did you do in the reloading room recently?

andrew1220 said:
What caliber?
I've never cleaned primer pockets, ever. That goes for pistol and rifle. I'm not a PRS shooter who shoots 1000+ yards and wants the best possible accuracy - not sure if cleaning primer pockets increases accuracy?....Someone else like @akma @Mountain @PatMcD @northny @mac1911 might be able to chime in on that.

Pistol brass just gets tumbled clean and onto the press. No primer pocket cleaning.

Rifle brass gets tumbled clean, resized/deprimed, and then tumbled again to remove the lube. No primer pocket cleaning.

For pistol, there's absolutely no reason to have spotless brass inside and out - just clean enough on the outside to prevent damaging your dies. For rifle brass I don't know - depends on what you're shooting? My scoped K31 rifle can shoot half inch groups at 100 yards with brass that has just been tumbled clean with no primer pocket cleaning so I must be doing something right? [laugh] YMMV.
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I dont even look for a clean spot on my shirt when I clean my rifle brass.
 
exojam said:
My question was mainly concerning 9 and 10mm handgun shells.

But I find it interesting that you do not clean the primer pockets Andrew.

I have attached two photos of some 9 that I cleaned. One I have cleaned the primer pocket and the other I have not. You would really put a new primer in a pocket that looks like the uncleaned one?

At least I am glad I do not need to worry about the inside part I was enquiring about.

View attachment 349559View attachment 349560
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I will say for the most part clean pockets are probably the last thing to worry about for accuracy. Are you uniforming those flash holes also?
Its really a mind set. If you think clean pockets help then do it.
 
I've been loading some N110 357 magnum loads trying to adapt to the way it meters in my powder drop. If I just force the drop to cut through sticks that offer resistance, it seems to drop 14.0, 14.1, or 14.2 grains when I have it set to drop 14.2 grains most of the time. On rare occasions, 13.9 or 14.3. Today I plan to try the same except when I feel resistance, dump that charge back in the hopper and only "accept" the smooth drops. I'd tried backing off and trying to finesse it through rather than force it. That doesn't improve consistency. Maybe I'll start using the baffle, which I'd never bothered with before.
 
84ta406 said:
What's a decent price? I've been seeing 55gr for 9-10 cents, is that ok?
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If you bought the bulk 6000 count cases I think you could get them for like 7 cents or so? But that ship has sailed now with the panic buying. I can't find any cheaper than 9-10 cents. I think I paid about 8 cents or so for 2k a few years ago.

Given the circumstances and increased price and decreased availability of 223 ammo, paying 9-10 cents for bullets probably isn't bad. It's still cheaper than buying new 223 ammo now.
 
meh said:
I plan to try the same except when I feel resistance, dump that charge back in the hopper and only "accept" the smooth drops. I'd tried backing off and trying to finesse it through rather than force it. That doesn't improve consistency. Maybe I'll start using the baffle, which I'd never bothered with before.
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Haha that's exactly what I do when I'm reloading 30-06 and 7.5x55 Swiss with IMR-4064 which is a super coarse stick powder. I'm using the Lee perfect powder measure too. I honestly can't remember if that improved the consistency of charges. I also use a baffle in the Lee PPM.
 
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exojam said:
I cannot make any comment on rifle cartridges as I have not reloaded any as of yet. I have my two die RCBS 223 set but still need a few other items I will slowly be picking up.
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One thing I like to do, the first time I load new or reload fired brass is to uniform the primer pockets. I use solid carbide tools from Sinclair International. They are non adjustable,
so cannot come out of adjustment and change how deep they cut...like the ones from RCBS do. All this does is insure the primer pockets are cut to a uniform depth. I'd say upwards of 90% of the cases show no material being removed, but certain batches of HXP and Winchester...quite a bit comes out. This only gets done once and doesn't need to be repeated ever. I have gone back to see if anything changes after they have a few firings on them, but no. I feel better about having minimized the possibility of slam fires and high primers. Got the idea from a Marine who posts a lot on CMP Forums. And yes, I am OCD, especially IRT loading for and shooting gas guns and Service Rifles. But no, I do not clean my primer pockets. [laugh]
 
wegman said:
One thing I like to do, the first time I load new or reload fired brass is to uniform the primer pockets. I use solid carbide tools from Sinclair International. They are non adjustable,
so cannot come out of adjustment and change how deep they cut...like the ones from RCBS do. All this does is insure the primer pockets are cut to a uniform depth. I'd say upwards of 90% of the cases show no material being removed, but certain batches of HXP and Winchester...quite a bit comes out. This only gets done once and doesn't need to be repeated ever. I have gone back to see if anything changes after they have a few firings on them, but no. I feel better about having minimized the possibility of slam fires and high primers. Got the idea from a Marine who posts a lot on CMP Forums. And yes, I am OCD, especially IRT loading for and shooting gas guns and Service Rifles. But no, I do not clean my primer pockets. [laugh]
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I will toss some slop at you OCD. How square do you think your case head faces are? Is that not what the tool references off, what do you do with the ones that are to deep...
spit on the case wipe it off and load it up! lol
 
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jek said:
I can never have enough CFE Pistol, IMR 4895, H4895, and maybe some Trail Boss.
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Not super helpful but Glenn’s in North Reading had all of those powders in stock when I was there last month. Prices were fairly high (though I realize he’s trying to make a couple dollars) except for the TB which was like $15 or $16 per pound and he also had 2# jugs. He’s been closed since Fakers order though.
 
andrew1220 said:
Not super helpful but Glenn’s in North Reading had all of those powders in stock when I was there last month. Prices were fairly high (though I realize he’s trying to make a couple dollars) except for the TB which was like $15 or $16 per pound and he also had 2# jugs. He’s been closed since Fakers order though.
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Trailboss is $16 for the 9oz jug (1lb bottle)
 
andrew1220 said:
What caliber?
I've never cleaned primer pockets, ever. That goes for pistol and rifle. I'm not a PRS shooter who shoots 1000+ yards and wants the best possible accuracy - not sure if cleaning primer pockets increases accuracy?....Someone else like @akma @Mountain @PatMcD @northny @mac1911 might be able to chime in on that.

Pistol brass just gets tumbled clean and onto the press. No primer pocket cleaning.

Rifle brass gets tumbled clean, resized/deprimed, and then tumbled again to remove the lube. No primer pocket cleaning.

For pistol, there's absolutely no reason to have spotless brass inside and out - just clean enough on the outside to prevent damaging your dies. For rifle brass I don't know - depends on what you're shooting? My scoped K31 rifle can shoot half inch groups at 100 yards with brass that has just been tumbled clean with no primer pocket cleaning so I must be doing something right? [laugh] YMMV.
Click to expand...
I try to make the best ammo I can with what I have. I have always cleaned my primer pockets from day one. Now it's a one step process with wet tumbling. I have never tested cleaned to uncleaned so I have no proof either way. In reality I use mixed and range brass for pistol and general 223 so it probably would be hard to demonstrate any gain for doing so. All the best for what works for you.
 

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