Primer pockets are very much taken for granted. They normally come in two sizes, small and large.

It is created during manufacture by “punching” into the brass cup being manufactured into a case. In the bottom of the primer pocket is a flash hole. This is a little hole that allows the flame from the primer to enter the cartridge case and ignite the powder.

Much can and has been said about flash holes. They are quite often drilled out or reamed to a uniform size and shape, or more often just punch thru, with those drilled supposedly giving more uniform ignition.

Back in the WW I and WW II, the military ammo had a crimped in primer. This was done to be absolutely sure that during rapid fire, a primer did not move and become “high” and then it would fire upon closing of the guns action.

Cases from that era can be reloaded but the primer pockets must have the crimp removed, so that a new one can be seated.

This crimp is removed by either swaging or reaming. I have found that I need to use “both” methods in order to get a good job. First I ream out the crimp with a Lyman Primer Pocket Reamer Tool.

Next take the common deburring tool we use on the case mouths and give the pocket a quick twist to form a slight bevel on the edge. I then swage it out with a RCBS Primer Pocket Swager.

Now the primer can be seated very nicely without damage or crushing.

Thank goodness that our commercial cases we load everyday do not have this crimped in primer. We just expel the old one during resizing and seat a new one in the primer pocket again.

BUT WAIT just a minute. Don’t just seat that primer in that pocket without cleaning it out first. I know, here come the progressive machine owners on the run. They cannot clean the pockets because the cases are in the turret during loading. If you can’t clean them, then you just don’t do it, that’s all.

For our hunting loads though, we want a clean pocket and most likely would not be using a progressive machine anyway.

The reason you want a clean pocket is so that the primer will seat neatly and firmly with no residue or crud under it. We want the best job possible because if that primer does not go off when it is supposed to, we have a major oops.

When seating the primer, whether a large rifle or small pistol, the rules are the same. Seat it to the bottom of the pocket firmly, but do not crush it.

BE SURE that it is BELOW the surface of the case by anywhere from .001 to .004. NEVER allow a primer to be above level of the case.

If you do, you will have to crush it down when closing the action, and it may or may not go off when the firing pin hits it. The firing pin will expend most of its energy pushing the primer to the bottom of the case and then it will not have enough energy left to cause it to go off.

Many reloaders also use a Primer Pocket Reamer from Wilson or Sinclair. It cuts the primer pocket flat and also uniformly deep. This seems to help in uniform seating and then produces more uniform ignition. RCBS also has a nice primer pocket reamer with a depth-stop on it.

Just a little touch goes a long way to cleaning it up.

Most reloaders will have a Primer Pocket Brush to just clean out the residue.

I have found that my Dremel Tool with their little brush is perfect to really clean out the pockets. Just a light touch, and believe me it is polished clean.

Don’t take those little primer pockets for granted, for if you have a problem with your primers, YOU HAVE A REAL PROBLEM.

Feel free to contact Terry any time by E-mail at tblauwkamp@superior-sales.com