reloading 9mm Luger

[563jack]

 How much trouble do you go through to clean you casings prior to reloading. I usually throw my empty casings into the the vibrating cleaner as soon as I get back from the range. One hour later on the outside they are very shinny. The inside they are pretty dirty. The last time I reloaded I de-primed and I noticed that the primer pocket was very dirty so I cleaned them before I loaded a new primer. I have to ask myself was that necessary? The Lee Handbook says it is. Does anyone clean the inside of their casings with a brush or something prior to reloading? Does this cleaning help with your performance at the range.

[Cbmarine]

I use a universal decapping die to remove the primers for disposal before sonic cleaning.  (See warning below). Primer pockets may still have a little crud that I sometimes scrape out.  Insides of cases are clean. Can't comment on range performance.

Winchester's Safety Data Sheet contains this worst case warning: EXPLOSIVE. KEEP AWAY FROM HEAT AND SPARKS. DO NOT SUBJECT TO MECHANICAL SHOCK. KEEP WETTED WITH WATER. CAN CAUSE EYE, SKIN, AND RESPIRATORY TRACT IRRITATION. HARMFUL IF INHALED, SWALLOWED OR ABSORBED THROUGH THE SKIN. CONTAINS A MATERIAL WHICH MAY CAUSE BLOOD, KIDNEY, NERVOUS SYSTEM AND REPRODUCTIVE ADVERSE EFFECTS. MAY CAUSE CANCER BASED ON EFFECTS IN LABORATORY ANIMALS. TOXIC TO AQUATIC LIFE. POSSIBLE LONG LASTING ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS.

[greymas]

I do not clean the primer pocket on my handgun loads. I don't consider myself an expert though, so don't take what I do as the right way. I use a progressive press for my handgun loads. My rifle cases get the premium treatment before being loaded on my Lee single stage press.

[Radnor]

I do not deprime before tumbling.  Depriming is the 1st stage on my press.

[AudiQ]

I use wet tumbling with SS media for shiney brass inside and out. Decapping prior to tumbling is an option I usually perform which results in super clean primer pockets with no foreign debris left in the pocket. Adrenolin had a nice write-up about wet tumbling in the reloading thread a while back. The hygene concerns Cb mentioned still apply.

[563jack]

Hey Guys, thanks for the responses. I couldn't find anything that says cleaning the inside of the casings or the primer pockets helped anything. I have to admit that I like the shinny new looking bullets when I'm at the range, but that's all I can say about them. Cleaning the inside had no affect on anything I did at the range. At least as far as I could tell.

[Tonym]

Unless the crud in the primer pocket is getting in the way of fully seating the primer youll be fine.