Curiosity has got the best of me. When reloading i don't clean the pockets every time. I think i do it just so i don't feel i am doing "second rate reloading". Look at the flash hole and make sure it looks clear. But... i have always wondered why the pocket cleaner "tools" are so much smaller in diameter than the hole itself ? small or large primer pockets.. both are the same. I have used rcbs hand tools to do this for a long time and recently i bought one of those Hornady lock and load case prep centers. It does not have the little wire brush type of pocket cleaner it has a solid steel type. To my dismay though it was the same real loose fit. You would think they (all the manufacturers) would make them a much closer tolerance ? Am i missing some aspect of this ? I do think the flash hole is the important one anyway but i still wonder....

Warren page once went a whole year without cleaning  his primer pockets, just to see what would happen.
At the end of the year he wound up with a bunch of wins, the Super Shoot among them!
That being said, unless mine are super grunged up, I don't bother!:>)
Cat

I don't bother unless they look bad.  Gun shoots half in groups still so i am not too worried about it. 

I just have a dull primer pocket uniformer I keep in my RCBS prep center for just this purpose, a simple touch just before I chamfer and de burr, and it's done, too easy, so yes I do it quite regularly now. Before I hit on this, I was like the other posters, only when they looked really bad.

I do the same - I find that some caliber/powder combos seem to be a bit dirtier that others....

 I have mine hooked up to my drill and it still sucks. Not no more. Learned something on my frirst day on this site. I like it.

Yayyyy, I hate that job

I used to get my boy to do it and was eager to do it as well. Helping Dad reload.......... Cool.  But now he got older and wiser and now I am back doing it myself. Sit back watch TV and clean out a few hundred pockets. No biggy.