Rotary Tumbler and Accessories with Media Separator, Cleaning Essentials, For Brass Cleaning, Reloading, and Gunsmithing

I don't write reviews this soon after getting a product but for this one I will make an exception. I've read lots of reviews and also watched you tube videos where the common thread is that this is more hassle for the end result. Well yes to a degree it is but it depends how you process the brass. The only real drawback for me is that it's a lot heavier but of course it is, it's a lot bigger than what I've been using. I've run 3 large loads through and have found there's an optimal load size to get really shiny casings as opposed to very clean but more of a golden color. For me when processing 9mm cases, I found that loading 25 handfuls of brass was the best load size: that's a little over 1/2 full drum including the steel pins. Then I add water up to just below the neck, I use warm rather than hot. After that I add dish soap (I prefer Dawn); about 3 table spoons (gentle squeeze and a 5 count if you don't want to measure). After this it's a teaspoon of lemi-shine grains and on goes the top. Dry the threads of the lock screws first or you will get some leakage when you tip it. Make sure they are tight. Process for the full 3 hrs. Once it's all done I open one end and remove the clear cover replacing it with the slotted seive. I also used the seive as a template and cut 4 circles of screen door bug netting that I put over the top of the open end once I insert the seive, then screw on the cap that holds it in place. This will allow you to drain the dirty water without losing any of the steel pins. It will also allow you to re-fill with clean water to sloosh around and drain again which gets rid of the excess dirty water and soap residue. Then I remove the screen, screw it tight again and tip it all into a mop bucket. I use a mop bucket with a pouring spout so I dont need to use a magnet to pick up the media. The pins will have very little water in with them and that will be clean so all you do is tip up the mop bucket and allow the pins to slide back into the drum, scraping the ones on the bottom with your hand, but before you do that you need to remove the brass!! I use a salad spinner (big one) and hand load a bit of brass into it and shake it around so any pins still with the brass fall to the bottom of the container. Then put those on a towel and continue a bit at a time until I'm done. There wont be a lot of pins in with the brass if you gave the drum a good shake when you were tipping out the pins into the mop bucket. When the brass is dry it's got a really bright shine and the primer pockets are clean. You don't need to spend $17 on Frankford's brass cleaner, although the sample that came with the tumbler did do a good job. You also don't need to spend $16 to buy a magnet to pick up the steel pin media if you use a mop bucket that has a pour spout (not an actual spout, just that "V" shape molded on the top). Which means you also dont need to buy a separator either. See, all that money saved; the tumbler has just about paid for itself. :) The only con to all of this is that I'm disappointed the screw on ends for the drum are out of true. They're not quite round so create a bit of a gap between the threads. That's why you have to make sure you screw them on tight to get a good seal on the clear end caps. I'm hoping this wont become a problem as I use it more but for now I can live with it. It's also noisy when running so you may want to run it in the garage and if you're going to put it on a table make sure it doesn't walk with the vibrations it makes when it's running. This is a great cleaner and even if you only process a moderate amount of brass it will get the job done way faster than using the little Harbor Freight rock tumbler which is what I've been using prior to buying the Frankford Arsenal tumbler.

I have been reloading for going on 4 years. I have been using a Cabela’s dry media tumbler with corn and walnut media. Mainly I reload pistol rounds so the dry media has been severing me ok. Recently I moved into reloading rifle rounds. I had been avoiding them because of the amount of prep work that goes into it. Well I finally dove in head first. I use a Dillon 550B press for all my reloading. I bought the case trimmer tool head, dies and trimmer. I bought the RCBS case prep station and a Dillon 600 swager. The de-priming, resizing and trimming are a breeze with the Dillon. Removing military crimps with the Dillon swager is a cake walk compared to the RCBS primer crimp removal tool on the case prep station. How does all this have anything to do with the Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler..... I am getting there. Recently I spent the better half of a Saturday cleaning the primer pockets with the RCBS case prep station. The deburring and chamfering was easy, but trimming primer crimps and cleaning the primer pocket with it was painfully slow and literally painful after 6-hours non-stop (bulk load for 1K cases). I thought to myself, never again will I spend this much time cleaning primer pockets. I have used a friend’s wet media tumbler once. It was a Thumler's Tumbler. The brass was clean but tightening all the little wing nuts, managing the little pins and the limited cleaning volume were a huge turn off. I was resistant to trying it again. I was very leery about Frankford Arsenal. It isn't a brand I am not familiar with as I mainly buy Dillon tools and reloading components. The video on Amazon was very helpful. It helped me see how it looks and works. I was shocked by the capacity and ease of use. I turned to my old friend, Youtube, to look at more reviews and demonstrations of the product. It is actually a very simple design. So, I took a leap of faith and bought it. A few days after receiving it in the mail, I finally had a chance to use it. It was simple compared to the Thumler's Tumbler. Sorting the pins and rinsing the brass was effortless compared to the Thumler's Tumbler. The brass comes out so clean and shiny comparted to a dry tumbler. It makes dry tumbled brass look dirty. More importantly to me, the primer pockets are clean, the case lube from the resizing is removed and it saves me many hours and many hand cramps compared to my other attempt. Until I learn of a better way, I am sold on my process of dry tumble, de-prime, resize and trimming on my Dillon, swaging primer pockets on my Dillon 600 super swager, de-burring and chamfering the RCBS case prep station, then a wet tumble in the Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler then finishing it off back on the Dillon adding the primer, powder, and finally seating the bullet. It sounds like a lot of work, but with the equipment I have it is manageable and can be processed in bulk with relative ease. I highly recommend the Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler. Especially if you are fed up with the Thumler's Tumbler and dealing with the pins going everywhere. I can’t say enough good things about the Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler. The only drawback is you do have to really tighten down on the collars for a good seal. I am young and strong so it isn’t a big deal. More mature re-loaders that have arthritis or have lost their strength might find it difficult. But then again, where there is a will, there is a way.

[UPDATE 6-3-2016: I have now tumbled thousands of brass cases through this thing and I continue to LOVE it. If you're a new reloader, skip all the other methods--bucket soak, dry tumble media, etc.--and go straight for this. You will get top quality results and years of service. No joke, friends still periodically ask how I afford so much "new" ammo because, thanks to this tumbler, my reloaded brass shines so bright compared to typical reloads that it is hard to believe it's not factory new ammo. Simply awesome.] The Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler is AMAZING! If you're new to reloading, don't waste your time on walnut media, sonic cleaners, etc. And if you're experienced as a reloader but using one of those methods, abandon them now and get yourself a tumbler with stainless steel media. There are several models on the market, but based on price and features, this Frankford Arsenal Tumbler is pretty tough to beat--and the results are PHENOMENAL! I'm not exaggerating here folks. I heard the hype about how well it works to tumble brass with stainless steel media. I saw some impressive looking pictures. But I tend to be skeptical and I tried other, less expensive options (walnut media, sonic cleaning, soaking with DIY detergent concoctions for days at a time, etc.) until I finally took the plunge, ordered this tumbler, and tried it. WOW! I was wasting my time on those other methods of cleaning. This tumbler gets cases MUCH cleaner, MUCH faster, and MUCH more thoroughly (even the primer pockets and the interiors of the cases get clean!). Better yet, even when I put in some pretty corroded and carbon-caked brass casings, a couple of hours of tumbling with a few cap-fulls of cleaning solution and the (included) 5 lbs. of stainless pins made them shinier than brand new casings. The proof is in the results: Ugly cases and clean water go in, then two hours later or so, some very black nasty water and a load of blindingly shiny brass cases comes back out. It's simply wonderful, and it makes the whole process of reloading easier and faster. So why get the Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler if there are other tumblers on the market? Good question. Any serviceable tumbler that can handle the stainless media will probably work, but after a lot of research, I'm convinced that this model is the best design on the market as of the date of this review (Feb 2015). For one, it was designed as a case tumbler, not a rock tumbler. The plastic tumbler is more than durable enough for its intended purpose, but significantly quieter than a metal tumbler. (Quiet enough that, as another reviewer noted, you can run it and still watch TV in the next room with the door shut.) For another, the end caps screw on and off, which makes them much more accessible than other designs that require the attachment/removal of a series of wing nuts. This method seems secure and leak proof after many hours of tumbling, so what's not to like? For yet another reason, the end caps can swap out different centers: clear plastic for sealed tumbling, or a strainer style center for dumping out the water and media without dumping out the cases (essentially, a make-shift separator) and then rinsing the cases under clean water without needing a separate bucket/container for that purpose. And finally, the robust-seeming motor has a built-in timer switch, so you can "set it and forget it"... it turns itself off, with no need to buy a separate automatic timer. I can't say enough about how impressive this is, both in its thoughtful design and its remarkable effectiveness at cleaning brass. At this point, in combination with my Hornady LnL AP press, I now have the ability to produce reloaded ammo that is both more accurate AND shinier/more "premium" looking than high-quality factory ammo. Not surprisingly, my friends have been asking how I afford all this "new" ammo because, just by its shine, they don't think it's reloaded! In short, if you're looking for an "ideal" cleaning solution for brass, look no further. The best price I found after watching this for a long time was $159 with free Prime shipping, and at that price, I feel like I got a very, very good deal. I'll never go back to any other way of cleaning brass. It's really that good.

First things first, this thing works great! It arrives fast, is packaged well, and comes with everything you need out of the box to start tumbling brass, all you have to do is add water and plug it in. The tumbler hold A LOT of brass, in the description is says it will hold 1,000 .223 brass but it seems like it holds more than that, I have not counted each piece of brass however I do fill it up to the brim. After watching others online and doing a bit of research I decided to go with this machine, due to the capacity, and the fact that it cleans just as good, if not better, than the competing tumblers, it just hold way more. I run 1,000+ .223 brass for around 2-3 hours with a couple dashes of Dawn and a pinch or two of Lemi Shine and they look practically brand new, sometimes the primer pocket is not 100% clean, but that can be solved by running it a bit longer. The machine is fairly quite, I run it on the bathroom floor and after closing the door you can still hear it in the next room but it's not overly loud, you can still watch tv, listen to the radio or talk on the phone in the next room with little notice of the noise. One of the big bonuses are the straining caps, they allow you to drain the dirty water with ease while keeping all the shell casings in the tumbler, the stainless steel media will come out, but you can catch that in a mesh strainer. There are a few draw backs, however I believe the pros highly outweigh the cons with this machine. One of the major draw backs for me, is it seems like I get a fair amount of pins (the stainless steel media) lodged inside the case, or the primer pocket. Some of these are no problem, a gentle tap and the pins will come free, but there is a percentage (seem to be about 50+ cases per batch) that will get a pin to turn sideways inside the case and get lodged in there, you can dislodge the pin with something thin enough to fit in the case mouth, but it is time consuming to look into each case mouth to make sure all the media is out. This is a bonus to dry tumbling, you can spin the media out and it's cheap to replace if some goes flying everywhere, and almost never gets lodged inside the casing, as to where the stainless steel media is expensive to replace. IT does seem easier to separate the pins from the casings if you let the casings dry before you separate them, but this can slow down production if you are trying to run multiple batches back to back. Perhaps if the stainless steel pins were a bit shorter this would solve the problem. All in all I am highly satisfied with this product and would recommend it to someone else that is interested in reloading.

First off, you're not going to find a better tumbler to clean your brass. When I started reloading, I used an agitator and walnut husks. The dust that put off was wild and I hated having to pick out pieces of abrasive from the primer pockets. There's no dust with this tumbler, and the cases come out immaculate. I use a gallon of distilled water with a little of the shine stuff and the stainless steel media. The cases come out looking better than new, to include the primer pockets. This is a larger tumbler, so as long as you stay within the weight limitations, it'll process a whole lot of cases per batch. I bought this tumbler in 2018, and I'm still on the original set of stainless steel media. I'm sure I lose a few every batch, but there's plenty left, even after 8 years of use. What's remarkable about this tumbler though is the company. After 8 years the motor burned up on me. That's 8 years of regular use without a hiccup. Probably in the tens of thousands of cases processed. After pulling off the bottom plate and seeing it was just the motor that had died, I contacted Frankford Arsenal to ask if I could BUY a replacement motor. We went back and forth a few times via email, and since they couldn't sell me a replacement motor, they just sent me a replacement Tumbler. The whole kit, brand new in the box. HOW WILD IS THAT?! A COMPANY THAT STANDS BEHIND THEIR PRODUCT AFTER 8 YEARS!

Works well. Pros: 1) Can fit quite a few cases in it. 2) Set it and let it run. Timer is wind up type and lasts up to 3 hours. 3) Includes strainer type end caps which makes it easier to wash cleaner from brass. Cons: 1) Gaskets are very hard to seal. Need some sort of wrench to tighten retaining rings or softer gaskets. 2) Pretty noisy. Between brass tumbling and motor noise you really need to put this in the garage. While it sounds like I'm being very critical it is a good tumbler. I'll never go back to the old vibrating one with corn cob media. If they can possibly spray some sort of rubberized sound deadener on the outside and include a wrench to tighten the rings it would be a great machine.

This thing works fantastic. It cleans the outside, inside, and primer pockets very well. Like everything in life, getting better results usually requires that you put in a bit more effort. I cleaned some brass for a friend of mine, and he was ecstatic about how polished and new it looked. But after watching the process I went through post-tumble, he concluded that he'd never do "all that" just for cleaner brass. So if you're reading through these reviews on Amazon, whether this is your first tumbler, or you're making the switch from dry tumbling, you need to be real about what kind of reloader you are. If you are competing or training several times a week, shooting thousands of rounds each month, then you probably don't care to spend any MORE time loading than you already do. This method is going to add more time. If you are reloading for a hobby, as much as you are for the cost savings, then you probably don't mind spending a little more time for a nicer result. But you should be aware up front that separating the stainless steel media from the brass is a little more time consuming than with dry media. To speed this up a media transfer magnet helps, as does an ENCLOSED media separator. Having everything in water as you agitate it really helps the stainless steel media find it's way out of the brass and to the bottom of a bucket. The ENCLOSED (this is important) separator helps keep pins from bouncing out everywhere as you spin the crank, and keeps you from having to hold a 25lb to 30lb drum over your sink, shaking it till your spine is torqued. Drying takes more time. I typically transfer them to a large towel, then I grab the corners and pick the towel up with the brass hanging in it like a hammock. I do the motion as if I'm polishing a bowling ball for about 30 seconds or so. Then, I spread everything out on a table outside, allowing it to dry completely via sunlight. Also, you will have to inspect the towel for more media, as well as peek in every case before you try to cram a primer in it. Steel media pins can sometimes get lodged in the flash hole. I don't mean for this to sound like I'm complaining, I just really want everyone who spends the money on this tumbler to understand that it is going to take more work. I personally LOVE the results I'm getting. But if you agree with my friend, you might consider getting the Berry's Model 400 tumbler kit. It was the second choice on my list, and I think it's worth checking out. And honestly, if I owned a house instead of a condo, I'd probably have gone that route. Some other things to know before buying... Decapping is now a separate step done before tumbling. Otherwise, you're primer pockets won't be cleaned, which sort of defeats the purpose. Stainless media is typically $45 to $50 for 5lbs. This kit includes a 5lb bag of media. The media should last you a lifetime, assuming you don't lose half of it in your drain, yard, or somewhere else clever. Also, I'd pass on using the special cleaning solution sample they give you. I use a mixture of Dawn soap and Lemishine. The soap helps the media clean, and keeps the dirt from sticking back to the cases and media while you're pouring the dirty water off the top. The Lemishine helps clean, but mostly helps the brass dry quickly, and without spots. Be sure you don't add these to your drum until it's almost full of water. Otherwise, you'll be dealing with a TON of overflowing suds from the soap. And one last thing to know is that it's still pretty loud. I bought this thinking it would be a great way to keep from disturbing my neighbors with a vibratory dry tumbler. It's really not that much quieter, if it even is at all. The flat sides of the tumbler sound like a redundant stomping noise to my downstairs neighbor unless I run it on a shelf in my outside patio closet. No biggie. The motor unit is powerful, yet also noisy. Again, solved in my specific scenario by keeping it outside in a patio closet with the door shut. I really think the Berry's Model 400 tumbler is probably quieter. I hope at least some of this information is helpful, and I'll try to answer any questions left as comments. UPDATE: It's been almost a year since I purchased this tumbler. I've run thousands of cases through it and it's still going strong. I still love the results I'm getting, and I still stand behind my original statement that it takes a little more work post-tumble. Just thought it's good to know that it still runs great after a year of continual use.

I wet clean, without pins, and can do approx. 2100 9mm cases at a time. When I was using the smaller version I could only do approx. 650 at a time. (Both numbers were obtained by comparing the weight of 250 cases, to the weight of a full load in the drums). I do NOT decap the cases, and I do NOT use the stainless steel pins. My process yields cases that are very clean. Here is what works for me: 1. Load drum 3/4 full with cases. 2. Fill drum with water until almost full. 3. Add in dishsoap, and citric acid (aka Lemishine, but bulk citric acid is less expensive than the Lemon home branded stuff). You only need a very small amount of citric acid. I use enough to fill an 9mm case halfway, buy depending on the pH of your water, it can vary slighlty. Too much will discolor cases. 4. Run for 15-20 minutes. 5. Quick rinse, refill, and use two cap fulls of "Wash & Wax" car soap. 6. Run for an additional 30-40 minutes. 7. Thoroughly rinse. 8. Put the cases in a brass dryer (aka food dehydrator), for one and a half hours. Even with primers in, the cases are very clean, and completely dried (verified using the freezer test). 2100 rounds clean and dry, without the hassle of decapping, or separating pins. I load 10000+ rounds per year, and the smaller version was a pain at that volume. The only other way I know of to clean more cases, at one time, is to use a concrete mixer. EDIT TO ADD: I forgot to address complaints about leaks. This can be a minor problem, BUT is easily addressed by putting a little silicone o-ring lubricant, on the rubber gasket for the cap. If you're not sure what to use get the stuff sold o-rings, and gaskets, used for pool, and spa, pumps. Once a year I coat the rubber gasket used to seal the cap, and I have no leaks.

... attention, l'appareil est en 110 v et la prise nécessite un adaptateur, ou un transfo 220 110 déjà équipé (500 va largement suffisant) La difficulté survient lorsqu'on doit séparer les étuis des aiguilles inox ... utiliser un aimant ! et beaucoup de patience ! je n'ai pas acheté le "panier"

O tambor é silencioso, mas o motor e o rolamento é barulhento. Eu esperava que fosse mais silencioso que os modelos em acrílico. Bastante volumoso, cabe uma grande quantidade peças a serem limpos.

Den Tumbler habe ich am Black Friday in der US Version mit 120V zum super Preis gekauft. Zum Betreiben dieser Version ist ein Spannungswandler 230V auf 120V erforderlich. Gibt’s bei Amazon für 50.—€. Im Lieferumfang waren auch die erforderlichen Stahlpins. Für den Reinigungsvorgang rate ich einen Schuss Spülmittel und Zitronensäure zu verwenden. Behälter mit Hülsen, Wasser und Pins füllen und Reinigungszeit einstellen. Das Gerät wird mit dem Spannungswandler eingeschaltet und kann auch mit dem Schalter unterbrochen werden ohne die Laufzeit zu verändern. Sehr praktisch! Die Laufzeit habe ich auf 150 Minuten gestellt. Das Ergebnis war genial. Die Hülsen waren außen und innen blitz sauber und glänzten mehr als neu. Kein Vergleich zum Vibrationstumbler. Zum trennen von Hülsen und Pins bietet sich das Lyman Doppelsieb für Rotationstumbler an. Es ist die einfachste Lösung zum Trennen von Hülsen und Pins.

So much better than dry media tumbler. Sonic cleaning cant handle any real quantities Make the change you won't regret

el producto es vendido para españa y viene para corriente de 110v, por suerte revise antes de conectarlos y no lo queme