Prebaned Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 Jumped into the wet tumble club with the Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Rotary Tumbler. It comes with 5lbs of SS media. Anyone know if the media is the small standard diameter that pairs up and gets stuck in the flash holes? Apparently this seams to be a trade secret until I have it in my hand. TIA Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 (edited) I think it is the small (original) size, the XL pins are .495 long. Have you run it yet ??? Curious as Graf's has them for $189.95 with free postage until end of month. The small ones don't get stuck too often but it can happen. Since you have 5 pounds of pins, just use them with 5 pounds of brass. If you use lemi shine or vinegar (or any acidic solution) you should run them in walnut or corn cob afterward. Try it with just hot water (to about an inch and a half from full) and about half an ounce of Dawn, run for three hours and then rinse real well. Put brass on an old bath towel and shake back and forth for a little while, this gets rid of any moisture on the outside which will prevent water spots. After shaking, just spread out on towel and let dry on the inside. Doing this way will eliminate needing to run in walnut or corncob. Let us know how this works and what you think of the results. Edited March 27, 2014 by Steve RA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prebaned Posted March 27, 2014 Author Share Posted March 27, 2014 Don't have it yet, tomorrow it comes. I'm told half of a 9mm case of Lemi-shine and a couple of drops of dawn. 1:1.2 ratio brass to pins run cold water. To much citric acid and/or long run times can discolor/burnish the brass. When I get it I will experiment since this will be a first for me. Thanks for the tips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prebaned Posted March 28, 2014 Author Share Posted March 28, 2014 (edited) Yep, It comes with small pins .041x.255 that stick together and lodge in flash holes. Bought the ultra .047 pins that won't get stuck side by side. This machine is nice and well thought out. I have no other wet tumbler to compare it to, so be advised. The drum is a great idea being made out of blown injected molded plastic with a nice bonded rubber interior. The end caps are a nice thought out idea also with the Plexiglas see-through caps that I thought would get scratched up instantly but have seemed to be just fine do far. There does however seem to room for improvement in the wheel/axel department. Only time will tell if it is needed. I did a trial run after washing the media that came with it with soap for about 20 minutes in the tumbler to get the factory grease off the pins. After that I filled it with cold water to about 4 to 5 inches from one end then added about ten drops of dawn soap and a half a case of 9mm full of Lemi-shine. Putting 5 pounds of the supplied pins and 6 pounds / 684 peices / 2 xl650 akro bins of unprimed 9mm cases in. Turn the dial to 2 1/2 hours and it came out great. This one was a little heavy so I think I'll knock it down a little when the larger pins arrive. I think 4 pounds of brass 5 pounds of pins and maybe three quarters of a gallon of water should be just about perfect. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edited March 28, 2014 by Prebaned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Think you'd have better results with the 5 lbs of pins, 5 lbs of brass and just fill it to where the water covers the "load". Remember, with the larger pins you'll have fewer of them. The pins basically clean the inside of the cases and primer pockets, the brass cases rubbing together do most of the work on the outside. Try this sometime, use some dirty brass and just put it in the tumbler without the pins, do everything else the same and see what results you get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nghthwk1911 Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 So I have my tumbler, let me tell you all that I am very happy with it. the size is just right, 1K 9mm, 750-850 .45acp fits in the drum. the run rate on the motor is just great, 1hr and all is clean. I am using less then a 1/2 teaspoon of Lemi-Shine, 1 teaspoon of Oni-clean and a 1/4 cap of Turtle wax car cleaner with Wax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prebaned Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 (edited) Three hour Bling!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edited April 1, 2014 by Prebaned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Looks good ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDA Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Looks good to me as well. I have been debating doing some wet tumbling, I'd like to use it primarily for rifle that I have trimmed and deprimed, I don't plan to use it for 9mm. That being said, I have been debating between the Franford Arsenal model and that Rebel 17. Both look to be similar capacity and similar cost, entry level type tumblers (compared to say a Big Dawg which is more than I want to spend). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prebaned Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 (edited) Looks good to me as well. I have been debating doing some wet tumbling, I'd like to use it primarily for rifle that I have trimmed and deprimed, I don't plan to use it for 9mm. That being said, I have been debating between the Franford Arsenal model and that Rebel 17. Both look to be similar capacity and similar cost, entry level type tumblers (compared to say a Big Dawg which is more than I want to spend).Only time will tell, but I went with the Frankford tumbler because of the drum. The all plastic drum is a big plus along with the very easy end caps to open and seal. No thumb nuts, belts or metal can to rust. I'm not sure how good the axel bearings and shafts are or the gear box but the whole package is nicely compact and quite easy on the eyes. I've been contemplating myself on wether to wet tumble rifle cases after sizing/trimming. It's a pretty brutal proccess inside that drum that may bang up the case necks.To date I have done about 10 full run cycles. All 9mm just to do it. I have settled on 6 pounds of stainless steel pins (.047 diameter) and about 5 pounds of brass with three-quarter full tub of cold water. What ever you get I recommend ditching the .041 pins and use the 47 ultra pins. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edited April 2, 2014 by Prebaned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDA Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Looks good to me as well. I have been debating doing some wet tumbling, I'd like to use it primarily for rifle that I have trimmed and deprimed, I don't plan to use it for 9mm. That being said, I have been debating between the Franford Arsenal model and that Rebel 17. Both look to be similar capacity and similar cost, entry level type tumblers (compared to say a Big Dawg which is more than I want to spend).Only time will tell, but I went with the Frankford tumbler because of the drum. The all plastic drum is a big plus along with the very easy end caps to open and seal. No thumb nuts, belts or metal can to rust. I'm not sure how good the axel bearings and shafts are or the gear box but the whole package is nicely compact and quite easy on the eyes. I've been contemplating myself on wether to wet tumble rifle cases after sizing/trimming. It's a pretty brutal proccess inside that drum that may bang up the case necks.To date I have done about 10 full run cycles. All 9mm just to do it. I have settled on 6 pounds of stainless steel pins (.047 diameter) and about 5 pounds of brass with three-quarter full tub of cold water. What ever you get I recommend ditching the .041 pins and use the 47 ultra pins. You have some of the same thoughts. I like the construction and end cap design and small overall size. Also, I have had good customer service from Frankford Arsenal before so that left a positive impression. Interesting about the pins. Did you have a problem with the .041 pins that you didn't have with the .047 pins? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prebaned Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 You have some of the same thoughts. I like the construction and end cap design and small overall size. Also, I have had good customer service from Frankford Arsenal before so that left a positive impression. Interesting about the pins. Did you have a problem with the .041 pins that you didn't have with the .047 pins? With the understanding that I am a new wet tumbler club member, below are my findings.Like I stated above the only problem with the smaller pins is that they can get stuck side-by-side in small primer flash holes. This has been well-documented. Although it's a good practice, I don't subscribe to checking every single flash hole after the tumble. The 47 Ultra pins cannot physically get stuck in a flash hole. This frees my mind and allows me to use my eyes on other things I much rather be looking at and sleep well at night. When I do the reload I use a universal decapping die if I sized the brass first to make double sure nothing is stuck in the holes anyway. In my opinion the .041 pins should be outright outlawed, although some say they will clean better than the larger pins, however in my limited experience I have not found that to be the case. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torogi Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 I take it as this is applicable to un decapped brass? With no experience of SS media, can a pin be stuck in the flash hole? I had to think that for a minute, i bought some brass (wet tumbled with ss media) and there was this one time that i cant decap, turns out there was a single SS pin stuck in there. So you are saying a 47 will not cause this issue? Im thinking on going this route too, from corn cob media. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prebaned Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 I take it as this is applicable to un decapped brass? With no experience of SS media, can a pin be stuck in the flash hole? I had to think that for a minute, i bought some brass (wet tumbled with ss media) and there was this one time that i cant decap, turns out there was a single SS pin stuck in there. So you are saying a 47 will not cause this issue? Im thinking on going this route too, from corn cob media. Anything is possible. It is only likely a pin can get stuck in a flash hole when there is a spent primer still in it. Deprimed brass will not hold a pin because the pin will fall through the flash hole. The 47 ultras are too wide to fit or get stuck two side-by-side.I suppose you can wet tumble brass with the primers still in it, but that kind of defeats the purpose of fully cleaning the case as the flash holes and primer pockets will not get scrubbed. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZackJones Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Three hour Bling!!! Please do not post any more photos like this -- my resistance is getting weak and I do not need to buy any new reloading stuff right now . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prebaned Posted April 3, 2014 Author Share Posted April 3, 2014 Three hour Bling!!! Please do not post any more photos like this -- my resistance is getting weak and I do not need to buy any new reloading stuff right now .So sorry. I am also very week and have the monkey on my back when it comes to reloading par·a·pher·na·lia. Pictures are bad news for my wallet. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerassassin22 Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 (edited) I just got mine so far I have run 4x 5lbs loads of brass with 3x 45ACP Cases Lemishine and squirt of blue dawn for about 1hr 45min comes out great. And man this thing spin fast. I also have not had a problem using the supplied pins that came with it so far ZERO have got stuck in the flash hole. I think I will try it for 1hr to see what happens with pistol brass and add a squirt of car polish maybe to the mix as see. Edited May 30, 2014 by deerassassin22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctay Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 (edited) I've never had a problem with stuck pins but it can happen. I've stopped depriming before tumbling as it added an extra step and shiny primer pockets made no difference to me. Edited May 30, 2014 by ctay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerassassin22 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 ^^ I have not had any get stuck yet after more then 50lbs of brass tumbled in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safeactionjackson Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Recently purchased the tumbler, I've had exactly one piece of the SS media get stuck in the primer pocket. Granted I've only done 5-6 batches of brass, some of which had been deprimed, but moving forward it will all be resized/deprimed. Excellent tumbler! Very happy with the purchase!~g Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavyopp Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 I use .062 X .495 stainless pins -- I've never had a stuck pin anywhere -- 9mm, .45acp, 38 super, 38 special, and .223 rem cases have all the same results for me My average load is 20 pounds of pins to 18 pounds of brass filled to the top with water -- a 44 mag case of lemi shine -- and half a shot glass of liquid dish detergent 4 to 6 hours run time -- most all primer pockets are 100% clean with a few at 95% clean I do take the time to de-prime everything -- I use a hornady LNL progressive for de-priming -- that machine catches 100% of the spent primers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Heavyopp: Is this in the Frankford Arsenal tumbler ??? If not, what tumbler are you using ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavyopp Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Heavyopp: Is this in the Frankford Arsenal tumbler ??? If not, what tumbler are you using ?? I was trying to express the pin size more than anything... Not a frankford arsenal -- Can't do a 60+ pound drum at that price I made my own... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJE Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 I need to get one of these, I'm tired to being limited to two pounds at a time with my little tumbler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Heavyopp: Thanks, assume those are the XL pins from Pellets LLC ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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