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frankford arsenal wet tumbler?


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Yea I saw that price on Amazon and almost pulled the trigger, but my wife had to have her knee scoped so we had to foot that bill which was about what I had saved up for the tumbler :blush:... Guess I am stuck sonic cleaning in batches of 150 until the prices come back down, (I hope :surprise: )

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Any body have any experience with this wet tumbler? What do you think about it? Is it worth the money?

I have it, I have used it a fair bit (I'd approximate I have cleaned at least 30,000 pieces of brass in various pistol and rifle calibers) and it has been great. I think it is a tremendous value. My only complaint is that I would prefer if they supplied it with the larger pins (0.047") rather than the small pins (which work but have a greater propensity of getting stuck in the primer flash hole).

^ Agree totally! I would definitely avoid using their supplied pins!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Any body have any experience with this wet tumbler? What do you think about it? Is it worth the money?

I have it, I have used it a fair bit (I'd approximate I have cleaned at least 30,000 pieces of brass in various pistol and rifle calibers) and it has been great. I think it is a tremendous value. My only complaint is that I would prefer if they supplied it with the larger pins (0.047") rather than the small pins (which work but have a greater propensity of getting stuck in the primer flash hole).

^ Agree totally! I would definitely avoid using their supplied pins!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did 20 gallons of brass and only had two incidents of pins in the hole. Non issue to me
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Any body have any experience with this wet tumbler? What do you think about it? Is it worth the money?

I have it, I have used it a fair bit (I'd approximate I have cleaned at least 30,000 pieces of brass in various pistol and rifle calibers) and it has been great. I think it is a tremendous value. My only complaint is that I would prefer if they supplied it with the larger pins (0.047") rather than the small pins (which work but have a greater propensity of getting stuck in the primer flash hole).

^ Agree totally! I would definitely avoid using their supplied pins!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did 20 gallons of brass and only had two incidents of pins in the hole. Non issue to me

Are u using the original pins that came with the FART?

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Any body have any experience with this wet tumbler? What do you think about it? Is it worth the money?

I have it, I have used it a fair bit (I'd approximate I have cleaned at least 30,000 pieces of brass in various pistol and rifle calibers) and it has been great. I think it is a tremendous value. My only complaint is that I would prefer if they supplied it with the larger pins (0.047") rather than the small pins (which work but have a greater propensity of getting stuck in the primer flash hole).

^ Agree totally! I would definitely avoid using their supplied pins!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did 20 gallons of brass and only had two incidents of pins in the hole. Non issue to me
Are u using the original pins that came with the FART?
Yes.
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Any body have any experience with this wet tumbler? What do you think about it? Is it worth the money?

I have it, I have used it a fair bit (I'd approximate I have cleaned at least 30,000 pieces of brass in various pistol and rifle calibers) and it has been great. I think it is a tremendous value. My only complaint is that I would prefer if they supplied it with the larger pins (0.047") rather than the small pins (which work but have a greater propensity of getting stuck in the primer flash hole).

^ Agree totally! I would definitely avoid using their supplied pins!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did 20 gallons of brass and only had two incidents of pins in the hole. Non issue to me
Are u using the original pins that came with the FART?
Yes.

Sorry next question, do u deprime before tumbling?

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Any body have any experience with this wet tumbler? What do you think about it? Is it worth the money?

I have it, I have used it a fair bit (I'd approximate I have cleaned at least 30,000 pieces of brass in various pistol and rifle calibers) and it has been great. I think it is a tremendous value. My only complaint is that I would prefer if they supplied it with the larger pins (0.047") rather than the small pins (which work but have a greater propensity of getting stuck in the primer flash hole).

^ Agree totally! I would definitely avoid using their supplied pins!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did 20 gallons of brass and only had two incidents of pins in the hole. Non issue to me
Are u using the original pins that came with the FART?
Yes.
Sorry next question, do u deprime before tumbling?
Yes
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I ended up getting rid of mine. The brass looked really pretty but it was time consuming to prep the brass and I wasn't seeing any benefit for the extra time. The brass did look really sharp.

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Yes, it's very labor intensive. It's not for everyone that's for sure. But I have enough free time to tinker so it's no big deal to me.
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I ended up getting rid of mine. The brass looked really pretty but it was time consuming to prep the brass and I wasn't seeing any benefit for the extra time. The brass did look really sharp.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, it's very labor intensive. It's not for everyone that's for sure. But I have enough free time to tinker so it's no big deal to me.

You're living the dream Sarge. I am still in so it'll be another 10 years till I can have pretty brass again.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I ended up getting rid of mine. The brass looked really pretty but it was time consuming to prep the brass and I wasn't seeing any benefit for the extra time. The brass did look really sharp.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, it's very labor intensive. It's not for everyone that's for sure. But I have enough free time to tinker so it's no big deal to me.
You're living the dream Sarge. I am still in so it'll be another 10 years till I can have pretty brass again.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, you have my utmost support and respect even though your brass is nasty! :)
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Just ran across this thread. I have participated in quite a few threads across different forums on wet cleaning with pins.

I built my own tumbler based on the Big Dawg design. If I had known about the FART, I would have gone that route, cost was about the same, but I did get the feeling of accomplishment to build my own.

Why use Dawn? Dawn is a mostly pure detergent with no additives. It strips all oils waxes and dirt from the brass. Many auto detail shops will wash a car with Dawn to strip off all waxes and oils, prior to a deep hand wax job.

Why use Lemi-Shine - it helps soften hard water, plus the citric acidic action helps in the shine process. You have to find what quantity works for you.

My understanding for the FART tumbler is that you can go 1 to 1 on brass to pins. In my case I cannot do that. I use a ratio of 80% brass to pins by weight.

I have also switched to the Armor All Wash and Wax with Carnuba. Fabulous clean and shine inside and out with the use of pins. PLUS, the wax acts as a dry lubricant for sizing and belling, Which is always an issue when using Dawn.

The other benefit of AA Was and Wax, is that it helps prevent the brass from tarnishing. I have brass I cleaned a year ago that still looks like it was cleaned yesterday.

One note of caution, I do not know the results of other Wash and Wax products, so can't comment on them. I do now the results of using a Wash and Shine, and it was less than spectacular. So whatever you choose to use, make sure it has WAX in the title.

Anecdotal story, I decided to load up some 40 S&W last week. Hadn't loaded any in quite a while. Immediately noticed difficulty in sizing, and even more difficulty in belling (MBF Powder drop). Realized that these cases had been cleaned prior to my use of AA W&W. Took all 4 K cases and ran through tumbler, no pins. Ran each load about 1 hour. Rinsed, dried and started loading. Brass went into resizer with almost no resistance. Belling operation was smooth with a little friction, but nothing like before the AA W&W treatment.

This is what works for me. As always YMMV. :D

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I tried Dawn and went back to laundry detergent, rinsing the Dawn took longer than the laundry detergent did.

Try the Armor All Wash and Wax mentioned above. I just use a little less than two capfuls, and it only takes two rinses to complete.

Bob

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I tried Dawn and went back to laundry detergent, rinsing the Dawn took longer than the laundry detergent did.

Try the Armor All Wash and Wax mentioned above. I just use a little less than two capfuls, and it only takes two rinses to complete.

Bob

That's just adding more stuff to my mix, with my current use of laundry detergent it's two rinses.

Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear. Use the Armor All in place of your laundry detergent. Same amount of stuff, two things, lemi-shine and armor all. Gives you the extra benefits of the Armor All wax, with the same amount of rinsing.

Anyway....Just my opinion.

Bob

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just buy a bottle of the Frankford Arsenal Cleaning Solution...cleans better than any household product and at $15 a bottle it is cheap enough.

I fell for that once. It took a lot of it to get the brass clean. I can buy the wash and wax for half the price and lasts for thousands and thousands of cases. Plus you get the wax coating which helps with tarnishing down the road.
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Just buy a bottle of the Frankford Arsenal Cleaning Solution...cleans better than any household product and at $15 a bottle it is cheap enough.

OK - $15 is not that much, but considering other products are about half that price...why would you pay double for something you don't need to?

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