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| Frankford Arsenal Quick-N-EZ Case Tumbler and Media Separator |
I’m slowly working my way into the reloading world. Since I
didn’t want to run up a credit card to buy everything at once, I’m buying items
piecemeal while I save for the next purchase. My first investment was the
Frankford Arsenal Quick-N-EZ Case Tumbler Kit from MidwayUSA. The kit came with
a media separator, crushed corn cob tumbling media, and Frankford’s brass
polish. This is everything you need to get started with cleaning cases.
So far I’ve used this tumbler for some .38 Special cases and
it did great. The corn cob media was initially treated with the Frankford
Arsenal brass polish and allowed to cycle in the running tumbler for a few
minutes as directed, then the cases were added. I think I put too many in for
this batch. The instructions say to add the cases with the tumbler running
until you see they don’t move freely. I think my problem was that as I was
adding them to the tumbler, I was mesmerized by seeing them disappear into the
media. It’s like they get swallowed up in quicksand, but then you see them swim
by every couple of seconds. Well, I added until they slowly bobbed along on the
surface. A coworker of mine that reloads told me this is okay, it will just
take longer to get them shiny.
What have I learned so far?
- When you clean brass, do
yourself a favor and don’t do it in a room you are trying to watch television
in (or directly adjacent). It does make enough noise to make hearing the TV
difficult. It also tends to annoy your significant other. The level of annoyed
will depend on so many factors (many unknown) that they cannot be listed here. Take
it somewhere that it won’t be heard.
- I also learned not to start a load and
then stop it until the next day. My first batch I ran for about 20 minutes and
then shut off until my show was over. Well, then I decided to finish it the
next day. This apparently causes your corncob media to stick inside some cases.
Retumbling will remedy the problem on most of the cases, but I ended up sorting
through every case and taking a small flathead screwdriver to scrape the rest
of the media out of the 2 dozen or so that didn’t come completely clean.
- Sort your brass by caliber before tumbling. I was warned about this ahead of
time. It will keep smaller cases from getting into larger cases and preventing
them from being cleaned. If you’re going to reload .45ACP, be sure to learn the
difference between small pistol primers and large pistol primers. You don’t
have to sort them before tumbling, but you have to sort them sooner or later.
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| Typical .45 ACP cases before tumbling |
The tumbler itself seems to be well built, and it does the
job. It holds a decent amount of pistol brass. I didn’t count how much I put in
this initial load, but I’d guess it was about 200 pieces. There are larger,
probably better, tumblers on the market, but I didn’t want to sink a ton of
money into some items initially. I read reviews on the tumblers out there and
opted for a model with good reviews but not the most expensive. One feature I
like most is the inline ON/OFF switch. Others praised this in their reviews,
and I saw complaints about other tumblers because they didn’t have this
feature. It is definitely more convenient than messing with a plug every time
you want to start and stop your tumbler. What I also liked about this tumbler was
that it came with everything I would need to start cleaning brass the day it
arrived. Later, I can change media and polishes to see what works best for me.
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| Typical .45 ACP cases after tumbling in corn cob with Frankford Arsenal polish |
The media separator is okay. It does the job, but I have a few
minor complaints about it.
- This is another noisy evolution, and if not done
in the proper location at the proper time, it will elicit additional complaints
from your significant other.
- With a moderate load of brass in it, it tends
to lift out of the cradles attached to the bucket while you’re turning the
basket. Maybe higher priced models have a way to lock the basket shafts in
place? Regardless, I can live with it for now. I just have to take it slow, and
remember I’m not spinning a load of clothes in a washing machine.
- I
probably shouldn't be complaining about this, because I’m sure the alternative
is much worse. The pin that locks the basket closed is a real booger to insert
and remove, hence it keeps the basket closed really well. Again, the alternative
I’m sure is much worse. What I would recommend for Frankford though is changing
it from a round headed pin to an L shaped pin so it’s easier to grab. The
little elastic cord provided on their pin isn’t stout enough to use to pull it
for very long.
Overall, I’m pretty pleased with this first purchase. I’m
now looking for a beam scale and bullet puller. Pretty soon, I’m going to have
to start cleaning out my workbench in preparation for setting everything up.
Be safe.
