How many 45acp cases in a Frankford Arsenal tumbler?

[KeithB]

Will it hold 500 cases?

Thanks

 

[ranger335v]

Drop them into the tumbler, turn it on and see what happens.

 

[Mal H]

If it's an average size brass tumbler, 500 rounds of anything larger than .380 might be too much weight for the motor to sling around. If you need to do that much regularly, you might think about a heftier and oversized cleaner.


[Added]
500 .45 ACP cases will weigh around 5 lbs. 13 oz. That is definitely too heavy. I generally limit the tumbler loads to 200 or so.

(I also weighed .380 ACP - 500 weigh a little over 3 lbs. That is also on the heavy side.)

 

[jmorris]

It will hold 500 cases, but I doubt you will have room enough for a sufficient amount of media. When I used to overload my Midway tumbler, the cases scratched together more than the media polished them. The large Dillon has no problem with 1000 45 but it costs quite a bit more.

 

[SDefender]

I have the FA and the Lyman 2500. As mentioned by others, the FA is not designed for this many .45 auto.

The larger Lyman should hold this many but I have not run that many through mine yet. I think the specs are something around 1000 .38 spl. The lyman also has an action that appears to be around twice as fast as the FA.

In my experience with relatively small batches, they both clean about the same in the same amount of time with the Lyman maybe being a little faster. I Use Lyman green cob media or a 50/50 blend with crushed walnut shells. They both work very well and clean and shine in about 1.25 hours.

I accidentally left 100% green cob in the FA running for about 3 hours one day with about 100 .40 or .45 cases and the finish was brilliant.

 

[mainebear]

I've got the small Frankford Arsenal tumbler. I just finished with about 160 45 acp. Handled that O.K. I don't think that it would do a quick efficent job with many more though.

 

[evan price]

It took me 3 loads to do 900 .45's in my Midway (same size).
Too much brass means you need more media to stop the cases just rattling on each other, too much media means it will start flowing very sloooowly and take twice as long to clean.
You're better off to run twice as many light loads.

 

[PsychoKnight]

Simple answer is no.

For 500-600 45ACP's there aren't that many reloading-specific tumblers available.
Hornady doesn't make the bigger M4 anymore, but the RCBS Mega seems to be the same design. The smaller sized Dillon should do it, as well as the Lyman 2500 (don't get the AutoFlo)

 

[KeithB]

NP, i will do 250 at a time

 

[jeepmor]

500 no.

I have the same tumbler. I fill it with media to within a half inch of the center stub where you would take the bowl off, and then fill it with cases until it gets that good circulation. If you overdo it, you'll know. When it turns over properly, it polishes a lot faster.

Hope this helps.

 

[bl4ckd0g]

My Lyman Turbo Magnum ginormous tumbler can be filled with over 1200 .45 ACP cases, but the results were awful. My walnut media broke down and I ended up with scratchy, dull cases covered with walnut powder.

I could probably get away with 500-750 cases if I use enough new walnut media.