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Backstraps, I have the smaller unit of the two models made by Frankford Arsenal because I usually process brass cases in smaller lots than most reloaders, but I do use it with the stainless-steel pins. I use one teaspoon of Dawn Ultra liquid dishwashing detergent and one teaspoon of citric acid per container of warm water. I've found that generic citric acid does the same job as Lemi Shine but at a much lower cost. You can buy citric acid in the canning section of Walmart, Tractor Supply, Rural King, Co-Op, or any retailer that sells canning supplies.

I deprime all brass before running each batch because it makes no sense to clean something I'm going to throw away (spent primers). I'll run for 30 minutes, separate pins from brass, then rinse brass in clean cold water. I have a dehydrator I dry my brass in, but many folks simply air dry.

The primer pockets and inside of my cases always come out looking like brand new brass. After drying I will check for cracks or any other damage, then size and trim the cases.

If you use stainless steel pins, ALWAYS check each case individually to make sure NO PINS were left inside a case accidentally. The last thing you want to do is send a pin down the barrel of your firearms. It could ruin a barrel and potentially cause injury to the shooter as well.

Good luck.
 
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I will generally decap and FL size my brass before cleaning. Or, if the brass (bottleneck only) is dirty such as once-fired I drop into my lyman 2400 using corn cob media and tumble for as many as 8 hours. Once the brass are clean enough to not damage a die I will lube, FL size and decap. Next they go into Frankies tumbler where I use about 5 sprays of Purple Power, fill up with hot water to cover the brass, secure lids, then get it rolling. And I like signal flasher eye blinding clean so two hours is not uncommon.

I rarely do small batches...don't like mixing calibers....400 and up for all my bottlenecks and about 800 for my 9's. After a couple of disasters with mixed nickle and brass I never SS tumble nickle.
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Okay so I know with yalls recommendations you know how good the FARTS are.... so no need for me to say how happy I am with mine! I came in today I had some nasty neglected 1X 243 been sitting around. Went 2.0hr with SS and sample packet of cleaner.




SOOOOO….. NOW I need another tidbit of advice please... what strainer-sifter do you guys use to separate the ss media from the brass? Thanks
 
backstraps said:
SOOOOO….. NOW I need another tidbit of advice please... what strainer-sifter do you guys use to separate the ss media from the brass? Thanks
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I use the Dillion Case/Media Separator. It works great. But it isn't cheap, I got it with the FART used. I use hard drive magnets in a plastic bag to collect the pins. I have a few mag bases with on/off switches I'll have to look for someday.

I also bought the Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Brass Dryer. My opinion is that was a waste of money, I wouldn't do it again, but some folks like it.

I deprime first then I use the Frankford Arsenal brass cleaner packs in the FART, with a shot of Dawn, run for 3 hours. Works great. I roll them around on a towel to keep them from water spotting and let them air dry.
 
I got the Frankie separator-seems to work fine...does tend to throw a few pins around if the two halves are not well mated. Or, that could be me as I go a few turns one way, a few the other, and as the water/weight drops I up the RPM's.

I figure thats why I got the magnet.
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Can hardly believe how much better my cleaned brass is now. So much easier and less time consuming

I did buy a different two basket separator that I really like catches brass in too strainer and pins in the bottom strainer. The FA magnet is a handy little time saver too

Also, had the idea shared with me a guy uses car wash/wax in the place of dawn. Was surprised as the compared results.

Again, appreciate the replies
 

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