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Old October 27, 2011, 04:48 PM   #1
TennJed
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Frankford Arsenal Quick-n-Ez Case Tumbler ..anyone have one..and Smart Reloader issu

Just ordered a Frankford Arsenal Quick-n-Ez Case Tumbler from amazon for less than $36 shipped. It gets good reviews on Amazon but wanted to see what you posters thought of it.

I had a Smart Reloader Nano tumber that worked fine....for 3 months. It now barely shakes and will not work. First exp. with smart reloader equipment and will now stay away form them
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Old October 27, 2011, 05:33 PM   #2
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Well, since you've already ordered it, this might be useful info, or not. I had this tumbler for about 4 years until it just up and quit. Spreading its cost over that lifespan, it was a pretty good deal. However, (you knew this was coming, right? ) I replaced with a Hornady M2, which I like a lot more. Much quieter, more capacity, just seems better made. Also comes with two lids, one to keep the dust in (indoor) and one that lets it out. The FA tumbler will do what you need, but if noise is a factor, you might reconsider.
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Old October 27, 2011, 06:38 PM   #3
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Thanks for the info. I went ahead and posted this because I can cancel or ship back for free if I need to...amazon prime membership
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Old October 27, 2011, 06:42 PM   #4
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I picked one of these up at an auction this summer with the media separater and about 35 pounds of various media. I think I almost paid too much at 60 bucks, but I can't tell you how it works, as I haven't even used it yet. Good luck with it! It seems like it'll do the job, but when I bought it, I figured it won't be one that I use for my whole life.
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Old October 27, 2011, 06:49 PM   #5
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I've had one for around 3 years. Still works like the day I bought it. Makes purty brass with some Nu-Finish.

I'm actually surprised it has lasted this long because as cheap as it was I was only expecting to get a year or so out of it. I run it out in the garage.

When this one breaks, I'm gonna make a rotary tumbler like the RCBS sidewinder deal. Should be super quiet.
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Old October 27, 2011, 07:18 PM   #6
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TennJed


Get a Lyman tumbler, have mine for 7 years and still working.

Jim
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Old October 27, 2011, 07:53 PM   #7
orionengnr
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My first one was bought used on eBay. It arrived inop. I found a wire that had come apart at a crimped connector. Re-crimped and it worked fine, for a while (less than a year).

Motor quit turning. I contacted FA, asked if they'd sell me a new motor. They offered to replace it, free of charge.

I told them I had bought it used and did not know how old it was.

They didn't care, and replaced it for free (I had to pay to ship the old one in, ~$10).

I used the replacement for ~ another year before running across a Cabela's(Lyman?) model at an unbeatable price. Gave the FA to a friend, and (although his volume of loading is far lower than mine) as far as I know he's still using it.

Summary: maybe not the best unit out there, but good people to deal with.
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Old October 27, 2011, 10:20 PM   #8
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I've had mine for 4 years, still working good.
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Old October 27, 2011, 10:56 PM   #9
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I've been running mine pretty hard for four solid years. It broke for the first time about a year ago... I figured "hard use device, 3 years is pretty good!" but instead of buying another, I took it apart to simply find a wire that wore out from all the jiggling and it cracked and broke.

When it quit running again, I went back inside to find another. Quit running a third time and I cut ALL the wires and pulled the cord in a bit, lost some cord length but stripped 'em and wire-nutted them and I don't see any reason why this tumbler won't run for another four years.

The motor is very well built and except for the wires, which take abuse, I think it's going to keep rolling along.

Smartreloader crap should be universally avoided no matter WHAT the product. It's cheap, chinese crap and if that's not enough, many of the products they sell are absolute, direct rip-offs and copies. Complete and total copies. Berry's has seen their brass separator out & out stolen by them and Smartreloader also copied a press and they actually copied a casting flaw in the original press when they completely stole it and made a direct copy.

Besides buying complete crap, you are supporting really shady chinese business practices. I wouldn't use that garbage if it were FREE. (but I'd take it if it were free, so I could destroy it and keep it out of someone else's hands)

We have some absolutely terrific companies building products in our hobby. Most all of them have proven time & time again how well they support us and this industry. They deserve our business and they absolutely deserve our loyalty.

Please support a complete and total embargo on anything marked "Smartreloader."
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Old October 28, 2011, 01:53 AM   #10
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Quote:
Smartreloader crap should be universally avoided no matter WHAT the product. It's cheap, chinese crap and if that's not enough, many of the products they sell are absolute, direct rip-offs and copies. Complete and total copies. Berry's has seen their brass separator out & out stolen by them and Smartreloader also copied a press and they actually copied a casting flaw in the original press when they completely stole it and made a direct copy.

Besides buying complete crap, you are supporting really shady chinese business practices. I wouldn't use that garbage if it were FREE. (but I'd take it if it were free, so I could destroy it and keep it out of someone else's hands)

We have some absolutely terrific companies building products in our hobby. Most all of them have proven time & time again how well they support us and this industry. They deserve our business and they absolutely deserve our loyalty.

Please support a complete and total embargo on anything marked "Smartreloader."
+1 I too support a complete and total embargo
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Old October 28, 2011, 02:03 AM   #11
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I would guess that all reloading equipment companies have some products manufactured in China.

Redding, Forster, and Dillon might be exceptions.

But I agree that Smart Reloader crap looks to be made with "profit no matter how chitty it is" as priority number one.

Lee's motto, "Let's make it work....... barely......" LOL
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Old October 28, 2011, 07:34 AM   #12
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I'm ashamed to say that I bought a Smart Reloader (isn't that an ironic branding) Nano earlier this year. I got a "deal" I couldn't pass up from CheaperThanDirt. It was intended to fill a gap as a bench top tumbler for small batches. I say ashamed because this was before I was aware of their despicable business practices with Berry.

It tends to run fine, but it does stop intermittently. I think that is b/c it overheats (I won't run this one unattended). I can't find any documentation that it has a heat fault switch (I suspect it doesn't) and the motor just quits when it gets too hot. That worries me.

It does a passable job with cleaning brass. I use a small amount of the Lyman media that is impregnated with a bit of rouge.

I will never, ever buy another product from this company. In fact, as soon as this machine gives up the ghost, I'm going to buy a Berry tumbler.
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Old October 28, 2011, 08:59 AM   #13
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I have the FA. I've had it for around 2 years. Got a 5 gallon bucket of brass a LEO buddy of mine let fill with water and stain the brass pretty bad. Probably ran the tumbler around 80 hours almost straight. Still going though. Good deal.
When it quits, I'm considering the Hornady ultrasonic cleaner.
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Old October 28, 2011, 04:12 PM   #14
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You do get what you pay for to at least a certain extent with these tumblers. The Quick-n-Ez is built cheaply out of mainly light plastic, is loud, rather small capacity, and with lighter media like corn cob the casings tend to sink to the bottom and vibrate in place against each other rather than circulate properly with a fast cyclonic effect throughout the media. I still have it as a backup, but I don't use it anymore.

The one I use mainly is the Thumbler's Tumbler UV-18 Industrial. Granted it does cost several times the price of the Quick-n-Ez, but it's worth every penny. It's an entirely different class of machine that I've but literally 100's of thousands of cases through. It's quiet as a whisper and can easily clean over a thousand 9mm cases at a time.
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Old October 28, 2011, 10:54 PM   #15
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For the cost of a Thumler's and the time required to properly run it... I am sure that I'll never own one. Their reputation stands by itself -- there exists NO better known brass cleaner in all the world than the Thumler's but I need brass to be a certain "amount" of clean and 5 hours with a lamp timer, a touch of Nu Finish and three squares of paper towel is precisely how clean I need my brass.

And I can do that with a sub-$50 vibratory cleaner.
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Old October 28, 2011, 10:55 PM   #16
TennJed
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i was unaware of smart reloader's stealing from berry's. I will definately spend my $ elsewhere. this is why I love this forum. Thanks for the info
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Old October 30, 2011, 09:14 PM   #17
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i was unaware of smart reloader's stealing from berry's. I will definately spend my $ elsewhere. this is why I love this forum. Thanks for the info
They didn't start with berry's! Lee precision for instance will not outsource anything they sell so this dumbreloader company comes along and steals their excellent classic cast press design and has it made in China, but they don't stop here! they also copied hornady's hand primer and then they ripped off berry's design.
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Old October 31, 2011, 09:24 AM   #18
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I have some 20,000+ rounds tumbled and no problems to date.
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Old October 31, 2011, 10:05 AM   #19
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Lyman

My Lyman 1200 is 20 years old and still going strong ! I guess if you like buying Tumblers the Lyman may not suit you . However if you only want to buy one it will !
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