Weight of FART drums

[C.F.Plinker]

I recently got the full sized Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler (FART) and went to calculate the maximum amount of brass I could tumble in a load. The instructions say that the weight of the drum, brass, water, and media cannot be more that 30 pounds. I got out the kitchen scale and found that the large drum weighs 3# 3oz with the caps in place. The maximum volume is 7 liters. Now if you start out with the drum full (7 liters) and start adding brass the level of water in the drum will go up and the excess should be discarded to keep the maximum volume at 7 liters. After accounting for the overflow the maximum amount of brass came out to be 12# 14oz. (Note for the curious -- the amount of water in the drum went from 7 liters down to 6.3 liters.)

I don't like counting brass any more than I have to so I got out my old one pound coffee can and and did count how many of the calibers I normally load for (38spl, 45acp, and .223) it would hold. It turned out that 4 cans of any of these would be less that the 12# 14oz max load.

i realize that I will need to redo the calculations when (if) I start using the SS pins.

Although I don't have the FART Lite I would like to run the calculation for it. I would appreciate it if someone would weigh their FART Lite drum and post the results.

Note to those doing the calculations themselves. There are sites that give the number if cartridges per pound for many of the common calibers and my old Butternut coffee can holds 1 liter of water.

[Bmi48219]

I use a pack of ss pins in mine. Think it weighs 5 lbs. you could weigh 10 pieces of the brass you’re cleaning and divide by ten for an average weight per piece. If they’re deprimed first = less weight and clean primer pockets.
I fill mine up (water, brass & pins) to where the drum begins to taper with hot water, citric acid and soap. I think if it’s too full the brass and pins wouldn’t bounce around enough to clean as good. Just my opinion.
I don’t know that the manufacturer’s claimed capacity isn’t just based on drum volume rather than optimal load for efficient cleaning.

[Sasquatch-1]

Load it up with water brass and pins and weigh it. No need to get all technical.

[kevin c]

I’ve never weighed anything going into my FART, but I can approximate.

I put 1600 to 1700 9mm cases into the tumbler (each load is sorted and counted after cleaning and drying, so I’m pretty certain on the amount), which is 4/5 full. Water to cover is 3 liters by the electric kettle used to heat it. The car wash and citric acid is minimal weight, and I generally skip the pins. That’s about 15# of brass and 6 1/2 of water. That plus your measurements on the drum puts my load at close to 25#. On the rare occasions I use pins in reduce the brass and water a bit. My FART is something like 5 or 6 years old and seems not to have overworked as it’s still going strong.

[NyFirefighter357]

I don't weigh anything, I fill the brass to the shoulder of the drum & I use about 8lb pins. Here is a chart that may help