Quick Review - Frankford Arsenal Case Trim and Prep Center

[Near miss]

I did not get much solid info before buying this unit. It came up as being sold as used and I grabbed it for €200 (€315 in stores here)

I have now handled around 50 6.5CM and 20 556 cases with it but I feel I can already speak for it.

Around the web I saw many commenting it did not trim well. I documented my case lengths to investigate how true this was.

Overall, I like the machine. I was very worried about the seemingly wonky trimmer blade but I realized that no blade can be 100% straight towards the shell and twisting the shell is required in all use cases.

The blades do solid work and I get work done in one single step.

Here are my short findings about the trimmer:

What I did before using was polish the shell neck indexers so twisting the case does not cause any marks. I used paste and 24k polishing cloth for 6.5cm and just few wipes with polishing cloth on the 223 indexer. I do however polish nearly all my reloading gear where brass meets metal.

 

[rustyinbend]

I burned through that product pretty quickly and relegated it to the "More trouble than it's worth" category ... although I do understand that it basically works as advertised. Got my Henderson Precision Powered Case Trimmer about six months ago, and have never looked back. That said, one product being a few hundred, and the other being almost a thousand (USD) ... means that it just doesn't work for some ... but I absolutely LOVE the Henderson product. Thanks for taking the time to log a review.

 

[Near miss]

Very true.

I hope it holds up my use for a long time. I have read that for example the Lyman prep center has had problems with plastic gears wearing out.
No clue if the FA has plastic gears or not.

I counted that the .01 long brass took about 16-20 seconds to cut and then I held them 4 seconds in both deburring blades. So around 30-40 seconds for the longest cases. Most cases go without trimming so the time spent was around maybe 10 to 16 seconds.

I usually use spare idle time for case prep so the time is not the biggest priority but the work on joints is pain after few hours (not actually pain but not very nice to keep grabbing 223 cases and twisting the manual deburring tool for few hours) and trimming with the deburring tool is crazy job. So, this was purchase was just waiting for me. Seeing it really works so well was quite a relief for me and thought to share it here.

Thanks for reading and commenting.

 

[Dot3]

I have the FA universal trimmer (only) that Chuck’s up in a drill. Yes, it’s necessary to turn the case, but for under $100 at the time of purchase, I have been very impressed with it. All my reloading gear is fairly budget, and this is no different, but if I had to give up one piece of gear, this trimmer would not be it. The drill turns it much faster so the dwell time is much shorter. There is a little chatter when I trim 5.56 I think due to the case diameter being so close to the middle of the cutter??? But on 260 and 30-06 brass, it’s almost butter. I’ve read, but have not verified, that you can replace the cutter with something harder and more robust. I don’t have to yet, but I’ve only run ~1500 pieces through it. I can’t speak for the whole case prep assembly, but for someone on a budget looking to maximize their time at the bench, this trimmer gets my vote.

ETA: when there is a case length variance, it has ALWAYS been due to a variance at the shoulder

 

[Clem]

I've been using mine for a couple of years and I quite dig it for what it is. I've no experience with other more premium options, but it certainly gets the job done well. I've also found it definitely requires turning while trimming and any oal variations are a result of base-to-shoulder variations.

 

[Near miss]

The brass I did on earlier tests was hard as rock (overloaded sako brass and Sellier's quality is quite poor) so I did another run with box of fresh shot 308 Norma brass a fellow gave me at the range for helping him out.

Towards the end I was a little bit lazy to hold/twist the cases against the blade but I cannot see it from the numbers really.

And now is the time to remind that with most of the results on this test are so close to each other that my measuring skills (half thou to thou) matter more than the machine. Which is great news for the appliance itself, I guess. It is a testament of functionality to me.

And this is with a cutter blade that is off-axis. It really wiggles and I intend to try to straighten the blade soon.

Behold, the grand test!

metric imperial
aft trim aft trim
5073 1997
5071 1996
5075 1998
5075 1998
5074 1998
5074 1998
5075 1998
5075 1998
5073 1997
5074 1998
5074 1998
5074 1998
5074 1998
5072 1997
5074 1998
5075 1998
5074 1998
5072 1997
5074 1998
5074 1998
5074 1998
5075 1998
5075 1998
5075 1998
5076 1998
5072 1997
5076 1998
5075 1998
5074 1998
5072 1997
5074 1998
5076 1998
5077 1999
5075 1998
5074 1998
5076 1998
5075 1998
5075 1998
5074 1998
5075 1998
5073 1997
5074 1998
5074 1998
5074 1998
5074 1998
5073 1997
5073 1997
5074 1998
5074 1998
5073 1997
5074 1998
5074 1998
5074 1998
5074 1998
5076 1998
5072 1997
5073 1997
5075 1998
5075 1998
5075 1998
5074 1998
5074 1998
5074 1998
5075 1998
5075 1998
5074 1998
5074 1998
SD 1,1 SD 0,4

 

[Clem]

Thanks for taking the time to share this. Very helpful info.

 

[Near miss]

And last but least, my fix to the blade bit which is crooked.

I put an O-ring under it and it acts as a cushion, straightening it out. Below is also video of before and after. I only fixed the blade now, the results above were made with the crooked blade.

Frankford arsenal trimmer fix.mp4

MP4 File

1drv.ms

 

[TexT-Rex]

I have the FA Platinum Prep Center which I think is the same as yours, 4-stations including trim. I read the reviews about inconsistent trim, and I came to a conclusion after processing about 500 cases... I suspect the issue with inconsistent trim is not the fault of the machine but inconsistent brass prep before trimming, for example, inconsistent shoulder bump WILL cause the trimmer to trim inconsistent lengths. I also found the FA uses the same screw pattern as RCBS trimmer, so I got an RCBS cutter and installed. I am looking for an RCBS carbide cutter, but they are out of stock everywhere right now. When I begin processing brass my streps are: 1) Anneal (after every firing) 2) Case lube 3) full length size with 0.002" shoulder bump 4) Trim, chamfer, deburr, primer pocket clean (these 4 steps on FA) 5) Sonic clean. I can trim most cases in under 5-seconds, none take more than 10-seconds. I think on 300 Win Mag most have around 0.020" to trim. I clean the cutter head every 20 or so cases with a brush and vacuum. I don't doubt there are better machines out there for trimming brass, but if you feed the FA consistently prepped brass, it does a terrific job, and is MUCH faster than my old process of batching where I trimmed each case, then chamfered each, then deburred each, etc. I'm happy to have the FA Prep Center and if I can ever find a carbide cutter, I think it will be that much better!

 

[Gtar]

I've got one of the drill mounted FA trimmers, I put a carbide cutter in it and it made a big difference. I spin the cases as it's trimming and get +/- .001" consistently.

 

[Near miss]

What the carbide cutter does better? Just does not wear out?

 

[TexT-Rex]

Maintains sharpness, does not wear out... Carbide cutter would make this thing sooooo much better. RCBS part # 90250 I think. Out of stock everywhere and has been for 6-months. I even think the RCBS steel cutter is superior to the one that came on the FA. I made that switch within days of having the machine, and cutting with RCBS cutter was a noticeable improvement. The steel version is around $20 USD. Carbide version if you could find it is around $49 to $70 USD.

 

[Near miss]

I only found one shop selling it here and it was out. But they have lyman carbide cutter #11192, would it be good? Should I get it?

I guess the blades have differences in metal composition and more likely heat treatment as all other stuff but I have so far been pretty ok. But, I know that once the blade has lost the best edge, as in slightly dull, cutting becomes aggravating. I think I can maybe sharpen the cutter by hand but the deburring tools are nearly impossible to get to factory sharpness / edges even though I have lots of experince sharpening by hand. They probably take some training to handle them better.

The cutting times mentioned above were with the wonky blade and once I fixed it, it is cutting the brass very quickly now. I also feed it both 224, 6.5 and 308 brass so the blade is being worked in different spots, therefore making it last longer.

 

[Gtar]

What the carbide cutter does better? Just does not wear out?

It is much sharper and stays that way for a long time. It slices the brass off instead of wearing and burring it. I was really disapointed with the way it cut when I bought it but the carbide cutter fixed it. I temporarily mounted mine to a cheap drill sharpener motor and it's stayed that way, I might mount it up properly one day. It's very quick to run a couple of hundred cases through.

 

[TexT-Rex]

I only found one shop selling it here and it was out. But they have lyman carbide cutter #11192, would it be good? Should I get it?

I guess the blades have differences in metal composition and more likely heat treatment as all other stuff but I have so far been pretty ok. But, I know that once the blade has lost the best edge, as in slightly dull, cutting becomes aggravating. I think I can maybe sharpen the cutter by hand but the deburring tools are nearly impossible to get to factory sharpness / edges even though I have lots of experince sharpening by hand. They probably take some training to handle them better.

The cutting times mentioned above were with the wonky blade and once I fixed it, it is cutting the brass very quickly now. I also feed it both 224, 6.5 and 308 brass so the blade is being worked in different spots, therefore making it last longer.

From what I recall reading, the Lyman stuff does not have the same thread pattern as FA and RCBS...

 

[Near miss]

Thanks for letting me know. I swiftly dug around and found this advice which confirms your doubt: