Frankfort Arsenal Case Prep station

johnnyk

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Joined
Dec 24, 2001
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Location
Potters Hill, NC
Just got one of these a couple days ago. Anyone else tried it yet? Have only had a couple hours to try it out but it seems to work pretty good. Makes case prep FASTER! Imagine that.
I went through 20 .300WinMag cases in about that many minutes. Trim, debur (in/out) and clean up primer pocket. Case should have already been resized and cleaned beforehand, so opman says.
So far, I like it. You have to use same pressure when trimming or you'll get varying OAL lengths, kinda like finding your OAL with the Hornady OAL bullet gauge.
Check Cheaper than Dirt before purchasing elsewhere. Got it $30 cheaper there. JohnnyK.
 
I've got one and I like it so far. I had been using the Hornady prep station, but my hands kept cramping when using it. I don't have that same issue with the Frankfort.

I have only used mine for about 100 7.62 rounds. I have not tried trimming to length other than playing around with a few trash rounds. I had a difficult time in my brief experience with the unit to get uniform lengths, but again, I didn't trim that many cases.
 
I have processed around 2500 cases with mine ,really like it. It does take a little getting use to ,the tool heads seem to be made in China or the like, not perfect but usable for the price. I have used the Guirado? (spelling ) and actually like the Frankford better,when I'm trimming I hold the case in one position until it stops trimming ,then turn the case in the holder to get a more uniform trim all the way around the neck. Also turning the primer pocket on the tool head helps get the pocket cleaner. As I said the tool heads aren't great but for the money this will do a lot of work and comes with the tooling to do most cases. I'm very happy with mine.
 
Depending on when you bought yours, sometime last year they started shipping with better tool heads. I emailed their support and they were very fast with responses. I just gave them my serial number and they verified mine included the new better head tools. But if it didn't, they will mail you the new head tools for free.

Also on that note... they use a standard thread size so the tools can also be changed out for any other ones that go onto higher end hand tools. Lyman, RCBS, etc.

Obviously this unit is well priced compared to others. And I noticed a lot of the other case prep stations don't come with the case trimming capabilities. But another thing I like about this unit is it has a lot of torque and moves at a medium RPM. So it's reasonably quiet for a power tool.

I have also found that the trim length is dependent on how hard I push the case into the unit. That kind of sucks and I spend a lot of time with the calipers because of it. If anyone has suggestions on how to get consistent case lengths from this thing, I would seriously LOVE to hear!
 
Oh and another thing; and I may catch some flak for saying thing openly... I use the inside case chamfer to get rid of military crimps from primer pockets in some 223 ammo also.

It seems like the cutting angle is just right to not mess with the rest of the primer pocket. Goes quick, cuts the crimps right now. And primers still seat great. I've had no issues doing this.

However, if you try you are doing this at your own risk. There may be downsides from doing this that I am not aware of.
 
engineer40,

Once you get the depth or length set, hold the Case Holder Body and tighten down the Lock Nut.

I look through the Case Holder Body until the case is up against the cutter, then I remove the case and run a long nail through the side of the Case Holder Body. Then I tighten the Lock Nut down. I measure after my initial cut/chamfering/debur and make minute adjustments to get closer to the desired Trim To Length (TTL). This gives it more consistency.

The instrucitons (Pg 6, 4th para.) say when measuring overall case length some variation may still be seen due to variations in case headspace. The variation is normal and not an indication of inconsistent trimming.

Hope this helps explain it a little. JohnnyK.
 
Oh and another thing; and I may catch some flak for saying thing openly... I use the inside case chamfer to get rid of military crimps from primer pockets in some 223 ammo also.

It seems like the cutting angle is just right to not mess with the rest of the primer pocket. Goes quick, cuts the crimps right now. And primers still seat great. I've had no issues doing this.

However, if you try you are doing this at your own risk. There may be downsides from doing this that I am not aware of.

I do the same thing with mine.
 
Just got one of these a couple days ago. Anyone else tried it yet? Have only had a couple hours to try it out but it seems to work pretty good. Makes case prep FASTER! Imagine that.
I went through 20 .300WinMag cases in about that many minutes. Trim, debur (in/out) and clean up primer pocket. Case should have already been resized and cleaned beforehand, so opman says.
So far, I like it. You have to use same pressure when trimming or you'll get varying OAL lengths, kinda like finding your OAL with the Hornady OAL bullet gauge.
Check Cheaper than Dirt before purchasing elsewhere. Got it $30 cheaper there. JohnnyK.

Cheaper Than Dirt can go eat a bag of d@#&s! I'd rather pay more somewhere else than give them my money.
 
johnny, how was your experience with cheaper then dirt? I have not bought from them in a few years, but am interested in the prep station.

Don Dunlap gun)
 
It was my first experience and I have no problems suggesting them to others and I will use them again. I ordered the prep station, two boxes of Hornady .300WinMag brass and two of the new Ammo Vault cartridge holders.
I mean I ordered it, they confirmed it, next day it shipped and came the day they said it would. Only took 3 days I think. I did some quick research and checked availability at the warehouses and got everything out of the same whse. That may have been what made it so smooth and fast. Dunno, but I'm satisfied.
I have used Midway, Powder Valley and Cabels's for most of my reloading components and CTD was as efficient as the other's. :) JohnnyK.
 
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