I have the Frankford tumbler, the Thumblers Model B, and the Rebel 17.
The Thumblers has a 15# capacity which includes the drum, water and 5# of pins. That leaves 2# for brass. 3# if you leave out some water.
The Rebel 17 effectively doubled the Thumbler capacity from 2# to 4# of brass.
The Frankford has a 30# capacity and handles it much better than either of the others their rated loads. The drum is also lighter. The drum has clever features that help the rinsing and draining processes. The instructions have a lot of good tips.
Over the weekend I did 3 batches of 1000 with 223 and 3 more of 500 with 308. I leave the pins out and the brass cleans itself on the outside similar to using walnut media, but shinier.
With precision loads, I use one of the smaller tumblers with the pins after sizing to get the primer pocket and remove lube. With the pins, the brass looks like jewelry when it comes out.
I have 2 buddies that have switched from walnut to the Frankford and never looked back. I couldn't recommend the earlier tumblers to them because of the capacity and hassle issues. They were good in their day for getting small quantities of rifle brass really clean, but my thoughts are they're pretty much obsolete with the introduction of the high capacity purpose built Frankford.
