How well does the ultrasonic cleaners clean handguns /parts

[bobthenailer]

Im only intrested in cleaning hand gun parts such as cylinders, slides & small parts ect. or possibly partially submerging the top half of the frame for cleaning , how well do they clean gun parts and what brand & model ( no lyman products ) do you recomend ?

[Awsar]

i cant remember the name but i worked in a shop that had 1 it worked great but they r pricey for the good ones.

[dragon813gt]

Why no Lyman? They don't make their Ultrasonic cleaner. You can buy the same one(minus the basket) at Harbor Freight for less money. I have not cleaned any gun parts with mine. But I did take the springs/balls out of my oil transfer pump that were severely corroded. I use it for water, not oil. I was impressed at first. But the parts did not get any cleaner after the first cycle. These were well beyond the level of gun parts you would be cleaning. It did clean them well but definitely not to the level I hoped for.

[bobthenailer]

Why no lyman products ? they did me wrong years ago when i bought a new scope , had it on a 22lr sil rifle for years switched to a 7 mag and the crosshairs broke in the scope ( lifetime warranty ) sent it back for repairs , i was told crosshairs arent covered by there warrenty ? cost me $50.00 in the late 1970, i then swore id never buy another lyman product period . ive sent back Leupolds, Redfields and Nikons back for repairs with no charge to me and i wasent the orgional owner of the scopes but I was with the lyman .

[cbrick]

I have the Hornady Ultra Sonic, it does quite well cleaning brass and parts but I wouldn't buy their cleaning solution. It's only citric acid and extremely expensive from Hornady. Buy the citric acid far cheaper from a soap making place online and mix your own.

Rick

[Walter Laich]

I got one when I was flying RC airplanes (too many nose first landings). It was one that a fellow flyer suggested--he was a chemist for Shell Oil, pricey sucker.

I use cylinder and slide's Dunk-it http://www.cylinder-slide.com/index.php?app=ccp0&ns=catshow&ref=Dunk in a seperate basket in the UC. Does a great job of cleaning out all the nookes and crannies. Also, since dunk-it has some kind of oil it in the parts don't immediately rust--in fact have to blow off the parts and dry with paper towels.

walt

[bobthenailer]

Thanks for the input so far ! but its not enough to convince me to buy a ultra sonic cleaner ! so keep you experinces comeing.
Thanks Bob

[John Boy]

I just finished cleaning MANY iron molds that were in salt water from Sandy using the electrolysis rust removing process. Each mold when pulled out of the bucket was coated with a black gritty oxide. I also have a Harbor Freight 2.6L ultrasonic. Put the molds in the ultrasonic with HF cleaning concentrate. After 5 - 10 minutes, the black gritty oxide was gone - the molds looked "almost" like they did before being in 36" of salt water including the cavities-no grit and no rust. Also used a brass brush to work off the hard caked grit. Oiled them and back in the plastic boxes - Done

Bob, you do whatever you want to do about the ultrasonics. You'll be just removing oil-foul and possibly dirt. Use a hand steam cleaner for this cleaning. I clean all my BP & smokeless firearms with a steam cleaner than lube them with Eezox. Been doing it for several years

[shooter93]

They clean very well but I use a small commercial unit that we picked up very reasonably.

[myg30]

I used one for brass and its too much time for what you get out of it. To sit there and babysit, reset the cycle timer for several cycles. For brass it was a waste of money to me.
A co-worker of mine purchased the high dollar one from a gun magazine with the cleaner so he could dump his pistols in there and he was dissapointed with it. Even with tare down of slide,bbl,spring etc.. A nitro patch still came out dirty with a wipe of the frame or bbl.
I understand the comercial units are the only way to go !

Mike

[bobthenailer]

Thanks to everyone who replied ! i have decided not to buy a USC.

[undrpsi]

+1on it not cleaning brass...I saw several videos on YouTube and how, in just one 480 second cycle, it produced shiny brass.

Bought the exact same cleaner at Harbor Freight and used the exact same mixture. Pored in some once shot deprived brass..pushed the button...and sat back with visions of sparkly clean brass in my head....

....4 cycles of 480 seconds later all I head was wet dingy brass....

...took a couple of mouse gun size handgun barrels and using a new solution shown (with video evidence) gave it another try.....several cycles later I removed them and ran a patch down them....just as greasy and dirty as they went in...

So I'm back to my vibratory cleaner...still have an open mind about a tumbler and steel pins though.

[cbrick]

[QUOTE=undrpsi;2005291Bought the exact same cleaner at Harbor Freight and used the exact same mixture.
took a couple of mouse gun size handgun barrels and using a new solution [/QUOTE]

I've got the Hornady unit and use my own citric acid solution. It does a fine job on brass for tarnish, boolit lube & carbon inside the case.

Perhaps it's the Harbor Freight unit and/or your solution because ultrasonic does work and works well.

Rick

[bobthenailer]

I bought Horndays gun cleaner concentate and borrowed a friends ultrasonic cleaner , it worked ok ! but what i was really intrested in it was cleaning was the build up on the front of a revolvers cyl ,which it did a fairly good job on but not perfecly clean it also left some build up in the chambers but i did not use a brass brush. it also took about 1/2 hr cleaning time.
So i ordered a Kendal brand 220 watt 3.L commercial unit on Ebay , with a heater and 2 tranducers and a all SS assy, which i belive might be made buy the same company that makes Horndays sonic cleaners as well as Lymans for. $185.00 shipping included , a savings of over $50.00 not including shipping charges.