Ultrasonic handgun cleanings ?

[Bonz]

My wife and I just joined a gun club and one of the perks is a few yearly ultrasonic handgun cleanings for free. Have never done this before or had it done.

Do they completely disassemble the entire gun before giving is the ultrasonic cleaning ?

Is it okay/safe for the handgun ?

[Lee]

Just me, but I'd take the grips off. I'd bring along a can of (Contact Cleaner) or your own favorite spray after ultrasonic. I'd bring along a can of CLP (or your favorite) for afterwards.
Don't necessarily expect it to clean up the "soot" here and there, but it will clean up the guts. I'd not let anyone else dissemble my guns. If there is an error in "disassembly" then that needs to be my fault, not theirs. Bring lots of your favorite wiping rags also. ;)
Just my humble opinion..................

[Bonz]

Just me, but I'd take the grips off. I'd bring along a can of (Contact Cleaner) or your own favorite spray after ultrasonic. I'd bring along a can of CLP (or your favorite) for afterwards.
Don't necessarily expect it to clean up the "soot" here and there, but it will clean up the guts. I'd not let anyone else dissemble my guns. If there is an error in "disassembly" then that needs to be my fault, not theirs. Bring lots of your favorite wiping rags also. ;)
Just my humble opinion..................

thanks, just not sure if I am willing to let them do the ultrasonic cleaning.

[iron mule]

bonz ask them what the procedure for this is
will this be a strip down cleaning //as in disassemble the gun and clean all parts
or just remove the grips and clean as is
also ask what chemicals they will be using
if you have the colored plastic/nylon inserts in your sights or night sights the chemicals may not be kind to them
mule

[KCSO]

We just field strip the gun and drop the pieces in the basket and 20 min later the grunge is in the bottom of the tank. You will have to scrub the copper fouling out of the bore yourself.

[pme166]

I own a big ultrasonic at home and my procedure is to wipe off the grease, lubes and anything I can grab with a patch or cloth. Field strip the gun and into a tank of heated mpro7 for 20 minutes. Let drip and while I am draining the mpro7 and refilling with L&R Gun oil I scrub the barrel. I then hit it with L&R gun oil for 20 minutes and then drip dry again. I then lube normally and reassemble.

It works best if you have say 5 or 6 guns so you can do them in stages.

Mine comes out "surgically" clean. So clean that it is hard to explain.

[Thin Man]

A local shop used to offer the ultrasonic cleaning for members' handguns. They used the same procedure your club has told you they plan to use - remove grips, field strip and give it a bath. They did not do a complete tear down. And then came the complaints. Several members cried that their favorite toy was having various malfunctions after the cleaning where there had been none before. The problem was tracked down to a reaction between the cleaner's bath solvents and the lubricant being used by the firearm's owner. The lube turned into a jell-o consistency. That could prove to be very unhandy on a CCW. All these firearms that were found to have problems required a full tear down with detailed cleaning to correct the issue. Strangely, after that full break/cleaning/lube all these firearms returned to correct function. With all this said, I have heard that several formulas of the bath's cleaning solution are being offered. I don't have any information on these to tell you which were bad, or even the lube used by the owners. Yet at this time none of the shops in this area use the ultrasonic cleaning process.

Thin Man