ultrasonic gun cleaners

[Ex Pat]

been internet researching ultrasonic gun cleaners - the Hornady Lock n' Load looks like a well thought of unit - any thoughts, any recommendations (and if the Hornady would the 2ltr be large enough or would a larger capacity one be needed ? thanks

[beanz2]

I have the large one. Other than having to scrub the barrel, it really makes gun cleaning easy. Too bad it can only take up to 16” barreled AR uppers. Wish it is longer (wait for the comments lol)

I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

[Ex Pat]

thanks - do these cleaners also have a "lube" function/process ?

[beanz2]

Not that I know of.

.

[jdogg2000]

The stuff you clean in the ultrasonic will remove all lube so you have to be very careful to lubricate everything or you can get rust, etc.

[RandyD]

thanks - do these cleaners also have a "lube" function/process ?

If you look at the ultra-sonic process it is effective in removing the smallest particles, that is why dentists and jewelers have been using the process for decades. The solutions used will remove all lube. I assume that you could use a lube as a solution which would lube all parts and surfaces, which is not something you want for a firearm. You only want lube on the surfaces that require it. Also, that would be an expensive process.

[Ex Pat]

understand, thanks

[Uncivil Engineer]

The stuff you clean in the ultrasonic will remove all lube so you have to be very careful to lubricate everything or you can get rust, etc.

Just leaving the part in the cleaner after a run can lead to rusting. Yes they work well but as noted you must be ready to completely dry and lube any part that is cleaned.

I have the hornady locked and loaded cleaner references above. It works well. The only downside is the size. It's really designed to clean brass but won't have any trouble cleaning parts that fit. It does great on pistol parts, rifle bolts, etc. If you are going to use the hornady solvents be sure to use the correct one for your application. They have a specific solution for brass and another for general gun parts.

[yacko]

This is a 3 part process.

1 use ultrasonic with a gun cleaner solution. Then
rinse off the parts in hot water to remover the cleaner. Use compressed air to remove as much water as possible. Rinse out the ultrasonic.

2 use ultrasonic lube solution which removes the water and puts a light coating on all surfaces to prevent rust. This is run with the parts in the ultrasonic. Let parts air dry.

3 oil/grease as usual.

Lyman hornady and L&H all make the cleaner and lube solutions.

I bought a 'vevor' ultrasonic from amazon- much cheaper than the hornady

[sonofeugene]

Waste of money, IMHO.

[lastinline]

To learn about ultrasonic cleaners, I bought a Harbor Freight small unit to initially clean old, dirty brass. With 50/50 Simple Green & water, it works great. Tried it on a bunch of old shop tools, worked great. Acquired an old greasy, dirty, oil soaked 1911, and after completely taking it all apart, in it went. I let it sit in a fresh batch of solution and soak in the hot mixture for an hour, then started the sonic process. It cleaned every last bit of all the crud, hardened grease, old oil, and residual junk off every part, and after rinsing in very hot fresh water, using compressed air to dry, and brushing it all again with a gun preservative, it now looks like new; the original military parkerizing is totally intact with almost no wear, so it looks like a gem that an old lady didn’t want in her garage any more.

[yacko]

Waste of money, IMHO.

Uh... you molested a classic pistol with those funky rainbow proud grips....

Should anyone really consider your opinion?

[C.G.]

I love my ultrasonic, it is a Harbor Freight unit as I found the Hornady to be overpriced. Some people don't care for them as with almost anything you will get a lot of opinions that will have nothing to do with whether you will end up liking ultrasonic cleaning or not.

[unclerandy]

https://www.infanteultrasonics.com/gun-cleaner

[tuolumnejim]

https://www.infanteultrasonics.com/gun-cleaner

There was one of those on the GL auction a few years back, it went cheap.