I'm about to begin using an ultrasonic cleaner. Anyone had any experiences to relate (other than home made recipes for cleaning solutions) on this subject?

I went into Costco the other day to have my glasses repaired. The tech put my glasses into a small ultrasonic cleaner for less than a minute. They came out very clean after she wiped them with a cleaning tissue. I asked what was in the cleaner. She said it was just water. The ultrasonic waves are what do the cleaning. The waves agitate the dirt, breaking it up. I don't know if cleaning brass is much different than cleaning eyeglasses, but that's my experience so far...

I don't have an ultrasonic cleaner, but one person I know claims that a capful of liquid calgonite in the tank (what size tank?) does a great job of making the brass come out without any stains. No ammonia should be use.

I've got one and am still searching for the best brew. It AIN'T plain water!

The cleaner works great at getting the gunk out of the primer pockets and inside of the cases. It is difficult to get the shiny 'polished' look that you get with a vibratory 'tumbler' with corn cob media or such. I often use the vibratory after the ultrasonic to get the polished finish.....

I've tried various mixes of water/vinegar/and a drop or 5 of Dawn dishwashing soap. I've kind of settled on 2 parts water to one part vinegar (white vinegar from the grocery store), and then 4 or 5 drops of the dish soap. It works well, but cases are not real shiney, clean but not real shiney. I have read about a product called Citronox (sp?) on 6mm BR and the poster here 'Lawndart' uses it in his ultrasonic cleaning. I have yet to order some, it was available at Amazon, but there stupid order system wouldn't take my order when I was inclined to order some a month or two ago... it sounds like it is a good option.

I have also read other folks suggesting using Calgon brand automatic dishwashing deteregent, I may try that soon.

It's worth you time to search the threads on 6mm BR on ultrasonic cleaning and read em IMO.

Hornady recently introduced an ultrasonic cleaning system, and they have a 'solution' available, might be worth looking into.

Good luck!

I've found simple green to work great on brass, handguns, pistol barrels, revolver cylinders, rifle actions, bolts, etc...

The US cleaner will remove paint (from sights) anodizing (from aluminum) so be careful what you clean.

To answer your question and I assume you are talking about brass, ultrasonic cleaning is the only way to thoroughly and safely clean a case inside and out including the primer pockets.

By safely I mean not causing any neck damage that is a potential problem in any other sort of vibrator or tumbler.

For all practical or everyday purposes a vibratory cleaner is more than adequate but ultrasonic cleaning takes it to a whole new level.

Vibratory or rotary cleaning with brass or stainless steel pins which is sometimes recommended to clean primer pockets can damage cases.

Ultrasonic cleaning does not polish brass, it cleans it and sometimes I use the 2 processes if I want clean and shiny.

I use ultrasonic cleaning for 2 reasons, firstly to clean brass for my most accurate rifles where I have invested a lot of time in preparing cases and secondly for fired cases that may be stored for extended periods of time.

I know you didn't want home formulas but for what it's worth I have settled on citric acid and detergent because it passivates brass as well as cleaning it.

I use one for rifle cases & it does indeed clean cases completely.
Just don't think a small one will clean several loads with the same solution - case dirt kills cleaning agents fast.

quote:

Originally posted by new_guy:
I've found simple green to work great on brass, handguns, pistol barrels, revolver cylinders, rifle actions, bolts, etc...

The US cleaner will remove paint (from sights) anodizing (from aluminum) so be careful what you clean.

new_guy, what concentration of simple green have you used? I have tried it with poor results...

Ozzie, what exactly is the citric acid you use, and what detergent as well??

I am considering buying some of the Hornady solution myself, and am trying to divine what is in it BTW.....

I
'I've had the chance to research the subject further while waiting for my solvent to arrive and have formed the following conclusions:


Home made cleaning solutions are worth every penny you pay for them.

In order to do GUN cleaning and DIE cleaning and TOOL cleaning in addition to BRASS cleaning right, you need to get a proper cleaner from either Brownell's, or L&R, or SharperTek.

In order to do all the above right, you need a machine that has sufficient power. 35 watts will not do. I got the one from Harbor Freight rated at 160 watts.

In order to clean guns and a sufficient quantity of brass you need a larger capacity.
I got the one that is 2.5 liters. I hope that will be big enough to clean a S&W 686 DC frame.

I do not intend this machine to ADD a step to my brass cleaning. I do not intend to use it for cleaning plinking brass. I currently do not decap match rifle brass before tumbling. I do not intend to do so before ultrasonic cleaning. I hope the ultrasonic cleaner will clean all carbon from the brass, but if primer pockets still need extra attention than so be it.

So far I have not yielded to the temptation to ruin any of my brass by cleaning them in a vinegar solution. I have cleaned some range brass in Palmolive, which seemed to to OK on the outside and inside of the brass except for the primer pockets which were cleaned with spent primers in place.

I say it did OK after examining the brass with a borescope.

I'm still waiting for my REAL cleaner, which FEDEX has sub contacted the delivery of to USPS--another subject--and one that pisses me off no end.

ama, I'm curious as to your comment on 'vinegar ruining your brass'

I have read about some potential ill affects if the brass is not rinsed appropriately and the acetic acid is left to attack the brass, what is your information that leads you to believe that using vinegar in an ultrasonic cleaning solution ruins your brass??

I have a Sharpertek unit, not sure of the power, but it is nowhere near big enough to put a revolver into...I have read a lot of different articles, and I do subscribe to the theory that a dedicated solution would be best, I sure don't know why you wouldn't decap before cleaning ultrasonically, what is your thinking there? Getting the primer pockets good and clean is a major upside to ultrasonic cleaning IMO.

I have a borescope, but sure don't need it to look into my brass to see what condition it is in.....What cleaner have you used previously when utilizing the Palmolive, or did you use that in a differnet liquid cleaning method?

Thanks for your perspective.

Excellent article...

www.6mmbr.com/ultrasonic.html

The 160-watt Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner. I may have to go get one for this price...

http://www.harborfreight.com/c...taf?itemnumber=95563

In my opinion, and that of other BR shooters who have tried acidic cleaners/compounds the chemical alteration of the surface of the brass is an undesirable variable added to the mix when one is trying to uniform all aspects of the cartridge when one is trying to shoot teensy holes in targets far away.


Many folks who have used acid--vinegar is an acid-- to clean brass have found that primer seating is affected in an unpredictable manner. It follows that then the interaction of the brass and bullet bearing surface is also affected. There are people who firmly believe that a little (or in some cases a lot) of carbon between the bullet and the neck acts as a lubricant and enhances accuracy. There are some well respected BR shooters among these folks. There are others who are just as respected and just as adamant who opine that the cleaner the neck, the better--hence the brushing to obsession crowd was born.

It seems to me that with ultrasonic cleaning we have the chance to prove one or the other schools of thought without resorting to ammonia or vinegar, which both radically alter the chemistry of the surface of brass rifle cases.

With regard to another use of ultrasonic cleaners--- I have just got my chemical and cleaned my first two handguns. One was cleaned to a degree I thought impossible and one was not.

The first was a Colt model 70 which I bought used some years ago and could never get 100% clean in all the nooks and crannies. After using Sharpertek cleaner in my Harbor Freight machine, followed by immersion in Browning's oil for UC machine use, it was cleaner than I ever imagined it could be and in fact looked like a new gun. I guess it was dirtier than I thought it was.


The second gun was a Ruger GP 100 with 6" barrel. This gun did not fit in the cleaner without letting some parts lean against the side of the interior. This is a no-no according to all I have read on the subject. I guess they who wrote those articles were right. This gun was not perfectly clean even after 20 minutes of immersion. The barrel was ok and the cylinder insides were ok, but the cylinder face and forcing cone/frame area was not clean. I have got those areas much cleaner using Kleen Bore's Lead Away cloth.

My next project will be to clean my Smith and Wesson model 331 (my carry gun and a model 60 frame) to see how a revolver is cleaned in the machine when actually following the directions.

Ama, good feedback. I am planning on buying some Citranox, but I wonder if that is just trading acetic acid for citric acid, and would have similar negative effects. I will admit to having tumbled my brass in corn cob after ultrasonic cleaning to polish and smooth it a bit after the ultrasonic cleaning--I will say that primer pocket cleaning was great with the ultrasonic, and seating them was consistent.
I actually like to be consitent regardless of the approach, and don't brush necks, but can definitely see the view that a carbon coating on the inside of the case helps things be smoother, but the cases I have cleaned ultrasonically with my vinegar based mix (gleened from the 6mm BR article) have seated very consistently, with no noticeable increased resistance.

Homebrewer, that is interesting on the HF cleaner, I wonder if the whole 160 Watts is for cleaning power, a lot of times a large bit of the wattage for these units is attributed to the heating function for them. The price is damn good.

I have some of the sharpertek cleaning powder, but it has not been effective on cleaning cases for me, at any concentration, very interesting how good it workedd on the revolver though Ama.

Neat stuff to be sure....

Some further observations on the topic of ultrasonic cleaning of firearms and related paraphernalia:


It seems me that cleaning your guns or brass using this method is not something you can do all the time--especially if you wish to live harmoniously with a female of the homo--allegedly-sapiens--species. It should be noted here that I personally live only with females of the mastiff and springer spaniel persuasion-- and they care not a whit what happens in the kitchen as long as it does not concern their food. And they call THEM bitches--go figure.

Anyway--ultrasonic cleaning is messy-- to your wife/girlfriend/mother/housekeeper it is unnecessarily messy. You will want in addition to the machine and the two bottles of chemicals (cleaner and oil) something to store the used cleaner and oil in since they can be used several times. You will want a method of filtering the chemicals. I found right off that if you intend to do more than one gun at a time you need a way to filter the cleaner quickly and that coffee filters are not going to be involved in that way. You need to do this all at-- in my case-- the kitchen sink, so if your wife/girlfriend etc. is out of town visiting relatives or shoe shopping that would be a good thing. Anything that keeps them out of the house most of the day will be fine, depending upon how open minded you are.

After doing 2 guns I decided that when using an emulsifying cleaner like the SharperTek I was using, one is better off letting the chemicals sit for 24 hours and THEN filtering than trying to filter right away. This may require some folks to separate for a while if not legally, than at least for mother--in law--visit periods...........

I have asked the techs at Brownell's whether they sell an encapsulating cleaner, since that seems to me as being an easier to filter chemical. Too early to expect a reply.

Anyway here are some interesting URLs that I have read. All but the one posted on the 6mmbr site seem to me to be founded in scientific and logical method.

ultrasonics.com/

http://www.p2pays.org/ref/02/01688.htm

http://www.sharpertek.com/

http://www.6mmbr.com/ultrasonic.html

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx...asonic_Case_Cleaning

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx...The_King_Of_Cleaning

Fish I can't compare the cleaners, since the SHarpertek I used was liquid. I am still hoping to be able to get an encapsulating non--acidic or ammoniated cleaner--we'll see what happens.

PS ----- I am one of those infuriating people who love to try experimenting with loads and cleaners and etc--especially if I can prove exaggerated claims to be the BS I thought they were in the first place.

You need to check the MSDS of the products you are using. Many of the ultrasonic solutions for gun cleaning are based on ethanolamines. While very good for gun parts given that most foaming bore cleaners are also based on these chemicals, it is not good for brass.

I have several commercial ultrasonic cleaners including one large enough for rifle barrels.

You need to select the correct cleaner to match the item you are cleaning and the manufacturers you mention have a distintly different product range for this reason.

In my reply to your original post I clearly stated I was referring to brass only.

As for brass, none of the commercial cleaners work any better than some of the home made ones. After all it's not hard to get the same chemicals used in some of the most "sophisticated" and expensive commercial brews.

Fish...For brass I have settled on 5% citric acid, don't confuse this with ascorbic acid, and add a capful of winscreen washer detergent per quart. This is an old NRA formula, not as aggressive as vinegar, doesn't need neutralising, just a rinse, and passivates brass reducing future corrosion.

I decap before cleaning and get spotless primer pockets. I suppose you could ultrasonically clean with the primer in but I doubt the pockets would clean up anywhere near as well, especially where the anvil was in contact with the case. I know Amamnn said he didn't care about a bit of extra prep later but I would be more concerned about the extra ash and debris that would end up contaminating the solution.

Remember that the solution can't be made new simply by filtering, some of the active ingredients are used up each time, why waste them on unnecessary dirt.

I have had no problem seating primers using citric acid as a cleaner.

Just ran a check on the MSDS of a couple of other expensive ultrasonic cleaning solutions. Not very different to Simple Green except in price.
\
You pay a premium for formulations that target a small consumer group and have minor differences in relative amounts of the various active ingredients. Ultrasonic cleaners tend to have fewer foaming agents for obvious reasons but the active cleaning agent is almost always the same as consumer grade detergents.

Ama and Ozzie that is good info.
And Ama, you are right you need a non-wife area/time to do ultrasonic cleaning

Ozzie, where do you get the 5% citric acid, I would like to try your formula. I am going to see if I can find the MSDS for Citranox, maybe it's closer to your mix than I know....also, just to be sure, when you say it 'passivates' the brass, I assume that means it leaves it in a state where there is not an ongoing chemical reaction, or it stabilizes the brass?


Good intel guys.

I'd like to find some source that can tell me who makes an encapsulating cleaner as opposed to an emulsifying one. My second cleaning session involving another 1911 was less than happy. I decided that it was because my cleaner (sharperTex) looked like dirty milk from cleaning the previous two guns and after sitting over night. I made up a fresh batch (BTW, the sharpertek may be a false economy as it requires a 1 part cleaner to 4 parts water mix as opposed to Brownell's brand cleaner [and others] which mix at 1 to 10) and this did not clean my second 1911 any better. I had heavy carbon deposits left on the barrel on both ends and the slide and frame were still dirty in the usual places.

I eventually decided that this was because no matter how I tried, I could not get ALL the parts to fit on the basket without touching the sides of the reservoir, something I am told id a NO NO. I did not want to leave some parts wet while I cleaned others at this point because my compressed air for blowing the water out of the nooks and crannies was not available. My son is ruining, er, I mean painting a car and borrowed my compressor, which is another thing some females will not let in the house.

The 1911 being a bust, I cleaned out the oil from the reservoir--spilling a quantity and prompting me to come up with a new filtering system. My coffee filters now work since I enlarged the hole in the bottom of the filter frame. All that distraction being dealt with I now decided to clean some more brass.

I must stop here and say again that I did not get this thing in order to ADD a step to my brass cleaning routine, unless it proves much superior to brushing my BR case necks. This being understood and also understood that I am not going to decap BR brass with a universal decapper because the flash holes are smaller and it will not work, here's what happened.


I immersed 12 old LC .223 rem cases in the sharpertek mixture for 10 minutes. 6 were decapped and 6 were not. After drying and examining the interiors of the cases with a borescope I noticed that they were just slightly cleaner than the cases I had previously done in a mixture of Joy dish detergent and water (about 10 water to 1 Joy) so I am still wondering about the value of the Sharpertek cleaner. Those cases which were decapped before immersion showed nice clean primer pockets and they and the previously Joyed cases exhibited no odd primer seating as has been reported by at least some of the folks using acidic or ammoniac solutions. After decapping the other cases, I found what we have probably all expected, that is, dirty--or muddy primer pockets.

So-------- I will be looking for a different cleaner-- I have asked the Brownell's techs several Qs and also L&R techs and hope for answers this coming week. I did not ask about MDS or MSNBC or whatever it was but I will read up on it. The cleaner I am using is apparently an emulsifier; I think maybe an encapsulator would be better always assuming it is not acidic nor ammoniac.

I have definitely decided that I am going to filter the cleaner and oil AFTER dumping it as trying to pour it out of the cleaning machine is hopeless-- this is a problem the makers of the machines should address. I have found that as things stand now, it is much neater and cleaner to siphon the cleaner from the machine and then filter it than to try to pour it into a filter direct. The same for the water displacing oil, with the added benefit that the water is at the bottom and can be dumped out of the machine easily, no filtering is required to get rid of the water, but there is still some grit suspended in the oil. Perhaps this will not be the case with a better claener.

Oh, and--I'm thinking about what someone said about the power ratings--if I figure that half the powder rating is given over to the heater on this machine-- then I am still way ahead of the 35 watt machines some folks are using.................I still have not figured out when to use the heater.............but the cold times are not over up here in the left armpit of America...........

Is this the same unit Hornady is selling but at a lower cost?

Looks the same except the color.

http://cgi.ebay.com/PRO-LARGE-...?hash=item335af3ea2d

No this is the other unit that Hornady sells. This one has more power and capacity for a lower price.
I am not sure, but as I recall Hornady was marketing a jewelry cleaner with their logo on it as a brass cleaner, not a gun cleaner. The capacity of the machine does seem to be important according to what I have read and experienced. Piling parts or cases up on each other or loading in gun frames that rest on the sides of the unit do not lead to efficient cleaning.

How do you locate parts efficient?

The factory where I work uses ultrasonic cleaners to clean steel parts and we just dump them in the basket and turn on the machine.

Both my larger machines have drain holes and taps which I run a hose from, makes life much easier and cleaner.

With larger machines placement is much easier, nothing against the side and no parts touching, much better cleaning action. The sort of machine Ted Thorn is probably talking about simply outclasses anything we would consider, the power factor in these industrial multithousand dollar machines just zaps away dirt with little regard to solvents and placement. On the down side they can damage delicate parts and anodising etc.

Good machines at reasonable prices can be bought on eBay. Unfortunately from China. Look under dental instrument ultrasonic cleaners.

One of my machine is an exhospital unit and they never reused the cleaning agents. They used water with a small dose of a special non foaming enzyme based detergent which delicately cleaned instruments.

I was trying to make the point that commercial cleaning agents can get expensive real fast if you rely solely on the machine to clean rather than preclean to minimise degradation of your solvent. Industry doesn't care about this, they just pass the costs on.

Fish, checking the Citranox MSDS shows that it is citric acid but concentration is given between 10 -30% so thats a bit hard to work out correct dose. It does not appear to contain a detergent.

Citric acid in small quantities is available in the cooking section of the supermarket if you want to try the system.

I'm not in the US so can't help you exactly but I bought bulk supply of citric acid online from a cosmetic supply, real cheap so I don't bother to reuse it at the end of a days cleaning.

I use any windscreen washer detergent I have lying around, they are low foaming and effective yet safe on paint and rubber for obvious reasons.

And yes, that's what passivating is.

Just to compare prices, Citranox is $40 per gallon on Amazon. Assuming about 25% strength that works out at about $2 per litre of ready to go solution, (told you I wasn't in the US). I make it for about 25 cents per litre and my buying price for citric acid is at least 5 times the price a company the size of Alconox would pay for it.

While I'm not adverse to saving money often the main reason for these home brews is simply that the commercial product is not available DownUnder.

The guys at 6mmbr had a couple good articles on this if I remember right.

Thanks Oz and AMA, I'm still tinkering, I am definitely not past buying one of the HF machines too, but with the Vinegar mix, my Sharpertek gets the brass plenty clean, just not real shiney--plus it's acetic acid, so based on ya'lls feedback, I'm gonna try and get away from it.

I will look for another source for Citric Acid and make a mix with some Windshield Washer fluid that doesn't have ammonia in it. I'll look at the grocery for some Citric acid.

I like cheap when it's good for sure!

I have an Amsco ultrasonic cleaner which I am looking to give away to a fellow enthusiast.
It is a two tank unit and can be hooked up to a hot water line and a drain - it fills and drains automatically if you want.
The second tank is for hot water rinsing. The lids are automated as well and it has a timer.
It was originally used for cleaning medical instruments and is quite big (about the size of a medium chest freezer) and quite heavy (mostly stainless steel) so a local pickup would be the most logical - no idea what freight would cost and I really don't want to goof with palleting it.
Pretty much like this one on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/AMSCO-SC1-...D8549916544406276642

I figure you could buzz 10 actions at a time or if you are not buzzing too many things, you would need to change the water/solution about once every six months or so. You are not required to have it hooked to a water supply.

You can buy food grade citric acid (sodium citrate) online from a number of places. Do a search under molecular gastronomy. Cheap in bulk! About $25.00 fo a 5 pound pail. Im sure I can find it cheaper in even larger amounts.

Huvius, what are the inside tank dimensions? Also do you know how many transducers and what the wattage is?

Mike,
I will get some measurements later today and see if I can figure out the wattage - not sure if I have a manual or not.

The internal dimensions of the tank are 24"X12" and 11" deep.
The footprint of the whole machine is 24" X 60".

I had a chance to try cleaning brass more seriously today after having been away from the ultrasonic stuff while inletting a stock.

So far I am not impressed with the SharperTek cleaning solution for reasons mentioned above, and I refuse to expose my Lapua or Norma brass to acid. Some of the cases I use cost nearly $1.00 each and the normal cleaning method has been fine so far.

It seems like small batches of brass in beakers will clean up pretty well using the ST solution, but trying to clean more than 20 does not appear to work well, either in a larger beaker or laid on the bottom (in a basket) of the machine. Small batches in the beakers cleaned up just as well using a home made non acidic jewelry cleaning solution I found on the internet, which included dishwashing soap. Just to try it, I did a similar batch with only the detergent (joy) and it worked just as well as anything else I had tried.

The ST cleaner is an emulsifier, which I already knew and conversation with the techs at Brownell's leads me to believe that all the commercial cleaners made for gun/brass cleaning are the same. The ST seems to be good for two uses and then it becomes saturated. I don't think my gun parts or brass are any dirtier than anyone else's so I am thinking I will try another brand next time I need some. It would be nice to try an encapsulating cleaner if there is one suitable for brass, but apparently there is not.

I have learned a thing or two so far. Small batches of brass clean up more easily than large ones--no real surprise. Heating the water (in the case of beakers the solution is in the beaker and the reservoir contains only water) seems to make no difference, but degassing does. The crap you clean off the parts/brass stays suspended in the solution a lot longer than you think it will. If you want to run your cat out of the house, just put 20 6BR Norma cases in a beaker and turn on the machine......I guess the noise is not nice to cats--the dogs just look in the kitchen and shake their heads, being a lot more world wise than the cat....

I have not yet successfully cleaned a large number of cases in the main reservoir, but I have 30 .223 cases in a new batch of solution now and expect great things--hope spring eternal--- my next experiment will be to see what this down to the bare metal does for my groups--that would seem to be the whole point of this type of cleaning if you believe that a perfectly clean neck will work better than a dirty one---this is a much debated point in the BR community. I know how well I can shoot with brushed and rebrushed necks. I have never tried to shoot a serious group for score with bare metal-- the first firing of new brass has always been for forming--we'll see what we will see--weather co-operating.

Ok 30 cleaned well in new solution. Trying another 30 now. I think I have been trying to get too much use from one mixture of cleaner--yet another reason to try another brand. If other shooters who are using Lapua and Norma brass are reading any of this I will say that like you I was not willing to add a step to my cleaning process since a universal decapper was not an option for BR and PPC brass, among some others.

I did decap my brass before cleaning without scoring my expensive custom dies by using my bushing dies sans bushing, to decap and therefore the process was kept, it not AS streamlined, at least tolerable. People so injudicious as to decap before tumbling will LOVE this method.

Next 30 cleaned up well. Apparently I will have to keep brass and gun cleaning solutions separate--PITA. These cases better show a marked increase in uniformity when it comes to the spacing of the holes in the target.

A note on MSNBC or whatever it was--the solution I am using is alleged to be good for brass cleaning and also for Gun part cleaning--after this experience and a call to a gunsmith friend who uses--not this cleaner but L&R, which is alleged to work for both also, the NCC1701 or MNOP or whatever seems to have no real meaning as long as you don't try to mix solutions used for one purpose with the other purpose.--So apparently--my guess was right-- I will not try to use the same batch of cleaner to clean brass and steel--one is for brass and one is for steel and never the twain shall meet or you take the high road and I'll take the freeway or whatever.........

Hi fellows,
Just thought I'd chuck something into the pot here. The photo below gives a fair example of the kind of cleaning you can expect after a couple of minutes in a half decent ultrasonic cleaner (the brass in the photo's was taken to illustrate dodgy practices in manufacturing but you get the picture...)

As to my own cleaning practices:
Decap first, helps eradicate bubbles and helps the "flow"
I use a 50/50 white vinegar/water mix followed by a bath in bicarb to neutralise the wash.
Lastly, wash in warm water, dry off (alot easier with decapped brass) and a tumble at the end.
Amam, you're dead right about keeping the missus happy, I told a little fib and said it was to clean her jewellery. I was sussed in a second!

I think I've gone as far as I am going to go with this. I bought the machine and chemicals mainly for cleaning revolvers, of which I have several, and my carry gun, another revolver, better than I can do manually. I also shoot a few pistols and would be cleaning them, but apparently the US cleaner works only on lightly dirtied pistols and almost not at all on revolvers, at least in centerfire.

I finally tried to clean my SW model 60 carry gun this afternoon after a session at the range.
First--keeping in mind what has been said about the chemical's PMS or BS or whatever, I tried using the same cleaner in which I successfully cleaned 30 .223 cases. The solution clouded up with crap right away, but after 8 minutes of cleaning, the areas I find most tiresome to clean (cylinder face and forcing cone area) were apparently unaffected. Same thing after another 8 minutes heated and again after a further 8 minutes. So---- PMS in mind I whipped up a fresh batch of chemical and after degassing, ran it for another 8 minutes. Still not clean in the areas I was interested in but--- The frame exterior looked like NEW--it was great!!! So-- if I wanted to sell this gun to some rube too ignorant to look inside--ultrasonic cleaning is great!!!! BTW, going back and cleaning the usual areas by hand was a real pain after driving out all the water with the oil as recommended. Also--if you think the bore is clean after all this--think again.


Another call to the Brownell's techs revealed that although their article about cleaning a .22 ruger was true--they were dealing mainly with loose dirt and carbon and they did not ever get a centerfire revolver clean enough with this method to write another article. SOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo I am not going to try another cleaner for gun cleaning. I am not going to use any acid on expensive match brass, but I will use the SharperTek cleaner to clean my match brass to the bare metal IF and only if I see some tangible improvements in uniformity and accuracy on the paper down range. If this is the only real use I find for the machine I will use the beaker method and Joy detergent to clean small batches of brass, when the SharperTek runs out, as that seems to work as well as the store bought chemicals, or any witches brew I have seen so far.

IMHO so far, I think that the purchase of an ultrasonic cleaner is likely a waste of money unless there is a great performance advantage to BR brass cleaned in this way. If I wanted to clean up a gun for sale I could have gone to my friendly local gunsmith who has a machine and had him clean it for a lot less than this experiment cost. Also it's MESSY. NO time is saved cleaning anything using this method.

BTW, I do have pictures of this last episode. They don't show anything positive, so I did not post them. They can be had in the next two weeks by request if anyone is interested which I doubt. I had pix of the brass cleaning, but as they looked no different than the ones posted by the Brownell's techs or the acid tester on 6mmBR.com or Haggis' for that matter, I erased them. I am not even going to try this method on gold inlaid engraved guns since, with my luck, that would be the only part effeciently cleaned to the bare metal............

I bought this HF US cleaner about a year ago. Primarily for cleaning gun parts, but decided to try it for cases first.





Those are some lapua .223 cases once fired, sized first. The cleaning agent is shooters choice aqua clean. Now I know that is supposed to be hard on the zinc, didn't know it then. The
ethanol-amines Ozzie mentioned are the culprit. It didn't seem to hurt the cases, but 8 minutes in the solution just can't do that much damage. This was 50/50 water/ aqua clean Get it here;
Aqua clean

Since then I have used the Aqua clean on several guns. My glock M-22, a SA 1911 45, and just yesterday the guts to my M-572 22. remington. Have you ever tried to get a rem. trigger group clean, REALLY CLEAN? Well let me tell ya this one sure is! It had been many years since I had it apart, it was pretty bad. The bolt and other parts were also cleaned to bare metal. The glock and the 45 were also cleaned to bare metal.

Just bought the 2.5-liter model available at Harbor Freight today. On sale: sixty bucks. Normally eighty. It's out in the kitchen as I write this, buzzing away. I bought a small bottle of the cleaner they sell. Looks like Borax. Just 1/4-teaspoon per full tub. I'm letting it work 3 minutes on my first run of .40 brass. I think it's done now. Let's go look...

They look fairly OK. I don't see them looking like little cylinders of gold. Have them in now for 8 minutes. The real test will be when I try a tubful of dirty, grimy, carbon-stained .223Rem brass...

I have now cleaned a few of various calibers mixed together, one of which (a .40S&W) had its primer removed. The crusty crap inside the cup was completely washed away in six minutes. The inside of the case was likewise totally clean. I think I'm gonna like this thing. Looks like it even gets the powder residue inside the neck of a .308Win case...

I add another 1/4-teaspoon of cleaner concentrate with every new batch of brass thrown in. Here's what the water/cleaner concentrate looks like after several loads of brass have been cleaned:

To close out my experiences with the ultrasonic cleaning system:

I wish I had got the cleaner on sale like brewer did because I have come to the conclusion that the machine and chemicals as they are now was a waste of money for me.

It does not do a complete job of cleaning revolvers.

It sorta kinda cleans pistols.

I can't fit larger handguns in it.

It is a slow messy process, not saving me any time cleaning guns or brass. In fact, it's a lot messier and time consuming to completely clean a handgun because you have to go back and clean the stubborn gunk by hand anyway.

It saves me no time cleaning brass.

After loading and shooting two different batches of nice clean shiny ultrasonically treated match brass (6ppc and 223 rem) I see no advantage to using this method of cleaning brass. Again it is slow and messy and no improvement in the downrange performance of my ammo was apparent, My brass cleaning was done with chemicals that contained no ammonia or acid and did not much affect the chemistry of the brass.

No one I talked to at Brownell's, or L&R, or Sharpertek, could recommend a cleaner that would do a better job cleaning guns. No one would guarantee that any cleaner they sold would be safe for engraved and gold filled surfaces.

The only use I can see for the machines as they are now is that ultrasonic cleaning will really make a used gun look good, on the outside, assuming no excessive wear or scratches. It will clean SOME of the grit from inside you weapon in hard to reach places. For instance, I removed the side plate and grips on my SW model 60 carry gun and was surprised to see how much junk had collected in there. Ultrasonic cleaning got all that out. That was all loose crap that I could have got out with a brush, though. The US cleaner did nothing to get off the really nasty stuff on the yoke pivot arm. Again, like the cylinder face or the bore, or the forcing cone area, I had to clean that by hand.

The oil bath you follow the cleaning with really got into those hard to reach areas. Then again, I have a needle oiler.

Maybe one good thing about using the US cleaner is that it makes you take your gun apart and look inside, and clean that mess once in a while. A little discipline would do the same and cost a hell of a lot less.