Hornady Lock-N-Load Sonic Cleaner

[Charles L. Cotton]

I've never used an untrasonic cleaner for anything, but I wonder how Hornady's new untrasonic case cleaner would work with pistols? I'm not sure how they make an ultrasonic cleaner and sell it for $109 ($79 on sale), but it's tempting to try. I'm more than a little worried that it would harm the glue holding night sights in place.

It would be nice to be able to come home from the range, put the gun in the untrasonic cleaner, get something to eat, then come back and reassemble a clean pistol. Something tells me it won't work that way.

Chas.

[A-R]

I've had similar thoughts. On the particular Hornady unit:

1. Is the tub big enough for a full-size pistol?

2. If answer to #1 is yes, could a more gun-friendly cleaning agent be used in the machine?

[OldCannon]

So...short answer: yes they're awesome.

Long answer: Be careful with Glocks. Some ultrasonic cleaners can wear off the black finish on Glock slides if used incorrectly (metal slide touching metal basket, etc.), and supposedly Glock has a product warning about ultrasonic cleaners related to excess fluid getting into the striker cups, although I can't find it using my Google-fu.

Here's a thread on the concealed carry forums about it:
http://concealedcarryforum.com/forum/to ... C_ID=23266" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[PBratton]

I was looking at the Lyman unit. It looks like it's a little large unit.

[alvins]

i bought one from harbor freight. i wasnt impressed but maybe i didnt use the right solution.

[HankB]

i bought one from harbor freight. i wasnt impressed but maybe i didnt use the right solution.

I tried the Harbor Freight unit and returned it as it only cleaned items that were in about the middle 2.5-3" of the tank. (The HF unit looks like it has a LOT of virtually identical clones on the market.)

To test an ultrasonic cleaner, run it a bit (to degass the water) and then suspend a strip of ordinary kitchen aluminum foil in the solution, making sure you don't touch the sides of the tank. Take it out after 10-20 seconds; you ought to see ripples and perforations in the foil. If you do, the cleaner is working. If you don't, it isn't. (Be sure to try this in different parts of the tank.)

A chemist buddy of mine used to clean his guns in the sonic bath at work - the tank was filled with ordinary water, but the chemist used a big jar filled with his "special" solvent mixture (MEK was one of the components, but I don't remember if acetone was the other) and put the whole jar in the tank with the gun parts inside. Sonic waves went right though the glass and did a great job of cleaning the gun.

As for night sights . . . I'd be disinclined to use a sonic bath on plastic parts or anything that's painted or glued together.

[srothstein]

I had one Glock cleaned using an ultrasonic cleaner when GT Dist. was doing it during Glock days one time. For me, it really was as easy as you just described, Charles. They disassembled it, put it in the solution while I looked around the store (and made some purchases ) then I dropped a couple drops of oil on it and reassembled it and left.

Mine was not right after shooting, but I really had not cleaned it as well as normal the previous range day. I was satisfied enough to want more information on buying one, but not willing to pony up the money for the unit they were using (more than the price you mentioned by quite a bit).

[punkndisorderly]

Have no experience with these. However, Hornady does have two solutions. One solution for brass and one solution for guns/parts.

I've been going back and forth in getting one for brass. Seems like reviews fall about 25/25/50. A quarter say the do a crappy job compared to tumbling, a quarter say they're awesome, and half say they use it in conjunction with a tumbler and the results are better than either individually.

[mr surveyor]

wow... I used small ultra-sonic cleaners for drafting pens for about 20 years (often dropped a few fishing reel parts or mrs surv's jewelry in for occassional cleaning) until autocad finally sent all old drafting tools to the cave of the "forgottens" in the mid 90's. Last winter I finally broke down and started reloading small batches of .357 magnum, and fortunately remembered the ultra-sonic pen cleaner stored away. The granulated pen cleaner (still have almost a full container bought in 1983) works very good on most anything I put into it, particularly brass, but I would probably test out the glue items with some mock-up parts when using any type of cleaning agent. For that matter, I would test some glued mock-up parts in the unit with plain water to make sure the sonic blast itself has no effect on the glue.

For what it's worth, I've found a mix of half water and half white vinegar to be pretty effective with the ultra sonic cleaner when removing powder residue and lube goo from brass and stainless gun parts.

And, thanks for all the tips in the previous posts. I learned some new tricks myself

surv

[hpcatx]

I'm more than a little worried that it would harm the glue holding night sights in place.

This is my exact concern... and I'm not too keen on ruining a set of Trijicon night sights to test it out. If the ultrasonic cleaner can rattle the fouling loose, what's to stop it from doing the same to the outer seals around the glass lamps? (I'd be using it for gun parts and not brass.)

I've been pricing these out lately, too. Amazon has some good prices on units marketed for jewelry cleaning... my thought being as long as you confirm that the size of the basket will fit your needs, the same device should work on gun parts. With mainly compacts in my arsenal, it may be easier for me than some. Sounds like Mr. Surveyor has been successful in re-purposing his ultrasonic cleaner. Getting one packaged with a commercial cleaning solution isn't a high priority for me, so this may be the route I eventually go... but I'll need to do more research first.

[rm9792]

I have been using a US cleaner for years and the only time I had an issue was when I left a pot metal piece in overnite (fell asleep). The metal went all sorts of weird colors. I have never had glue or sights come loose. I always run a pistol thru it before painting as it gets all the oils and dirt out. I do place the parts where they will touch as little as possible and watch the time. the solution does make a big difference as to how well it cleans.

[alvins]

well i wouldnt be using acetone or mek on a gun. mek is even worse then acetone. they both will remove paint and mek does it even faster.

[Estand]

It's been a while since I have chimed in. I don't like to unless I think I have something valuable to add. And I tend to be long-winded.

I have the Harbor Fright one. I use it with L&R Safety Ultrasonic Weapon Cleaning Solution NonAmmoniated (http://www.gtdist.com/ProductDetail.asp ... ber=LR-215" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) I purchased from GT Distributors. It's a concentrate you mix 1:10. So to give you an idea of volume for the unit, I usually put 30oz of warm water with 3oz of solution. The jug will last quite a while and I was told it's the same solution used at GT for the Glocktoberfest cleanings srothstein mentioned.

To add comment to OldCannon's post... It has a removable plastic tray that covers the bottom. (http://www.harborfreight.com/media/cata ... _12061.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

So for performance, from MY experience if you use it for certain gun parts it works incredibly well. It has a solution heat feature that makes it very effective. After my experience using this for slides, I only use this for barrels, bolt carriers and the small firing pin housing (don't know what it's called) for my AK. I don't need to scrub any of these parts at all anymore. I haven't used a brush on a handgun barrel since. The solution will clean any and all residue and oil away 100%. After drying the parts will be squeaky clean and bone dry.

I bought this specifically for cleaning my slides because I don't know how to break them down and clean inside. I will add comment that one of the S&W M&P slides I used has factory night sights and the sites were not affected. My experience with my slides sounds similar to srothstein in that the performance of both the M&P slides was negatively affected. All I can say is when the slide internals were cleaned cleaned in such a way removing all lubrication the trigger pull beyond bad afterwards, as in trigger pull effort was double a Sigma. I thought I was going to have to get some work done on them. This eventually went away with usage fortunately. Notable to mention. I was told depending on the use you may need to followup with a lubricating (oil) solution to displace any water (such as in crevices) and lubricate. I couldn't afford to buy the L&R Safety Ultrasonic Weapon Lubricating Solution (http://www.gtdist.com/ProductDetail.asp ... ber=LR-212" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) sold by GT. I have used Mobil one syth motor oil instead for some applications.

[rm9792]

Mine came with a basket to suspend the parts in to clean them and a second enclosed tub that sits on top. The second tub sits about 1/2" deep in the solution and contains lubricating fluid. It works quite well.That would possibly solve the slide issue.