# Ultrasonic cleaning?



## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

Anyone ever had a rifle or shotgun put into an ultrasonic cleaner. I have a couple of really older shotguns I am thinking of having the whole gun minus barrel and wood put into an ultrasonic cleaner to really get all the minute crud and gunk out of....anyone ever do this before?


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## Lonetree (Dec 4, 2010)

LostLouisianian said:


> Anyone ever had a rifle or shotgun put into an ultrasonic cleaner. I have a couple of really older shotguns I am thinking of having the whole gun minus barrel and wood put into an ultrasonic cleaner to really get all the minute crud and gunk out of....anyone ever do this before?


Depending on how old, and which particular models, you might not want to clean them too good. If its not going to affect the value, then yeah, ultra sonic cleaners work really well. We use to use one with caustic(toilet bowl cleaner) to speed up the removal of bluing and case color hardening.

I don't know what to tell you for cleaner, something really mild though. And then get it into a solvent cleaner, and oiled after that. You would be surprised what kind of cleaners will etch metal. We use simple green to etch/oxidize aluminum, and it will pit steel given enough time. Just watch it close. I mention this because depending on the kind of crud, solvents won't always cut them. Especially small rust deposits and haze.

You can use rubber bands to attach Scotch Brite pads and steel wool to parts, for polishing in an ultra sonic cleaner as well.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

I have put my 1911 in a small ultra sonic cleaner. It worked pretty well.

Generally I prefer to just do a Prolix soak instead. It breaks down the crud without damaging the finish. And it dries into a dry lubricant. Smells pretty good too.


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## Lonetree (Dec 4, 2010)

Solvents like Prolix are fine for carbon and oil fouling, but on old guns, most times what you are dealing with is a combination of carbon, oil residue, corrosion and corrosion byproducts. You can have a lot of corrosion, and not see rust with the naked eye. Solvent cleaners won't take care of these, and while oil will inhibit some additional corrosion, in some ways it just adds to the "crud" prblem, becasue it soaks into the corrosion, and makes it look as though it is gone, even though it is not. That oil then dries out, and the "crud" continues to build up. The addition of more solvent and oil, will again compound this problem.

Plum and blue finishes on firearms are just controlled corrosion. They look good, and give oil a place to hold onto the metal, at a molecular level. If left dry for a long time, like on a lot of old firearms, that corrosion layer grows. Some becomes the red iron oxide that we know as "rust", and with the help of moisture or other things, that is where pitting comes from. 

Don't use non solvent, detergent cleaners on any parts that are not completely separate from each other. If they get into threads and other places where they can't be rinsed completely and oiled, they will cause additional corrosion and you will see bleed out.


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