Sonic Cleaners?

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Tactical Badass
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I'm thinking of buying one. Anyone have any recommendations? This would be used for pistol and AR innards for the most part. Also what do you use for cleaner? I have heard some people use Simple Green or something like that. How are they on Cerakoted/Sig Phosphate finishes? Inquiring minds want to know!


Thanks,

V
 
I have a surplus one from work that is large enough to handle my handguns. It does an amazing job, you can see the carbon and dirt just boil out of a slide.

I use Simple Green in it.
 
i have the el cheapo HFT 2L one from years ago (evidently newer ones are a fire hazard if you let them run out of water....) and I just use water and dawn dish soap.
A couple of 8 minute cycles with the heater on cleans AR stuff pretty good, although you will still have to use a carbon scraper tool on BCGs.
 
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Hmmmm, wonder if a CPAP cleaner will work on gun parts?
 
I have three.

Inexpensive ($99.00) Chinese’s Lyman model. Meh, not so good.

Surplus Branson commercial Dentist office model - works Great!

Grizzly model long enough for rifles. Also works great (and was priced great too).
 
I have the smallest hornady unit and use Zep Citrus or alternatively simple green. While the timer on my unit sucks, it certainly does it’s job of cleaning gun and suppressor parts with relative ease.

I have friends who each have the biggest Hornady and the one a step down from that, no complaints from them either.
 
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Will these things clean a barrel, or do still have to brush out the copper and lead?
 
Looks like Grizzly has everything on closeout.
 
Heck, I’d get that big one just to have the drain plug. That’s the one thing I don’t like about my Grizzly... lack of a good way to pour out the liquid.

The tank on that is a bit small to fit an AR in though. The tank is only 12.7” long
 
I bought a Harbor Freight one. It does exactly what I need on my gun Internals and jewelry.

I had some solution left from my other sonic cleaner, a Hornady. I don’t use them for bullets but it works on my gun parts


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Heck, I’d get that big one just to have the drain plug. That’s the one thing I don’t like about my Grizzly... lack of a good way to pour out the liquid.

The tank on that is a bit small to fit an AR in though. The tank is only 12.7” long

Yah, wasnt saying that one you could drop an AR in, but i was thinking one big enough would be great. Dunno if you can get a big one for around the same price even if it wasn't a Grizzly.
 
Can anyone answer my question about barrel cleaning, does it remove copper and lead fouling?

i tend to clean in batches, if I could put in 4 or 5 pistol barrels to run while cleaning and lubing the guns that’d save me some time and mess. Less of an issue with properly sized cast bullets, but FMJ’s sometimes make a mess in the bore.
 
Heck, I’d get that big one just to have the drain plug. That’s the one thing I don’t like about my Grizzly... lack of a good way to pour out the liquid.

The tank on that is a bit small to fit an AR in though. The tank is only 12.7” long

Get one with a drain plug. Check
 
Can anyone answer my question about barrel cleaning, does it remove copper and lead fouling?

i tend to clean in batches, if I could put in 4 or 5 pistol barrels to run while cleaning and lubing the guns that’d save me some time and mess. Less of an issue with properly sized cast bullets, but FMJ’s sometimes make a mess in the bore.

Copper and lead fouling are going to be more reliant on solvent than the sonic action. It certainly could help, but you'll still need to manually scrub that crap out.

I typically use a Ballistol/water mix (smells like a stinkbug smoothie) in mine and it works wonders for carbon fouling, general crud, etc. I probably use it more on things like old pocket knives, drill chucks, carbs and the like. Certainly a tool worth having, IMO.
 
Copper and lead fouling are going to be more reliant on solvent than the sonic action. It certainly could help, but you'll still need to manually scrub that crap out.

I typically use a Ballistol/water mix (smells like a stinkbug smoothie) in mine and it works wonders for carbon fouling, general crud, etc. I probably use it more on things like old pocket knives, drill chucks, carbs and the like. Certainly a tool worth having, IMO.
Old tools makes me think of cleaning out drawer glides on old tool boxes...maybe I do need one, a long one.

Also suppressor baffles, not to get them super clean, but a few min to knock off most carbon would sure be nice vs the mess I make with brushes and solvent.
 
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Tumble steel k-baffles, I like the idea. How about a Ti monocore? Maybe replace the steel pins with something softer like copper or tin?

Just a little nervous about an unknown solvent, there isn’t a lot of Ti used in carbs.
Brass pins would also be acceptable for Ti. I’d probably even use stainless steel.

The small HF tumbler might not hold a Ti monocore. The bigger one is just two of the smaller drums side-by-side, so you don’t gain the ability to do anything bigger. Would just depend on the monocore in question.
 
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