De-oiling after ultrasonic cleaning

Do you use ultrasonic cleaners for your guns?

  • yes

    Votes: 7 17.1%

  • no

    Votes: 34 82.9%
  • Total voters
    41
  • Poll closed .
There is a good reason for two steps. The first step is a cleaning solution. The second step was to both rinse the cleaning solution away and to apply a light lubricating agent.

This below information was part of the link I posted above:




Safety Ultrasonic Weapon Cleaning Solution Concentrate Non-Ammoniated

Product code: 215


Intensifies the ultrasonic cleaning process. Non-ammoniated to preclude surface damage. Eliminates the use of harmful solvents. A powerful surfactant maximizes cleaning with virtually no odor. Concentrated, biodegradable and environmentally friendly. Economical; 1-gallon yields 11 gallons of solution.




Safety Ultrasonic Weapon Lubricating Solution

Product code: 212


Blended and ready-to-use. Conditions and lubricates firearms after cleaning. All traces of water are displaced, leaving the firearm with a uniform, dry lubrication. In a matter of minutes, your weapon looks and feels "factory new." Economical.
 
I only use my US cleaner if when I have a gun, and it's almost always an old used gun, that is full of crud and unburned powder. I don't take it completely apart, there's no need to do that. I bought a well used S&W 4006 and I just removed the slide disassembled it and took the grip off, and put it in and let it do it's thing. The solution went black almost instantly. After about 10 minutes, the gun looked great. I let it drip dry into the sink, and sprayed CLP into the usual lube points, and wiped everything down with a gun rag. I racked the slide and dry fired it a few times, wiped off the oil that came out and back into it's case it went. About a year later, I took the gun out, shot it without a problem, and sold it, for a nice profit. It looked great.
 
Even if disassembling a gun would get it cleaner with an USC than not totally disassembling it, it sure gets it cleaner than just field stripping it and cleaning it.
Click to expand...
Maybe, maybe not.

Sometimes the ultrasonic cleaner will dislodge gunk from one place that might be easily cleaned to another that is difficult to access, where it hardens as it cools.

Think about small springs, roll pins, and other parts that you don't normally access or lube: after US cleaning, they will be completely dry. You now need to put some oil on them, so how are you going to do it? How are you going to verify there's no once liquefied carbon now solidifying with that stuff?

An oil bath goes a long way, but then you have to get rid of the excess oil. This goes right back to the OP's question.

Disassembly is the only way to honestly know that everything is free of crud and has enough, but not too much, oil on it.
 
Thanks again for all the useful responses!

To answer some of the questions:

I don't use the UC on rifles, because it's not big enough ;-). I would.

Y'all might consider googling "ultrasonic gun cleaning" and you'll see where I got the oil bath idea. The issue is that the UC cleaning removes *ALL* the oil from the gun. I mean, it's amazing. And that's obviously not good.

Point well taken about the firing pin/striker channel, but I suspect over-oiling is better than no oil at all in there. Which does bring me back to my original question, as someone pointed out.

The excess oil is definitely not good, if only from an aesthetic point of view. I take what appears to be a perfectly normal gun, and once I've shot a mag through it oil is coming out everywhere! Mind you, if I wipe it down at that point, it's pretty much ok after that.

Nice idea bout the airbrush. I need to try that and/or an air compressor.

As to gravity...YOU WOULD THINK THAT WOULD WORK. I've tried leaving the pieces in different orientations for days at a time, wiping it down before changing them. It's better, but not even close. Apparently (especially in slides) there are a LOT of little nooks that hold the stuff.
 
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