BCG in Ultrasonic Cleaner

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FishSqueezer

New member
All,

I just bought my first ultrasonic cleaner. I have a chrome BCG that I would like to dissasemble and throw in the cleaner after my next range trip.

Anyone else doing this?
Does it work? If so, what recipe are you using?
Are there any risks?

Thanks
 
Yes, yes. Use Hornady parts cleaner for ultra-sonic cleaners, it works great!

You risk your buddies asking you to clean their stuff when you show them your bolt!
 
I've got the ultrasonic cleaner from Harbor Freight. It holds
2.5 liters of fluid and has a built in heater that heats the water to 137 deg F from my testing. I started out with room temperature distilled water two ounces of Hornady ONE SHOT Sonic Clean Solution in 40 ounces of distilled water and then a couple of squirts of Mean Green Cleaning Stuff out of a spray bottle. The dilute Hornady sonic clean solution is a 40:1 ratio and is suppose to be used to clean empty brass cartridges but it said it would remove carbon too. I did a search on this web site for "ultrasonic Cleaner" and found this old thread and several others.

I know one thing. I can't use anything flammable when this Harbor Freight Sonic Cleaner is turned on. It creates sparks that can blow the thing up if you put something flammable in it for cleaning stuff. So be aware of that problem if you get a sonic cleaner.

The one from Habor Freight sells for a little over 70 bucks. I saw some Hornady sonic cleaners at the local gun shop where I live in Evansville, IN and they were selling for over 300 bucks if memory serves me right. So you can save some money if you get the one from Harbor Freight. The HF company also has a smaller one for about $35 that might work on a BCG of your AR15.

I didn't realize it until I used it today for the first time but it only cleans for about 480 seconds before it shuts off. And the manual said you can only do three cleaning sessions in a 15 minute period. I guess you can let things soak in it over night to really get the carbon loose with just hot water. But I'm worried about the metal parts rusting if I leave them in the water too long and don't clean them with CLR right after I take them out and rinse them really good.

The metal on my BCG looks like it's not clean and it's been like that since I got the gun. Perhaps its the type of metal that they use for these parts. Daniel Defense owns the Ambush Firearms thing and I've read that they are top notch. They DD have been around a while now but the Ambush Firearms division (hunting division) is only a couple of years old now. And they are said to make their guns out of the good steel from what I've read and researched. So I guess the way the BCG looks is normal. I do know that they use magnetic particle testing on the parts to check for micro cracks in the steel parts. That's one of the reasons why I decided to buy one of the Daniel Defense Ambush Firearms AR15's. Beside it was on sale at $300 off the list price. I was looking at it on the self at the gun store for over two months before they put it on sale. LOL. The $300 drop in price made me jump on it and I bought it that same day the price drop happened. But I've been wanting one for a long time now. I'm pretty happy with it.

As for other cleaners to use, well I made a list of some of the things that people in this forum said that they use.

I've read about using Mobile 1 detergent oil. Brake cleaning fluid (non chlorinated type). Hydrogen Peroxide and vinegar 50/50 mix. And a lot of other stuff from plain hot distilled water to a mixture of Simply green and distilled water to name a few off the top of my head.

Red Solution is another one but I have no clue what that is.

Kerosene was used by a few guys but don't use that in the sonic cleaner as it's flammable and could explode or catch the house or garage on fire.

Also don't use the Sonic Cleaner without any water in it or other fluids as it can ruin the Transducer. Don't use hot water as that can ruin it too. Not sure how that works as it comes with a heater in it. but I guess hot is a relative term. I used a scanning thermometer to measure the water temp of my sonic cleaner after two cycles of cleaning with the heater turned on. I started out with tepid room temperature distilled water and aftet two cleaning cycles with heat of 480 second each the water temperature was measured at about 137 deg F. So it go pretty warm IMHO. The manual said that it has a thermocouple in it that will sense the hot water and send a signal to the circuit board that tells the unit to shut off the heater or the unit itself.

I guess that the vibrations may also heat the parts and the water or solution due to increased vibration and friction.

I ended up taking the BCG parts out for the sonic cleaner and using some Hoppe's #9 and and Hoppe's Elite as well as some CLR to clean the BCG again. After two cleaning cycles in the Sonic Cleaner I was still able to get some gun powder (carbon) off the BCG parts using the CLR and some clean patches.

I Figure that i'll have to let the parts soak longer or get a stronger cleaning solution to use on these BCG parts.

I need a C.A.T M4 tool and the other tool that cleans the lugs inside the rifle chamber. I can't remember what it's called now. But it's sold by the same people that make and sell the CAT M4 tool. That's a good tool to have on the range to clean the AR15 parts before you get home or if you are out on a long hunting or shooting trip and want to keep the AR 15 in operation but can't get home to clean it with the other cleaning tools.


Originally Posted By: FishSqueezerAll,

I just bought my first ultrasonic cleaner. I have a chrome BCG that I would like to dissasemble and throw in the cleaner after my next range trip.

Anyone else doing this?
Does it work? If so, what recipe are you using?
Are there any risks?

Thanks
 
How long do you leave the bolt carrier in the cleaner. I've go my sonic cleaner form Harbor Freight and the manual said not to use it for more than three cycle in a period of 15 minutes. I guess the transducer can be damaged if you use it too much in too short of a time.

Do you let the BCG parts soak in the Hornady Solution? I diluted my Hornady Cleaning Solution 40:1 with distilled water.

I added some Mean Green Cleaner to the tank after the first two runs.

I ran the sonic cleaner for 480 seconds two times and then that was it. Maybe I should use it more?

I noticed after the sonic cleaning and a brushing with Hoppe's 9 and CLR the inside of the Bolt Carrier still had some backed on black carbon inside it. I ended up adding more Hoppe's and used a scrapping tool to get the carbon off that part. And this is chrome lines too. I would have thought that the chrome lining would make it much easier to keep clean.

I'm not comfortable using water on these steel parts. But I guess it's ok to let the BCG parts soak in the cleaning solution for a while and then clean them up after they soak.
 
Thanks for that advice. I'm not sure which of the cleaners have ammonia in them. Does Hoppe's No.9 have ammonia in it?

The entire bolt carrier group and bolt are not chrome lined in my Ambush Firearms AR15. Just a small section inside the Bolt Carrier where the gas tube lets the gas into the BCG to drive the bolt back or forward. It took me a while to figure out that it was chrome as it's down inside the dark area of the Bolt Carrier. I had to put a bore light down in there to see the shiny chrome. This area gets a lot of carbon in it as it's where the gas from the gas tube enters the Bolt Carrier and it gets pretty dirty in there.

I read today that Ambush Firearms/Daniel Defense use a Salt Nitride Bath to coat their steet to prevent it from rusting vs putting chrome on the barrel. This was something I read today on their web site under the FAQ section. But I think that they were talking about coating the barrels as they spoke of not ruining the accuracy with this coating. Evidently they think that putting chrome inside the barrel might affect the accuracy of the barrel some how? I'm not sure but I guess if they put that Salt Nitride Bath on the Barrel's steel they probably put it on the bolt carrier and the bolt too? I know that the steel is magnetically particle checked somehow to find any bad micro cracks in the metal before it's approved for use. They do some other testing or metal treating to make sure it's up to snuff. Shot preening maybe?
 
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