Thread: Hornady Ultrasonic cleaner

Any thoughts on the Hornady Ultrasonic brass cleaners? I received some Cabelas gift cards for Christmas and my local Cabelas has them going for $80. Do I pull the trigger on one or just stick with the tumbling? Thanks.

I was looking at those also. I ended up getting the Lyman one instead. It had a heated tank and a larger basket and came with 2 sample size bottles of the parts and brass solutions. I have not used it yet, so I can't report on the performance. I just thought the Lyman looked better built, larger and with better features (heated tank).

Forgot to mention... the Hornady ($80 sale one) didn't look like it had a large enough basket to hold a 1911 slide, but the Lyman one does. The Lyman wasn't on sale but it was still only a hundred bucks.

Has anyone used an ultrasonic cleaner for gun parts (slides) with night sights? I don't know if it might damage them?

I recall reading somewhere that Hornady has a couple models of their small cleaners. One old and one new, with the old one being discontinued. Could be all the "Sale" models are the discontinued. Were too small for most needs.


If I were to invest in an ultrasonic cleaner I definitely would go for the larger models. Even though they run in the $300+ range they hold a reasonable amount of brass as well as a full sized handgun (within reason). The smaller units also are a little "underpowered" in the transducer area. The more you put in, the slower the cleaning process. Kind of like trying to haul a yard of gravel in a compact pickup truck.