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2wheelwander · January 23, 2020, 09:59 PM

Pulled out the used Super Redhawk I bought recently to give her a good scrubbing. When I bought it I noticed what appeared to be old, gummy oil in the cracks and crevices. She operated nicely so I didn't worry and figured it'd come off easily. I was wrong. Very gummy, very tar like. Whatever it was, I'd never encountered before. I knew the PO had shot cast lead out of it and the throat was filthy.

Ended up stepping to the dremel with metal polish/cleaner and it was still stubborn, plus didn't like the idea of hitting this pistol in certain spots with metal polish. I bought a 15L ultrasonic cleaner for motorcycle carb work a short time ago ($150/ebay). Figured I'd give it a whirl. For solution I just used the industrial purple jug cleaner sold at Sam's. Its worked well on my carbs and figured it couldn't harm the stainless. Very, very pleased with the results. I did not strip it whatsoever and just threw it in the cleaner. Though the grips were removed and the cylinder was left open. All nooks and crannies came out spotless. Rinsed the solution off with warm water when I was done, stripped the major components down and gave her a wipe down and a good oiling. Trigger is noticeably smoother and she looks new again. It even brightened up the white outline of the rear sight.

January 23, 2020, 09:59 PM	#1
2wheelwander Senior Member Join Date: January 9, 2018 Posts: 539	Ultrasonic gun cleaning Pulled out the used Super Redhawk I bought recently to give her a good scrubbing. When I bought it I noticed what appeared to be old, gummy oil in the cracks and crevices. She operated nicely so I didn't worry and figured it'd come off easily. I was wrong. Very gummy, very tar like. Whatever it was, I'd never encountered before. I knew the PO had shot cast lead out of it and the throat was filthy. Ended up stepping to the dremel with metal polish/cleaner and it was still stubborn, plus didn't like the idea of hitting this pistol in certain spots with metal polish. I bought a 15L ultrasonic cleaner for motorcycle carb work a short time ago ($150/ebay). Figured I'd give it a whirl. For solution I just used the industrial purple jug cleaner sold at Sam's. Its worked well on my carbs and figured it couldn't harm the stainless. Very, very pleased with the results. I did not strip it whatsoever and just threw it in the cleaner. Though the grips were removed and the cylinder was left open. All nooks and crannies came out spotless. Rinsed the solution off with warm water when I was done, stripped the major components down and gave her a wipe down and a good oiling. Trigger is noticeably smoother and she looks new again. It even brightened up the white outline of the rear sight.