Alright guys, let's get straight into it. So I finally got my hands on that fancy gun cleaner machine everyone's talking about. Mine's the basic rotary type, nothing too wild. Honestly felt kinda stupid staring at the box when it arrived – looked more complicated than putting IKEA furniture together, right?

Figuring Out All the Fumbly Bits

First off, dumped everything out onto my workbench. Had this plastic tub thing, some rods with weird hooks and spindles, a bottle of cleaner that smelled like it could knock out a horse, and a bunch of little brushes and adapters. No clear manual. Just some pictures that might as well have been hieroglyphics. Took me a good ten minutes just to figure out which rod went where.

Here's how I actually got it working without breaking the gun:

• Filled the tub about halfway with warm water. Not cold, not boiling – just kinda warm, like a bath nobody wants. Poured in that stinky cleaner stuff. Directions said one capful per gallon, so I kinda eyeballed it. Pro tip: open a window or do this outside. That smell sticks to your nose.
• Found an adapter that fit the muzzle end of my pistol barrel snug. Didn't want it rattling around loose. Fished the barrel off my cleaned pistol – super important it's UNLOADED, guys. Triple-checked it, chamber empty, mag out.
• Stuck the adapter onto the bottom rod, then screwed the barrel onto the adapter. Felt fiddly, almost dropped it. Then lowered the whole assembly into the tub.
• Clipped the top end of the rod into the machine's chuck thingy. Took a couple tries to get it clamped right without pinching my finger – ouch.

The Loud Part

Plugged it in, took a deep breath, and hit the button. Thing jumped to life like an angry badger! Made a hell of a racket vibrating in the tub, splashing that smelly water everywhere. Seriously sounded like my washing machine unbalanced with boots inside. Let it chug away for maybe 10 minutes. Watched chunks of black gunk and powder crap start swirling in the water. Kinda gross, kinda satisfying.

After the Shake-and-Bake

Turned it off, pulled the hot barrel out. Dripped nasty water all over my bench. Rinsed it under the hot water tap until it ran clear, no more soapy bubbles. Dried it fast with a clean microfiber rag – didn't want any spots. Then dumped out the filthy water in the tub outside. Saw little bits of lead or copper flashing at the bottom. Metal confetti nobody wants.

Finished it off with my usual hand cleaning. Ran a bore brush with solvent through a few times, then oily patches till they came out clean. That machine definitely took out the heavy lifting part, the scrubbing. Barrel felt smoother inside than when I started. Messy? Oh yeah. Worth it for a gun you shoot a lot? Yeah, probably.

Wouldn't bother for my .22 though – that's easy. But for pistols I run hard, yeah, this noisy tub is kinda growing on me, once I figured out how not to install it upside down like a total knob. Just brace for the noise and the smell. Maybe do it before laundry day so your clothes don't end up smelling like the machine. Cheers.