runnerraptorxc11
Member
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2013
- Messages
- 13
Well I've been a lurker here for a few months and decided I actually have something to contribute now. So here goes:
A few weeks ago I got my first Mosin Nagant from my friendly neighborhood FFL dealer. I read quite a few posts and articles and got a few tips from some people on how to best clean and refinish the rifle and I'm not sure that I'd seen anyone do exactly what I did in a post... but I'm sure it's all been done before in the end one way or another. BUT, in any case I wanted to share my experience on what worked and didn't work for me so that someone else might find it helpful.
I should also say that I didn't want to "Bubba" this gun. Hopefully you'll agree that I managed to preserve the aesthetic of it - despite the fact that I did refinish it.
Here's my greasy, cosmoline-soaked 1936 Izhevsk 91/30 as it arrived (all matching too!). That wonderful oil can that came with it definitely leaked all over the box too just because it wasn't gross enough already.
I decided to go with 4 gallons of mineral spirits and some oversized tupperware for the initial attack on the Commie Comsoline. I disassembled the rifle right down to the screws and dumped everything in for about an hour or so. A stiff toothbrush was then used to scrub all the metal parts down and... BAM! all the cosmo was out of the metal parts.
I opted to NOT submerge the stock into boiling water or the mineral spirits for fear of warping the wood. Instead I dipped a rag into the mineral spirits and used it to get most of the cosmo off of the surface of the wood for now.
Also, for anyone trying this... beware of spontaneous combustion of oil or solvent-soaked rags. Please take appropriate safety precautions.
To get all of the soaked-in cosmoline out of the wood stock and handguard I elected to use an iron set to high with steam. This was an advantage because it allowed me to stay cool inside while still sweating the cosmo out of the rifle, and also served to "reinflate" the dents within the wooden stock as a result of the steam. I essentially put a bunch of rags over the stock an ironed it, wiped off what came to the surface and repeated until nothing more came out.
I also burned the ever-living hell out of my hand with a less-than-cautious steam blast. But that's beside the point.
While my ironing escapades were brewing I had already begun the process of mopping the barrel with Kano Kroil (awesome product - I highly recommend it) every hour, on the hour, for 24 hours to loosen the dust shaken off the Iron Curtain that feel into the bore before the rifle was stored. No patches between. I just let it ooze down and re-mopped the bore an hour later.
I should also mention that at this point I began polishing all of the stainless steel parts within the bolt assembly with Simichrome Polish. GREAT stuff!
The next day I hit the barrel with a trifecta of Hoppe's No. 9, whatever solvent came with the 30 caliber Otis gun cleaning kit and Kano Kroil. I'd basically put a wet patch through and then dry patch it until it was nearly clean. Then I'd switch to the next oil or solvent and suddenly the next layer of filth was unleashed. I wish I could say this was a quick process: it wasn't. I used an entire bottle of Hoppe's, the rest of the small bottle of Kroil (ended up being about half of it) and all of the tiny tube of Otis solvent. I also probably used somewhere in the ballpark of 500 patches.
Something tells me there MIGHT have been a faster way... but this did work.
Following the solvents I went ahead and tried J&B's Bore Paste and J&B's Bore Brite in a very sparing application. I was actually really impressed with the products because they actually got the bore to shine and got that last layer of filth off. I know there are mixed feelings on using a mild abrasive... but the grooves in the barrel looked very deep so I wasn't too hesitant to give it a try. After that, it was on to bore-snaking it until clean.
Next I used Citristip to get the shellac finish off of the rifle. I pretty well ruined it when I took an iron to it, so it didn't take but 2 applications. I then applied the Citristrip neutralizer to the wood just to make sure that the stripping agent was tamed.
250-grit sanding took a while... hence the wine.
Speaking of alcohol, I ended up using EVERCLEAR and a rag to take the sanding dust off the surface of the stock since I didn't have a tack cloth or any more mineral spirits handy.
After that it was onto staining the wood. I used the Minwax pre-stain conditioner and was impressed with that product - as well as the stain.
I believe this is after 2 coats of English Chestnut Minwax Stain.
THIS IS WHERE I MESSED UP! The Minwax Stain I was using was actually a finishing stain. This meant that it wouldn't absorb the pure tung oil which I planned to rub into the stock after staining it since it filled in the pores of the wood. That was a problem...
So naturally I began sanding the stock and handguard AGAIN with 400, then 600, then a ridiculous 1000 grit sandpaper because why-the-hell-not. It actually made the wood shine and, dare I say, might have polished it a bit so it actually looked kind of pretty. Like an mail-order bride that's only been run over by a car once. I'm really just seeing if you're reading at this point.
I liked this so much better that I opted to not re-stain the stock with a non-finishing stain, and decided that I would us Formby's Tung Oil Finish.
Here is the result of 4 coats of Formby's Tung Oil Finish being rubbed and massaged into the stock until it was very nearly dry, then left to dry for about 12 hours between coats. I was really impressed with this product's finish. Did I mention that it contains VERY LITTLE TUNG OIL despite being a Tung Oil Finish? It's true - read the label. Pure tung oil (which I originally planned to use over the stain) is not the same as Formby's. Formby's is probably more appropriately called a "wiping varnish."
From this angle you can kind of see how the Formby's made the grain really pop. Mosin's don't have the nicest looking grain within their wood... I'd actually swear that my mistake earlier of applying a finishing stain instead of a regular stain benefited the stock by adding some color into the grain of the wood. Since I didn't strip the stock of stain, but rather sanded it, it appears to have left these bits of color in.
Since I was happy with the slight tint and smoothness of the finish at this point, I applied 3 coats of Minwax Dark Carnuba Wood Wax (highly recommended as well) for that extra shine and slight protection which it offers.
I then reassembled the rifle. I went with Iraqveteran8888's suggestion of using the Loctite C-5A to lubricate certain parts of the bolt - and was not disappointed. I also gave all of the metal a generous coating of Rem-Oil just because.
Here's what the finished product looks like!
Nothing like rifle that's about 5 foot 8 inches with the bayonet attached!
Here's a closer look at the wood grain with the wax over the Formby's.
And... of course now that the rifle was clean it was time to get it dirty again! I managed 3 moa in my first outing with it. I don't consider that terrible at all!
I hope this helps somebody with some ideas for now to refinish the wood on a Mosin and how to perform the initial cleaning! There might be other ways, and even more efficient ways, to do it though. BUT I will say I haven't found a trace of cosmoline, the bolt rocks (polishing + Loctite) and the gun is just remarkable to shoot.
Hope it was worth the read!
A few weeks ago I got my first Mosin Nagant from my friendly neighborhood FFL dealer. I read quite a few posts and articles and got a few tips from some people on how to best clean and refinish the rifle and I'm not sure that I'd seen anyone do exactly what I did in a post... but I'm sure it's all been done before in the end one way or another. BUT, in any case I wanted to share my experience on what worked and didn't work for me so that someone else might find it helpful.
I should also say that I didn't want to "Bubba" this gun. Hopefully you'll agree that I managed to preserve the aesthetic of it - despite the fact that I did refinish it.
Here's my greasy, cosmoline-soaked 1936 Izhevsk 91/30 as it arrived (all matching too!). That wonderful oil can that came with it definitely leaked all over the box too just because it wasn't gross enough already.
I decided to go with 4 gallons of mineral spirits and some oversized tupperware for the initial attack on the Commie Comsoline. I disassembled the rifle right down to the screws and dumped everything in for about an hour or so. A stiff toothbrush was then used to scrub all the metal parts down and... BAM! all the cosmo was out of the metal parts.
I opted to NOT submerge the stock into boiling water or the mineral spirits for fear of warping the wood. Instead I dipped a rag into the mineral spirits and used it to get most of the cosmo off of the surface of the wood for now.
Also, for anyone trying this... beware of spontaneous combustion of oil or solvent-soaked rags. Please take appropriate safety precautions.
To get all of the soaked-in cosmoline out of the wood stock and handguard I elected to use an iron set to high with steam. This was an advantage because it allowed me to stay cool inside while still sweating the cosmo out of the rifle, and also served to "reinflate" the dents within the wooden stock as a result of the steam. I essentially put a bunch of rags over the stock an ironed it, wiped off what came to the surface and repeated until nothing more came out.
I also burned the ever-living hell out of my hand with a less-than-cautious steam blast. But that's beside the point.
While my ironing escapades were brewing I had already begun the process of mopping the barrel with Kano Kroil (awesome product - I highly recommend it) every hour, on the hour, for 24 hours to loosen the dust shaken off the Iron Curtain that feel into the bore before the rifle was stored. No patches between. I just let it ooze down and re-mopped the bore an hour later.
I should also mention that at this point I began polishing all of the stainless steel parts within the bolt assembly with Simichrome Polish. GREAT stuff!
The next day I hit the barrel with a trifecta of Hoppe's No. 9, whatever solvent came with the 30 caliber Otis gun cleaning kit and Kano Kroil. I'd basically put a wet patch through and then dry patch it until it was nearly clean. Then I'd switch to the next oil or solvent and suddenly the next layer of filth was unleashed. I wish I could say this was a quick process: it wasn't. I used an entire bottle of Hoppe's, the rest of the small bottle of Kroil (ended up being about half of it) and all of the tiny tube of Otis solvent. I also probably used somewhere in the ballpark of 500 patches.
Something tells me there MIGHT have been a faster way... but this did work.
Following the solvents I went ahead and tried J&B's Bore Paste and J&B's Bore Brite in a very sparing application. I was actually really impressed with the products because they actually got the bore to shine and got that last layer of filth off. I know there are mixed feelings on using a mild abrasive... but the grooves in the barrel looked very deep so I wasn't too hesitant to give it a try. After that, it was on to bore-snaking it until clean.
Next I used Citristip to get the shellac finish off of the rifle. I pretty well ruined it when I took an iron to it, so it didn't take but 2 applications. I then applied the Citristrip neutralizer to the wood just to make sure that the stripping agent was tamed.
250-grit sanding took a while... hence the wine.
Speaking of alcohol, I ended up using EVERCLEAR and a rag to take the sanding dust off the surface of the stock since I didn't have a tack cloth or any more mineral spirits handy.
After that it was onto staining the wood. I used the Minwax pre-stain conditioner and was impressed with that product - as well as the stain.
I believe this is after 2 coats of English Chestnut Minwax Stain.
THIS IS WHERE I MESSED UP! The Minwax Stain I was using was actually a finishing stain. This meant that it wouldn't absorb the pure tung oil which I planned to rub into the stock after staining it since it filled in the pores of the wood. That was a problem...
So naturally I began sanding the stock and handguard AGAIN with 400, then 600, then a ridiculous 1000 grit sandpaper because why-the-hell-not. It actually made the wood shine and, dare I say, might have polished it a bit so it actually looked kind of pretty. Like an mail-order bride that's only been run over by a car once. I'm really just seeing if you're reading at this point.
I liked this so much better that I opted to not re-stain the stock with a non-finishing stain, and decided that I would us Formby's Tung Oil Finish.
Here is the result of 4 coats of Formby's Tung Oil Finish being rubbed and massaged into the stock until it was very nearly dry, then left to dry for about 12 hours between coats. I was really impressed with this product's finish. Did I mention that it contains VERY LITTLE TUNG OIL despite being a Tung Oil Finish? It's true - read the label. Pure tung oil (which I originally planned to use over the stain) is not the same as Formby's. Formby's is probably more appropriately called a "wiping varnish."
From this angle you can kind of see how the Formby's made the grain really pop. Mosin's don't have the nicest looking grain within their wood... I'd actually swear that my mistake earlier of applying a finishing stain instead of a regular stain benefited the stock by adding some color into the grain of the wood. Since I didn't strip the stock of stain, but rather sanded it, it appears to have left these bits of color in.
Since I was happy with the slight tint and smoothness of the finish at this point, I applied 3 coats of Minwax Dark Carnuba Wood Wax (highly recommended as well) for that extra shine and slight protection which it offers.
I then reassembled the rifle. I went with Iraqveteran8888's suggestion of using the Loctite C-5A to lubricate certain parts of the bolt - and was not disappointed. I also gave all of the metal a generous coating of Rem-Oil just because.
Here's what the finished product looks like!
Nothing like rifle that's about 5 foot 8 inches with the bayonet attached!
Here's a closer look at the wood grain with the wax over the Formby's.
And... of course now that the rifle was clean it was time to get it dirty again! I managed 3 moa in my first outing with it. I don't consider that terrible at all!
I hope this helps somebody with some ideas for now to refinish the wood on a Mosin and how to perform the initial cleaning! There might be other ways, and even more efficient ways, to do it though. BUT I will say I haven't found a trace of cosmoline, the bolt rocks (polishing + Loctite) and the gun is just remarkable to shoot.
Hope it was worth the read!
), but I started getting the cosmo off of the carbine with brake cleaner. So much to do and so little time!
)
