Cosmoline

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There's lots of it around, which means it's easy to loose track of the good info in all the other crud. Heating the wood repeatedly in the oven and wiping it down and Break Free Powder Blast for the metal got my Yugo SKS cleaned up without a ton of work. Lots of waiting with it in the oven.

http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting/cosmoline/index.asp

The bit about the steam cleaner is dead-on. If you can get your hands on one of those cheap hand-held steam cleaners, it'll make your life soooo much easier. Just soak the parts in degreaser (like Simple Green), then steam the gunk away.

This forum is great, do a search you'll find good info, buuut, by far the most authoritative forum I found specificall on this subject is here:

http://p077.ezboard.com/fparallaxscurioandrelicfirearmsforumsfrm34

Simple Green or 725 Degreaser from SLIP-2000 does a pretty good job on cosmoline. Haven't tested it on wood though.

Techbrute...did you pick up a new toy?

I use purple power and mineral spirits on the metal, and lemon oil on the stock.
I usually strip the firearm, put all the small pieces in a Rubbermaid container to soak in mineral oil, pop a movie in, and start scrubbing the barrel and receiver.

Once that’s done I move on to the stock, then I’m ready for the bolt and small pieces. Usually by that point the small pieces are easy and the cosmoline wipes right off.

Ok, are we gonna see it in the rain tomorrow at Gibson's?



Real battlerifles don't rot. Oh wait...I own Swedes and a Garand. Nevermind. I had FAL on the brain.

Regards,
Rabbit.

Old thread, but I ran out of non chlorinated break cleaner so I tried the Milcom MC25 degreaser. It cut through the cosmoline very quickly on my Yugo SKS. +1 o several of the posts above, any degreaser will break down the cosmoline, the question is time, effort and odor.

Take the stock off, the bolt out and drop the whole thing into a vat of mineral spirits and leave it there for 24 hours. Wipe off the gunk with lint free rags. Oil the metal and at least BLO the wood.
Do not dump the resulting slug down any drain. It's toxic.

Nothing strips off cosmoline faster than kerosene. A little kero in a tub, drop all the metal parts in, hit them lightly with a brush and done.

Kerosene or Brake Kleen if you'd rather use an aerosol.

Elbow grease works well . . .

I own dozens of C&R surplus guns and Jackal hit the nail right on the head. I have found nothing better than Kerosene. It is not highly flammable, it doesn't render a room uninhabitable because of its fumes, and it dissolves the cosmoline very quickly. I soak parts for an hour of so, remove them, and blow them off with compressed air. Then I spray them with brake cleaner to eliminate any residual cosmoline, let them air dry, oil and ready to go. I use lemon oil for the wood.

Somewhere I have the details with pictures on making a cosmoline remover: short section (~1 ft longer than the longest rifle you want to degrease) of any type of flue pipe (aluminum) about 4"-6" in diameter) with a larger square register on one end suitable to situate a small space heater in. Angle the pipe down to a collection pan, place the stock/handguards in it, turn on the heater, then crank it up on low. After 10-12 hours it will be dry... If not, do it again, and I guarantee it will dry the wood out eventually. Had one I made but gave it away years ago - so make one, and pay it forward...

Depends on the weapon.

Option #1: If it's something really nice or historically significant, I use Goo Gone lemon cleaner and a bunch of rags, then bake the stock several times, wiping it down repeatedly between each heat cycle.

Option #2: (My favorite for dealing with grease drenched beater 59/66's and M-48's ONLY if planning on refinishing the stock) was to take them apart and run the whole mess through the dish washer on the "pots and pans" cycle with some Cascade. Don't use the heated drying feature, it'll cause rust.

After it's done washing, blow it out with compressed air and put the metal parts in front of a blow dryer set on high until they're too hot to touch. Then oil everything down, clean the bore with Sweets 7.62, let the stock dry out good and hit it with a couple coats of Lin-Speed Oil, you're done.

Almost forgot, run the dishwasher again while it's empty. Fill the open part of the detergent dispenser with Cascade and the part that opens up part way through the cycle with Lemi-Shine (it's not just for shiny brass anymore ).

The inside of your dishwasher will look like it's brand new, cosmoline, rust stains and old funk all gone.

Do this BEFORE your better half gets home If you know what's good for you.

You're on your own with the oven if you use option #1.

I was only dumb enough to use the one in the kitchen once, after that I just put the stocks out in the hot Texas sun to cook the grease out. It takes a lot longer to get the oil out of the wood, but you don't spend near as much time cleaning the oven or shopping for divorce lawyers.

Odorless mineral spirits... great stuff that easily removes the cosmoline and totally safe on the rest of the gun.

"Sumple grain" (simple green) and diesel fuel are great for removing cosmoline.