I miss Cosmoline.

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My last cosmoline experience was this past January with a spike bayonet I picked up for a #4 Mk 1 Lee-Enfield. That aroma brought me back to a simpler time; such as the OP's memories of walking down the aisle of a gun show and just experiencing the unique, myriad sensory, gun show experience of sights, sounds, and smells. Here's the cosmo. on that bayo.. ( glad I got a pic before cleaning it)... IMG_9644.JPG . Sometimes I miss that smell.
 
vzenmn said:
I was digging around some boxes a found a an old mosin oil bottle with the inside stuffed with the gunk.
View attachment 959621
Wish I could go back to when you couldn't go down a single aisle at a gunshow without getting a whiff of that smell. Walk in with $200 dollars and walk out with a Mosin , 440 rd spam can of ammo and still have enough money left for Whataburger meal and a case of beer and still have change.Then spend the whole night and most of the next day trying to get just half of that greasy goop off your new milsurp. With failure. The first time or two you shoot it the gun sweats cosmoline like a hooker in church.

Wish I had a 55 gallon drum full of the stuff just so I can dunk random guns in it and clean it off again.
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What I learned from this thread. That hookers sweat cosmoline. I didn't know that.:)
 
Yep you learn something new every day it seems! I am a fan of boiling the firearm to get the cosmoline off. It worked well for me. Just remember to oil it well after it is cool enough to handle to keep rust at bay.
 
I prefer stainless. Throw it into the dishwasher. Being an aviation guy, I would rather have LPS 3 than cosmoline.
 
CapnMac said:
The image of a woman of negotiable affection sweating cosmoline invites speculation I'd rather not be a part of, thank you very much.
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Perhaps I should of phrased that differently. Like "gun sweating cosmoline like a hooker sweating in church" or something. :rofl:
wiscoaster said:
Yes, well, do the LADIES like the smell?!?!? Who cares if the guys like the smell???? :rofl:
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Is it too late for a last minute Christmas womens perfume special gift package?
Hoppe's no9.
Cosmoline.
New holster leather.
Burnt H110.
Scorched and Smoking AK forend and handgaurd.
 
troy fairweather said:
Add fired paper shotgun shells to the list, elly priming to. This would make a interesting thread.
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My dear departed grandpa gave me some paper shotgun shells he had stocked piled for some time. They were fun for a 17 year old giving free play with an old double barrel.
Cousin of mine ended up with that gun.
 
We would just take the rifle, whatever it was, to the car wash and spray it down. Make sure the bolt and barrel were clear my dropping down some diesel fuel and let the gun dry. Good to go. I know guys that would buy Chinese SKSs and literally shoot them and drag them through the woods until they were a rusted destroyed mess. The Chinese also could import ammunition at that time and it was copper washed corrosive, and the guns were never cleaned. They would just junk the old gun and buy a new Chinese from a crate at the next gun show.
 
View attachment 959883
TC Hawken and a New Englander in a
blasphemous plastic stock with 12 ga and 50 cal barrel. Can't find the bore butter. Need to download the manual to remember how to load the shotgun barrel.
 
Remember about 8-10 years ago when the "late" Samco distributor in Miami advertised on their website "Persian" Mausers?
Some of you out there Do remember the 'unique' phone lady staffer with the thick Cuban accent. :feet:

Those were actually >> Czech Mausers << built For the Persians! Some were in mint or near-mint condition! Czech or Persian cosmoline would have been most welcome.

At least that's what they claimed in the milsurp magazine review (on rack in Barnes & Noble Books) about those rifles, which I only saw a few months after those "Persians" were sold out !! :(o_O
 
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Years ago I purchased a Finn M39 and upon removing the stock I found that there were some pine needles and such. I can still smell that mixture of pine and smoke and cosmoline.


theotherwaldo said:
My favorite gun smell comes from a Finnish Mosin whose arctic birch stock has been marinated in a mix of wood smoke and mountain cooking for half a century - with just a hint of Russian cosmoline... .
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m39b9.jpg
 
I'll be damned. If I ever find the private who neglected cleaning his service rifle before turning it in for storage or the armorer who accepted it, there will be burpees until one of them turns blue in the face. :scrutiny:

TBH, they were phased out well before my time but back then some were still signed out for training and familiarization purposes. Ones with pine needles stuck in them and smell of smoke from campfires and stoves must have been dunked in cosmoline in 60's or 70's.
 
Here are a few more pics. 1942 B barrel. She cleaned up to be a very handsome rifle and great shooter. It is still my favorite discovery in a Milsurp.


hq said:
I'll be damned. If I ever find the private who neglected cleaning his service rifle before turning it in for storage or the armorer who accepted it, there will be burpees until one of them turns blue in the face. :scrutiny:

TBH, they were phased out well before my time but back then some were still signed out for training and familiarization purposes. Ones with pine needles stuck in them and smell of smoke from campfires and stoves must have been dunked in cosmoline in 60's or 70's.
Click to expand...

m39b1.jpg m39b10.jpg m39b12.jpg
 
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