Removing pesky cosmoline?

Whatever you do, DO NOT GET BLEACH NEAR YOUR WEAPON.
Bleach has chlorine in it, and chlorine (with the associated chloride ions) is so corrosive that you can put a little steel wool down, pour some bleach on it (helps to rough it up first) and WATCH the rust grow on it right before your eyes.
Acetone will likely cut cosmoline (it is a waxy substance), but it is high volatile and flammable. Ammonia will likely not do any good at all. Stick with brake cleaner (the stuff from Advance Auto is great as it uses a triply chlorinated compound that does not evaporate as quickly as the acetone and methanol stuff).

Take the wood off. Go to a coin car wash. Spray with hot soap water. Takes it all off.

I have found the best and easyiest way to get cosmoline off is to remove all wood and soak the metal down good with EASYOFF oven cleaner and let it soak for about 10-15 min and rince off in a sanitary tub with HOT!! water. Been doing it this way for years and works great and cheap!!

Two words.....


Mineral Spirits

wd-40

I recently got a FAL parts kit that was swimming in cosmoline. There were large globs of it that laughed off my attemps with brake cleaner. I used heat to remove the large globs. First I put down about 4 layers of newspaper on the garage floor, layed my parts on it, and heated them with a heat gun (a hair dryer should work). This takes a while, but will liquify the cosmoline and cause about 80-90% of it to run off the parts. Surplusrife.com also has plans for an E-Z bake oven made out of an aluminum trash can and 4 120watt light bulbs, if you plan on buying lots of mil-surps I would recomend building one.

To clean off the last of the cosmoline I used brake cleaner, WD-40, a couple large rags, and selection of various small brushes to clean out tight places.

The 45 minutes that I spend with the heat gun saved me a lot of work. The E-Z bake ovens work even better and sould even get cosmoline out of wood.

You can boil the smaller parts in water. About 10-15 minutes.

I used a steam wand on my SKS and paper towels.

Use brake cleaner.

Brake cleaner works great. If it's heavy you might need two cans. CLP after.

Removing pesky cosmoline?

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Shoo him away with a broom.

Honestly, I use a combination of lighter fluid, liquid dish soap, and hot water, all done by hand. Takes a good three hours, though, with help and something on TV. I'm sure when we went outside for a cigarette, my neighbors thought we were in triage what with all the cosmo on me.

Kevin Quinlan: Take the wood off. Go to a coin car wash. Spray with hot soap water. Takes it all off.

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Were it not for the concern of losing all the tiny bits, I'd jump on this in an instant. Also, what to do about the wood?

Oh, and BE SURE TO OIL IT WHEN YOU'RE DONE!!! Sorry to shout, but 99% of anything that removes cosmoline will "dry out" the metal pretty thouroughly, leaving absolutely nothing to prevent rust.

Kerosene, a large pan, and a paint brush will get the job done.

Pencil erasers and teflon tape

If you have a .30 caliber (.30-30, .30-06. 7.62x...), take an eraser, wrap it with teflon tape until slightly larger than the bore, stick it in the muzzle and fill the barrel with brake cleaner for an hour. Drain the barrel, scrub and repeat until shiny. Small metal and wood parts can be placed in an over no more than 200 degrees on a broiler pan. Larger stocks with hair dryers and newspaper. I would argue against the trash can/heat lamps. In a sealed environment, you'll produce grease laden vapors than will build up. According to associated MSDS's and data sheets, the flash point is 275 degrees F. Surpass it and your garage will be laying in your neighbors yard. The heat lamps do not have any form of temp control. The vapor density is heavier than air which is also conducive to an explosion. I did find this:
http://www.productioncarcare.com/msds/cosmoline remover.pdf
I have no idea what it is but its bio-degradable and listed as a cosmoline remover.

I use clarified Kerosene.
Diesel Fuel works great.
Gasoline is excellent if you use it only outdoors and like living dangerously.

None of these fuel oils will remove finish but they will completely remove cosmoline deposits.

Wallpaper remover (Gel) works wonders, quick and to the point.

On the same idea as the trash can oven: a well polisehd interior of an aluminum trashcan placed outside in the Texas summer and adjusted so the sun beats down directly on the interior.

-Jenrick

I've always had more luck with a good sunny day and newspaper than scrubbing and mineral spirits.

i was working on my recent purchase in my bathroom last night with a standard household iron set to steam. it worked pretty well

\Do NOT use WD-40, it will eat up you gun in time.....WD-40 is refined kerosene, not good for firearms. I have seen a number of customers guns literally get eaten from the inside out from WD40

Hoppes #9
Kerosene
Mineral spirits
carb cleaner

these are the safest alternatives and they are easily available, keep them off the wood though

Get a mod to ban him .Sorry the thread title just begged for that reply. All joking aside boiling water/blow dryer/penetrating oil worked great on all my greasy commie guns. Made cleaning out the goop not nearly as bad as most make it out to be. My last milsurp AK I stripped down to the bare essentials, layed it over the kitchen sink (while the wife wasnt home of course) put a pot of water on the stove to bring to a boil, and liberaly poured boiling water over everything metal and down the bore. The cosmo just disapered like magic and my dark dirty bore was as shiny as a new chrome bumper. A quick once over with the blowdryer, and a wipe down with good penetrating oil and the job was done in 30 minutes or so. For wood just put it on a old pan lined with foil and bake in the oven at about 150. Take it out and wipe it down every 15 min or so till the cosmo stops weeping out. You will never get it all out of the wood, but that method gets most of it.

What does cosmoline do to pipes and pluimbing...?

2-Step Cleaning

Step 1 - Hand-held steam cleaner. Cosmoline melts at about 130 degrees. Steam over/into a large trash can.

Step 2 - Brake cleaner and paper towels/rags/old toothbrush/q-tips.

CLP has always worked for me. Soak it and walk away. It will slowly melt it off. It is a lot safer on your gun than what some of these gents are suggesting........