Easiest way to clean off cosmoline?

[LKB3rd]

So, I got a cool old SKS yesterday, and this thing is slathered in cosmoline something fierce. It makes a gurgling noise when I cycle the bolt!
What is the easiest way to clean it off? I want to hit the range this afternoon, but this thing needs some serious de-gunking.
Thanks

 

[Rubber_Duck]

Boiling water.

 

[Smiley]

Wipe off the majority of it with paper towels and then use something with ammonia in it like windex.

 

[MAKster]

Mineral spirits is another good option.

 

[dralarms]

Hang it out on the clothes line in the sun, a couple of hours of that heat it will run right out.

 

[cane]

Go to the local do it yourself car wash with a pocket full of quarters.

 

[bluetopper]

Some may object to this but the absolute best way to get cosmoline off is to disassemble, take it outside out away from everything get a bucket and a rag and give it a good bath in gasoline.
It will melt it right off...........guaranteed.
Or buy a couple of cans of brake cleaner and blast it off with that.

Have done it more than a few times. Just use your common sense.

 

[Jeff F]

It makes a gurgling noise when I cycle the bolt!
What is the easiest way to clean it off? I want to hit the range this afternoon, but this thing needs some serious de-gunking.

The last mil surplus that I had to clean of coastline took the better part of a couple of days to get really clean. And it was not a semi auto with a gas tube but a bolt action. To get it really clean is going to take multiple cleanings and lots of the hottest water you can get.

 

[tigre]

Simple Green did the trick on mine, but it didn't have an excessive amount.

Make sure you take the bolt apart and degunk the firing pin.

 

[jaholder1971]

Steam cleaner, hottest setting and 50 percent more soap than normal.

 

[bogie]

You gotta use a fire hose through the bars, because he's pretty squirmy, and tries to come at you.

 

[murph50]

+1 on boiling. I tried that on my last Mosin Nagant and it really worked good. The big stew pot I used can never be used for food again so it's now the designated cosmo boiler

 

[Rokyudai]

Hang it out on the clothes line in the sun, a couple of hours of that heat it will run right out.

I love this! Great visual next to the old 'bloomers'

 

[Jeff F]

Some may object to this but the absolute best way to get cosmoline off is to disassemble, take it outside out away from everything get a bucket and a rag and give it a good bath in gasoline.
It will melt it right off...........guaranteed.

Thats a good way to find out what goes on in the burn unit of your local hospital. I have seen the results of a couple of fluke accidents resulting from the use of gasoline as a solvent.

If your going to use a solvent theres better things to use then gas. The vapors are just too flammable.

 

[Ohio Rifleman]

I wouldn't feel comfortable using gasoline as a solvent either. I'd go with really hot water, leaving it in the sun, or mineral spirits. Mineral spirits, from what I understand, are actually pretty harmless as long as you don't do something stupid like drink it.

 

[landon74]

Check out surplusrifle.com, they have plans for a 'easy bake cosmoline removal oven'. If you don't plan on doing this often, a steam cleaner works wonders on the bigger parts, and dunk little parts into boiling water, cleans it right off.

 

[LKB3rd]

I got a citrus based degreaser at wal mart, scrubbed a little bit, then soaked some of the more gunked up parts in water with a heavy dose of dish detergent. Then I gave the same treatment to the stock. Rinsed and dried all parts, oiled up the stocks, hit all the moving parts with oil, and lightly oiled and wiped clean all of the metal....
She's ready for action boys! Blue Trails (recently re-opened, and I heard it was crowded yesterday- for once I am glad to hear it) here I come!

 

[RockyMtnTactical]

I like to set it out in the sun on some newspapers and/or use a heat gun (or blow dryer) to melt off most of it.

Then, as I strip the parts off, soak them in mineral spirits.

 

[DaleA]

Wow. The guess the things I heard about Bogie are true.

 

[rcmodel]

Buy a $10 buck heat-gun and you can melt most of it off over the garbage can.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ct...pricetype=S&categoryname=POWER TOOL HEAT GUNS

Then finish the job with Mineral Spirits paint thinner & an old paint brush.

rcmodel

 

[scrat]

hot water dawn dish washing detergent

 

[guntotinguy]

Mineral spirits is another good option.

Thats what I used to clean the Yugo and man was it cosmoed big time!Also turned the stock upside down, once removed and heated it up with a heat lamp and blow dryer and watched more cosmo come out.Once together and the bolt was clean,out it together and next day went to the range...still could smell some heated cosmo...

 

[chipperi]

Boiling works good, for the larger parts put them in front of a radiant heater (NOT TOO CLOSE) or if you trust your neighborhood put em out on the deck with something underneath to prevent staining the deck.

 

[mbt2001]

I used a heat gun... The cosmoline ran off like water into an old bucket lined with old plastic grocery bags. That certainly got the worst of it, hopps 9 did the rest. The stock I had to be careful using a heat gun on, but it worked.

Lots of paper towels, old clothes and old rags, old gloves and a heat gun... I think that would work. The 2nd one, I took the gun smith though.

 

[ColinthePilot]

Disassemble the rifle and put it all in the dishwasher with no detergent on potscrubber mode. It'll leave you with a perfectly clean rifle, and it'll suck all the cosmo and finish out of your stock, so you'll need to refinish it a little. you'll have a brand new rifle in less than a week.