Mighty Soviet Cosmoline Of Revolutionary Doom

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Ian

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Yep, I've got a case of MSCORD on my hands. :) I got some AK mags recently, and they're packed in a bunch of cosmoline. Some of them have the stuff REALLY caked on, and so far they're just laughing at my cleaning chemicals.

I've tried carb cleaner and Simple Green, and while they do a pretty good job on the lightly coated mags, the really thick layers of cosmoline just seem to shrug them off. Any ideas of what might work better?

My current plan is to let them soak in gasoline for a couple hours tomorrow and see if that gets anything off...
 
Have you tried heat? Put them in a disposable baking pan (foil) and stick 'em in the oven at 150 degrees. The heat softens even the most stubborn cosmo.

If you must use chemical methods, Kerosene will work, and is much safer than gasoline....
 
I've actually found a running stream of very hot water over the parts plus some heavy duty soap works better than anything else. It also exposes you to less benzene. The parts can then be dried off and quickly oiled to prevent rusting.

Be careful about using the oven. I set an M-48 stock on fire that way!
 
The Soviet Cosmolien of Revolutionary Doom is...

Proof once again that the "Superior Soviet Man" can out-engineer his decadent Western-capitalist counterpart. :p

BTW, steam cleaner comes to mind - proving once again that the ingenuity of the Western-capitalist proletariat people can overcome anything engineered by the "Superior Soviet Man!"
 
get an old pan you no longer care about and line it with aluminum foil
heat the oven up, but try not to exceed 200 degrees.
Place the items on some sort of rack so they can drip into the pan
Monitor progress and remove items when they are clean and dry. Careful, they're hot. ;)
Throw foil away and clean pan if needed

or, construct one of these guys.
http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/lowheatmethod2/index.asp
 
Cosmoline said:
Be careful about using the oven. I set an M-48 stock on fire that way!
Click to expand...
:eek: Cosmo melts at 113–125 °F , what did you have your oven set on? Broil? :neener:

I'm sure hot water or steam would work. I just have a mental block about pouring water on a firearm (or parts)!
 
boil em. add some TSP is you really want em clean

edit
be glad for cosmo. thanks to it you are getting high quality surplus instead of chunks of rust :)
 
Well, I like the idea of using heat rather than nasty flammable chemicals. I was using rinse water that was only as hot as my faucet would produce, and that didn't seem hot enough to do much by itself. I'll see what results I can get by putting mags in some water heating on the stove...and if that doesn't work, I'll try the oven.

Thanks, all!
 
divorce

included free

you can use a dishwasher witha "heated water cycle" how ever you better do it with wife away. takes a while to get the dishwasher looking good again
 
In the spirit of preserving marital harmony...

No dishwasher. Besides a divorce, you'll be scrubbing dishes since your drainage pipes will be choked with cosmoline. Repair or replacement funds will come from your (ammo) budget.:eek:
 
pipes

used to scare me but the rinse cycle dumps enough hot water not to have caused any problems. i have a "spare dishwasher i clean paint tools and drywall tools with and surprisingly its held up for years
 
I just have a mental block about pouring water on a firearm

Better boiling hot than cold for faster evaporation, and better dry climate than wet. bru333, I'd be more worried about doing it there in NC than here. Very low humidity comparatively, and most clothes can line dry with no problems.

Sitting them in the sun under a plastic sheet would also help.

jm
 
For $39 and change you can buy one of those little steam cleaners at Wally world that women use to clean showers etc. It works great on cosmoline.
Just hang the weapon from a coat hanger etc outside (disassemble as much as you like first), fill unit with water, plug in and get to cleaning. Works great.
 
Dang Millcreek - aren't you the smartest lad o' us all? No messy water to drain away. Just melt the Mighty Soviet Cosmoline into a can and save for future use.:D
 
I recommend either the oven or steam cleaner methods. I've used both for an SKS I had. I used the oven and a pan for the small parts and the steam cleaner for the larger parts.
 
Millcreek beat me to it.

If you don't have a heatgun(the better of the two options I'm giving here) you can use a hairdryer. Outside on a hot sunny day is even better.
 
For $39 and change you can buy one of those little steam cleaners at Wally world that women use to clean showers etc.
Click to expand...

This is because MEN don't CLEAN showers.... :neener: (Sorry. Couldn't resist):D

I'm reminded of the way DH cleans his muzzleloader...boiling water and soap in a bucket. If that cleans all THAT crud out, even Mighty Soviet Cosmoline of Revolutionary Doom ought to give way.

Good luck (and go clean your shower!)

Springmom
 
Actually, the dishwasher was the first thing I tried. One of the many benefits of bachelor life is having free reign of kitchen appliances for gun stuff. :neener: However, the dishwasher didn't do a whole lot to get that Stalwart Preserver Of Soviet Industry off the mags. :scrutiny: I think if they'd coated the Kremlin in the stuff, we'd still be fighting the Cold War...

I've got two more mags in a pot (now a designated not-for-food pot) of boiling water. Hopefully that will be more effective.
 
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