Mighty Soviet Cosmoline Of Revolutionary Doom

[battlehatch]

+1 for boiling water. I fire up the kettle when I have to clean off cosmo. Works great. the only chemical I had luck with was brake cleaner and hot water worked better than that.

 

[enfield]

Anybody ever try ammonia?

 

[sparky2726]

On the boiling pot of water, does the Cosmoline float? If so, when you remove the mags, you will put a coat of it right back on the traps. Take the pot outside, and put the waterhose in the pot, and overflood it for a while, then take it out.

I have had the same problem removeing wax from foothold traps. Can be a pain.

Sparky

 

[SoCalShooter]

Dish detergent? Ever thought about acetone, I used to have that stuff burn through my paint brushes.

 

[Prince Yamato]

Dawn gets grease out of the way. Just hot soapy water and scrub scrub scrub. Then dry the mag with a towel. It's basically washing dishes SHTF style.

 

[Cosmoline]

Dawn and hot water, followed by running hot water or steam. Acetone will work, but is exceedingly nasty stuff.

 

[Ivy Mike]

Anyone who lives in the desert SW has a built in cosmoline remover.
Its called your car. During the hottest parts of summer, simply leave the coated pieces in the car and put something under them to catch the goo.

I've personally measured in-car temps in excess of 175 degrees F. Plenty hot to melt away some cosmoline.

 

[MD_Willington]

If it fits, boil it in a big pot from the dollar tree outside on a camp stove... bet you can find all sorts of junk that would fit at a garage sale for pretty cheap.

Comes out lovely and clean

 

[Hoppy590]

all this talk is making me excited for a C&R or a new Milsurp

 

[aaronrkelly]

I use mineral spirits.....and a big tub.

You can literally dip them in, wait 30 seconds them pull them out and wipe....the cosmo is gone.

I have done this with guns jammed full of cosmo.....works great.

 

[Limeyfellow]

steam em or use almost boiling water to rinse it off !!

+1

It works everytime to eradicate cosmoline. I was surprised when I cleaned a Mosin of the stuff and it came out 2ibs lighter.

 

[sparky2726]

With the military (USSR, or otherwise) useing this stuff for long term storage of weapons, I wonder what their standard procedure was for removeing it?

Sparky

 

[FieroCDSP]

I soaked my SKS parts in a couple of inches of brake parts cleaner. Even in 45 degree weather, it pulled the cosmoline out pretty well. a nylon brush and another rinse with parts cleaner and you're done.

 

[Glockfan.45]

With the military (USSR, or otherwise) useing this stuff for long term storage of weapons, I wonder what their standard procedure was for removeing it?

That was a task reserved for new recruits .

I have used brake cleaner and a stiff nylon brush with good results. For the bore just pour some boiling water down it followed by some patches to dry and a lightly soaked oil patch. Another method that works well is to get one of those long plastic tubs for pasting wallpaper in, filling it with mineral spirts, and soaking. Dont use the spirits on the stock though (unless you plan to refinish it). For getting cosmo out of the wood just bake in the oven on an old pan for about 15-20 minutes, remove and wipe off the cosmo that bleeds out, and stick back in oven. Repeat this process till the cosmoline stops weeping out.

 

[murph50]

A few months ago I got a few 30 rd AK mags that were pretty gunked up with cosmoline. I took the mags apart and just used Hoppes #9 and they ended up nice and clean.

 

[DarthBubba]

Use what you were meant to.

Use what you were meant to.

When in the field you are supposed to use Gas in a motor pool drip pan, soak them for a few hours and then scrub them down lightly with a brass brush.

DarthBubba

 

[No_Brakes23]

I was victorious over the People's Gloriovs Cosmoline that had been applied to my Yugo M59 by using brake cleaner, motorcycle engine degreaser, mineral spirits, (No Kerosene to be found,) WD40, and finally baking the stock in my USAPATRIOT Oven of Dekadent Kapitalist Heat at the lowest setting, (About 140 degrees,) and wiping the Cosmo off every 15 minutes.

 

[carebear]

Get a spare pot and use that turkey fryer you only pull out at holidays.

5(?) gallons propane-heated boiling water, Big enough for any action.

 

[thexrayboy]

Anybody ever try ammonia?

I would not recommend ammonia. It's not a particularly good solvent when compared to others readily available and it has some other health issues.
One of those is inadvertently mixing it with other chemicals. It is more reactive than some other liquids and mixing even accidentaly can release noxious or even toxic gases. Best avoided.

 

[tinygnat219]

Try a steamer for clothes, it will literally melt the Cosmoline out of those magazines.

TJ

 

[shep854]

Back in The Old Days, a drum of boiling water was the way to soften cosmoline, followed by copious quantities of elbow grease .

When I was at Marine Corps OCS back in '75, we had to pack the rear sight assembly of our M14s with Vaseline, presumably to prevent rust. After running the Day Movement Course (which involved a lot of crawling around in mud and water), we had to boil the receivers to get the goo out of the mechanism.

 

[bogie]

If you buy your toy at Knob Creek, just wander down to the cleaner booth a few "doors" down from Cole's... They'll take it down, clean it up, and reassemble it for you for only a few bucks. Well worth it for an "instant" toy...