MacTech
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I picked up a re-arsenaled Mosin 91-30 yesterday, thankfully, the LGS took the time to remove 99.99% of the Cosmoline preservative from the gun, the bayonet, however, was still gooped with the stuff, especially on the barrel mounting pivot
for some strange reason, the brownish goop looked familiar, then it hit me....
it looked remarkably similar to the little tub of Birchwood Casey RIG Universal Grease I use to keep my guns rust-free (we have a salt marsh on our property, and caring for blued guns takes a few extra steps beyond the typical wipe down)
So, I googled Cosmoline, and read the Wiki entry on it, one thing caught my attention, that Cosmo has a "slight flourescence" when exposed to UV light....
So, I grabbed my TerraLux UV LED equipped Minimag flashlight, and shined it at the bayonet, sure enough, the cosmo glowed an eerie blue....
Cool, an easy way to check the rest of the rifle for Cosmoline....
I then opened the tub of RIG, shined the UV light on it, it had a greenish-grayish-bluish color, close, but not a perfect match.....
then again, the RIG was fresh, and the Cosmo was more than likely badly oxidized, that may explain the color difference (or perhaps Cosmo and RIG are not exactly the same thing)
it's not a definite answer either way, but I think it's safe to say that RIG is at least rather *similar* to Cosmoline....
Just a fun bit of trivia....
for some strange reason, the brownish goop looked familiar, then it hit me....
it looked remarkably similar to the little tub of Birchwood Casey RIG Universal Grease I use to keep my guns rust-free (we have a salt marsh on our property, and caring for blued guns takes a few extra steps beyond the typical wipe down)
So, I googled Cosmoline, and read the Wiki entry on it, one thing caught my attention, that Cosmo has a "slight flourescence" when exposed to UV light....
So, I grabbed my TerraLux UV LED equipped Minimag flashlight, and shined it at the bayonet, sure enough, the cosmo glowed an eerie blue....
Cool, an easy way to check the rest of the rifle for Cosmoline....
I then opened the tub of RIG, shined the UV light on it, it had a greenish-grayish-bluish color, close, but not a perfect match.....
then again, the RIG was fresh, and the Cosmo was more than likely badly oxidized, that may explain the color difference (or perhaps Cosmo and RIG are not exactly the same thing)
it's not a definite answer either way, but I think it's safe to say that RIG is at least rather *similar* to Cosmoline....
Just a fun bit of trivia....
