Getting rid of Cosmoline?

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Pointblank2K

New member
Hey Guys,
I am currently waiting to get my Russian M-44 from AIM...I have had to remove cosmoline before but it was a lOOoong time ago...any suggestions to make this job easier? and also...any tips on how to bring out the beauty of the natural wood would be appreciated...Thanks,
Tony.
 
Funny you should ask. I didn't sleep last night so it seemed a fine time to detail strip my M-44. I had been shooting it after cleaning the bolt externally and the bore. Still the crap leaking from every crevice gets a little old. I went after this thing with CLP in liberal amounts and it cleaned right up. Look out when threading the firing pin out, don't shoot it in your eye. It's the screw on the back of the bolt, screw clockwise to release pin, return to same height and line up witness mark to get bolt back together. I'm really amazed the gun functioned with so much goo in the bolt and mag spring. I suppose the russkies thought that if a little cosmoline was good, more cosmoline better, da?

I also just finished dressing this thing up with a patrol rigged sling and a butt ammo carrier. Retro-tactical indeed. Do you have any idea on stripper clips for this thing?

Forgot the wood, really is pretty in its own ugly way. Linseed oil or beeswax, preferably beeswax then oil regularly. I hit mine with the CLP rag when I'm done and that works too. I guess next project is to go to the 200 yd line and dtermine how bayonet position affects bullet strike. Just finished re-assembling, now its really nice with fresh grease and no goo slowing the action up.
 
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Guys,

The first thing about getting rid of cosmo is completely stripping down the entire rifle. Wipe off all externally reachable cosmo with paper towels or rags soaked with mineral spirits. Soak small parts in a can of mineral spirits, clean with a brush, then set them out to dry.

For cleaning all the oil & grease out of the wood, here's what I do:

Go to your local Wal-Mart automotive parts dept. and get a gallon of Purple Power degreaser. About $5.00. All the crufflers are wild about this stuff for degreasing wood. I've tried it and it works. It has the advantage of not having components that will degrade the wood itself, unlike Simple Green, Castrol degreaser, and Easy-Off Oven cleaner.

For the real wood degreasing, I stand the stock in a pan and lean it up against something so it stands upright.  Use a small paintbrush (2 inch??) to brush the Purple Power onto the stock all over (and inside too, every exposed surface).

Come back 20 minutes later and brush on another coat.  You'll see the PP turning brown and running down into the pan.  Keep brushing on PP every 20 minutes or so until it stops coming off brown and is running into the pan in it's original color.  During this process, occasionally dump the pan and rinse it with water so you can see the color of the PP running off the stock.

After you are satisfied that the stock has had all the oil removed, give it a sitz bath in a tub of the hottest water you can run from the tap.  Weight it down so it is completely submerged.  Even with a tub of hot water from the tap, I dump a big stew pot of boiling water into the tub and onto the stock.  After 45 minutes or so the water is starting to cool, so no point in leaving it there longer.  Take the stock out and set it out to dry. (If, after drying, you still see spots with soaked in oil, do the PP treatment and bath again)

It is now clean of all grundge and oil.  The sitz bath has removed all traces of the PP and has pulled out all the dents and dings to leave you a nice smooth wood.  You can now do whatever you want.  Buff it with steel wool and put on some Tung Oil or BLO, sand it out nice & smooth and rub on Tru-Oil like I did with my Yugo 24-47, or really go to town with the sanding and finishing to make one really pretty stock.

Note:  If you don't want to completely re-finish the stock, but just want to clean it up, skip the sitz bath at the end.  Just rinse the wood in warm or room temp water to take off all the PP.  You'll still have all the dings & dents as "character" marks.  ;-)

Hope this helps

BTW, you can see my Yugo 24-47 at: www.swampworks.com/SwampysStuff-2.html

Enjoy.

SWAMPY
 
Swampy,
You are a lean mean cosmo cleaning machine! I asked a question on your post about the purple stuff from walmart...but you answered my question here...

Navy Joe,
go to www.tapco.com they have LOTS of Mosin Nagant products...including stripper clips...thanks,
Tony.
 
Mashuri,

Gun Scrubber is great stuff, but my middle name is "Cheap". Mineral Spirits does the exact same job, is not nearly so volatile around flames, and costs about $4.00 a gallon at your local hardware store.

Pointblank,

Thanks..... and good luck.

BTW, some of the Russky rifles have a pretty thick varnish or some such finish over the wood. You may actually have to use a paint stripper on it first to remove that old finish before the sitz bath or Purple Power will do any good.

Swampy
 
I've always used diesel fuel for getting rid of cosmoline, be sure to do it in a well ventilated area and don't even think of smoking. I use bronze and nylon brushes to get the little stuff off. But You will find that diesel just eats through cosmoline easily if you let it soak.
 
Very hot water, and lots of it, followed by a good cleaning and light oil or whatever anti-rust spray you want to use. There's no need to expose yourself to harsh chemicals.
 
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