VZ 24 Czech Mauser

8

8MM Mauser

New member
Hello all, I recently received as a gift a 1934 vintage Czech Mauser, VZ 24.

It is still drenched in cosmoline, and the wood is a little shoddy in some places; but it is all told a fine rifle! The front sight is actually pretty decent although the rear sight is...not much. The bore is really good for a gun this old! Of course I also have the bayonet. I want to keep the gun in as original condition as I possibly can; but I also want to have a functional shooter on my hands too. So I am wondering what I can do to:

1) Remove the cosmoline

2) Keep the gun, especially the wood protected

3) Carefully remove some spots of rust on the Bolt and around the muzzle

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So what advice can you offer me? I love old guns, but I don't usually buy them. I had a Mosin before; but it came cleaned up from a distributor and I only purchased it because at the time it was all I could afford. I never liked it as a Shooter. I have shot stock Mausers before though and I like them; my hunting rifle is a sporterized Mauser actually. I love the balance of a stock rifle though, and I like the way the bolt works. I never did get used to the Mosin bolt.
 
Clean the cosmoline from the metal parts with mineral spirits and a china bristle paintbrush.

I did not try to take all the cosmoline out of my stocks- it's a preservative, after all. I wiped it down with the mineral spirits and rubbed some linseed oil on.

Rust? Gently rub with a greenpad and oil.
 
Thanks!

That makes good sense to leave the cosmoline in the stock.

Thanks for the tips about rust too. I've battled rust before on knives and tools but never had a firearm get rusty.
 
That makes good sense to leave the cosmoline in the stock.
Click to expand...

Don't leave so much in it that you get slimed every time you pick it up on a warm day, but I hear stuff about guys baking or boiling their stocks ..... seems silly to me.
 
Check your rifle carefully for WaA Pruf marks. (Nazi Weapons office, it will be a stylized Nazi eagle and a number).

While the date of your gun's production is before the Nazi's took over the Czech weapons industry, your gun may have been in the inventory and used by the Germans. Lack of such marks doesn't mean it wasn't used by the Germans, only that for some reason it didn't go through the system.

Cosmoline has a fairly low melting temp. Solvents and gas will remove it, BUT they have their own drawbacks. HOT WATER (boiling) will melt it out of the metal and doesn't have the flammability concerns (and its cheap).

Hair dryer(?) or heat gun will sweat it out of the stocks. You can leave it in, it is a preservative, but it will sweat out on warm days. Better to get as much out as you can, and then preserve the wood with a good oil finish product.
 
I've found nothing is easier than using a can of brake cleaner to dissolve cosmoline. It's especially effective in places like the action and chamber/barrel, where you can't easily (or at all) get in there with a rag. It will also effectively penetrate into small parts areas like the bolt latch assembly and dissolve it so that complete disassembly may not be necessary.

After stripping it all out, everything gets a spray of Rem-Oil for protection (you'd be amazed how quickly it will rust after you use a solvent to remove all the oils from the steel).

For the bore, after the brake cleaner I use Wipe-Out in repeated applications- sometimes for days- to remove all the copper fouling, which is usually caked in and has never been removed. After the bore is thoroughly cleaned, an oiled patch as usual. Stripping all the copper and powder fouling from the bore will give you a baseline, which is important for a "shooter".

From there, you'll learn how often you'll need to clean before your accuracy begins to drop off, how many foulers you need to send after cleaning, etc.

JMO, YMMV.

It's a bit tough this time of the year (better, here in FL)- but on a warm, sunny day you can put the stock wrapped generously in newspapers in a contractor size garbage bag, sealed up and placed on the dash in the sun.

The heat (if it gets warm enough, cosmo typically liquefies at 115-125 F) will melt the cosmo off the stock where it can be absorbed by the newspaper.
Depending on the stock, how much was used, and whether or not the protective lacquer finish was still viable when dipped into the cosmo it may have penetrated deeply into the wood grain making several "bag" episodes necessary.
 
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Agree with AMP. Cosmoline will sweat out of the stock at low temps. You can place out in the sun and wipe it away as it sweats or you can use other methods listed to remove it.

I can remember from my GI days using PD680 (naptha) to remove cosmoline.
Today naptha is considered hazmat.


I could never leave cosmo on a stock, it also picks up dirt and dust as it sweats. Anyway, the VZ 24 is a great rifle. You need to shoot it.
 
I always use WD-40 on milsurps to remove cosmo from the metal and wood the I wrap the stock and hand guard in news paper then set them in the rear window of the car or in a bright shinning window of the house and let it sweat in the winter I save the boxes the rifle came in wrap rifle in news paper put it box cut hole in box insert nozzle of hair dryer set on hot and cook out the cosmo . works ever time :cool: HTH
 
Old timer I used to visit with on SurplusRifleForum's chat room favorite way to deal with cosmoline was to cap off a piece of 4"? PCV pipe, fill it with kerosene and put the barreled action into it to soak.
 
I went at the bayonet last night and really slices through the rust with some oil and a brass brush! It doesn't look new exactly: but to be fair it is over 70 years old! There are still some deep black marks on the sheath and a few near the end of the blade: but overally it cleaned up really nice.

I'm excited to start taking the rifle apart now!

I'll try and do some before/after pics too.
 
That mold is crazy! I'm glad mine isn't that bad. Before I put a dehumidifier in my basement I used to get mold like that on anything leather or wood; but literally in a month or two!

Luckily it's winter here now and dry as a bone in the air...
 
Well I got it apart tonight: cleaning will start later this week.

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It's shocking to me just how easily this gun came apart after 70 years in various types of storage; jammed full of grease and dirt. The hardest part was that funky two hole screw on the front ring of the stock. I had to get a little creative with that screw but it all worked out quite well.

I also had session two with the bayonet yesterday and the sheath and blade have been worked to a pretty decent sheen. I love the feeling of taking something like steel that has rusted and rotted for years and restoring it right back to were it was before.
 
The best way to "get creative" is to simply buy an inexpensive screwdriver and grind or file it to fit the two hole screw.

Jim
 
Actually I gave each side of the screw just the lightest touch with a file (one or two passes), it is basically unrecognizable that I did anything to the screw but it gave me just barely enough flat surface to get it turning with an adjustable wrench, were before that it was just slipping. I thought about doing that to a screwdriver but once I got a slight turn I was actually able to use a needle-nose plier like a screwdriver and ease it out.
 
Adjustable wrench? The screw is a hex-head?

Cosomolin is preservatives for metal. Wood doesn't like grease, oil, nor water (some suggested putting stock in shower or dishwasher). I will get rid of it as thoroughly as I can.

I use simple green and hot water on metal parts. Blow them completely dry with compressed air. Spray every surface with breakfree immediately afterwards.

-TL
 
They changes aren't quite as dramatic as i was hoping for; but the gun is looking much better and will be a more that sufficient shooter. It is cleaned up and now oiled normally with the same gun-oil I use on all my rifles.

After pics:


This one really doesn't do justice to the dramatic change in the overall appearance of the gun, cell phone camera after all...

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Same story here, unfortunately though I can see a DRAMATIC difference in how the bayonet and rifle look (especially the metal parts) it doesn't show up as powerfully in these Pics, nonetheless:

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Just a neat pic, this one in better light; look at the bayonet lug there and you will see a good example of how most of the metal parts look (shiny and polished up) but the wood doesn't show it's own dramatic transformation as well:

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I am very excited to get this old warrior out to the range and shoot it.:)
 
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