Sks cosmoline removal

Brake cleaner is what I used on the metal parts. It cleaned the SKS up really well. It was a pain and I had a pool of cosmoline/brake cleaner to deal with, but it was quick, cheap, and it worked. Whatever you do, don't pour boiling water over the stock to get out cosmoline then, before it dries, put it in the oven. Though it resulted in a really clean stock, it also resulted in a wrist crack I had to repair.
Oh, they are right, you must pull apart the firing pin.
 
Mines a sks with a chrome barrel,.i'm quite tempted to just boil the metal parts, my firing pin shakes pretty freely atm without a cleaning cosmo still on it, so its not overly covered. But if just letting them sit in mineral spirits over night would work i could try that everything in there but the stock, then do you just wipe them down with rags put a light coast of gun oil and put it back together? Or should i then rinse them down with water? also if i can't find mineral spirits would a jug of simple green work?
 
The best way to remove cosmo...Kettle!!! lots of boiling water on all metal parts. I do mine in the basement bathroom sink,(quick hand dry with paper towel) Be careful the kettle water makes the steel very,very hot...which also helps self drying of most metal parts. Then a good spray down of all the metal parts with something like G-96, pay extra attention to all cracks and little nooks. Wipe/scrub the stock down with a rag coated in the same G-96. Wipe all parts and stock down with a dry rag. Oil the bore and gas tube...put it all back together and your done.

This method is how I've cleaned the cosmo out of 30 ++ milsurp rifles and I've never suffered a speck of rust or a remnant of left behind cosmo. It's the easiest fastest and least messy method.

Enjoy the new firearm!!
 
Cosmoline

If your not doing the boiling water which is what I'm doing and putting the stock in oven you can get mineral spirits at Walmart for under $10.
 
how do you clean the barrel then? That wont fit into a pot haha
The best way to remove cosmo...Kettle!!! lots of boiling water on all metal parts. I do mine in the basement bathroom sink,(quick hand dry with paper towel) Be careful the kettle water makes the steel very,very hot...which also helps self drying of most metal parts. Then a good spray down of all the metal parts with something like G-96, pay extra attention to all cracks and little nooks. Wipe/scrub the stock down with a rag coated in the same G-96. Wipe all parts and stock down with a dry rag. Oil the bore and gas tube...put it all back together and your done.

This method is how I've cleaned the cosmo out of 30 ++ milsurp rifles and I've never suffered a speck of rust or a remnant of left behind cosmo. It's the easiest fastest and least messy method.

Enjoy the new firearm!!
 
Stand it in the sink and pour the water over and through it with the kettle...you don't need to boil anything in a pot...Use the kettle!! your wife won't like it but!!....who cares!!
 
Uhhhh... the dishwasher technique. Does it smell bad in there after? Do your plates taste like ass?
Ya 1 yahoo even put he whole entire M14 in there!
LoL!!!
Steam works good and can even pop out some verry minor dent's that may have occured. Also mineral spirts are good to. The most important thing is once it has been cleaned is to properly seal the wood before blasting.
 
Ya 1 yahoo even put he whole entire M14 in there!
LoL!!!
Steam works good and can even pop out some verry minor dent's that may have occured. Also mineral spirts are good to. The most important thing is once it has been cleaned is to properly seal the wood before blasting.

aahahha GREAT. Well I guess I'll throw the SKS in the dishwasher before I move out friday LOL
 
I used a propane soldering torch for the metal,a hair dryer for the stock,and quite a few rags. Since my Polish M44 has a oil finish I rubbed most of it off with the rags but some of it into the wood. I purposely left some on the bottom of the receiver,barrel and any where else that is relatively inaccessible to clean. My thoughts were to leave the protection in place. I also left some in the bottom of the Mag, a thin coating on the trigger asy and on the firing pin spring.
 
Uhhhh... the dishwasher technique. Does it smell bad in there after? Do your plates taste like ass?

I would hazard to guess that they taste like SKS not ass. ;p or more correctly like cosmo.
BTW, tri sodium phosphate (dishwasher soap) may "cut tough grease" but it will also corrode any iron alloy that's NOT stainless steel. Chlorinated brake cleaners can have a similar effect.
 
I used a soy based concrete and metal stripper that we manufacture at work. It was pretty easy I took the whole rifle apart and cleaned every part individually. Worked great on the stock and fairly well on all metal components, I just need to clean the firing pin and remove the gas tube and do that. I also sanded my stock and am refinishing in a cool red stain, adding a muzzle brake, replacing the fixed with detachable mags and replacing the handguad ith the vented metal ones . Should be nice
 
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