Cleaning Cosmoline(grease) Off DA Grizzly 12.5 Shotgun

[purplemushroom]

i used simple green. works like a charm. then after i heat it all up with a blowdryer, gets all the cosmoline left over to sweat out of all the little cracks and such

 

[squirreltron]

Thanks for all the awesome tips

 

[dragonbait]

How do people clean the wooden bits?

Oven - lowest setting and wipe down every 10 min or so until it stops oozing out.

 

[Gillen1]

I cleaned out a Chinese SKS with a can of brake cleaner and lots of rags last night in about an hour. But to be fair I've de greased about 5 SKS's now so I'm pretty quick.

 

[CanadianReich]

I'm a cheap SOB so I use GASOLINE

I took the thing outside to the woodshed, with the door open, close to the door (ventilation) with power off and no sparks or flames..... put a big pan out, droped various parts into it and bathed them with a small cup...... $1 worth of gas tops.


gas cuts through any grease ive seen.

then I let it air dry (it goes fast)

then I lubed it with CLP real nice.
used rag, tooth brush, and another tube shaped poker brush

 

[Maverick.flhx]

I have cleaned 4 rifles last week, some with a little bit of cosmo, one SKS full of cosmo.... took it apart, got a PVC pipe with a cap on one end, filled it up with Mineral spirits and soaked each rifle for a few hours. Wiped it off, oiled it and took them to the range saturday.... they all work like a charm!!!

 

[pomelum]

it didnt look like cosmoline on mine, more like generic oil.
i sprayed everything except the wood with naphtha and then oiled with Eexox. the wood part i gave them a good wipe with varsol and re-finished them with linseed oil.

 

[thesenuts]

Thank you to everyone for the replies. I ended up using Simple Green Max - Pro Series. I disassembled the whole gun, drenched it, wiped it and then repeat. It gets it off but no matter how many times I repeat the process there's always some cosmoline coming off. I'm satisfied though. I think a more effective way would be to submerge everything in some kind of degreaser and let it sit. I wondering why these guns need so much cosmoline on them in the first place. It's not like they were stored for a long period of time. Maybe the shipping environment is rough? My friend was cleaning his Norinco 1911 and it was pretty gunked with cosmoline too. He's not enjoying the cleaning process.

The upside is that it forced me to learn how to take apart the shotgun. Hoping to get to shoot it soon. The shooting opportunities in Vancouver don't seem to be so great.