Cleaning cosmoline off the rifle westrifle.com

westrifle_sks

westrifle_sks

Expired Business Member
Location
Vancouver
Hello Everyone,

Recently we received many questions about cleaning cosmo off the rifle. Our clients want to know quest way to clean off cosmo. My personal favourite is warm water and towels. This is when I clean my rifle and I want to clean every part. Second one is going and shooting a few rounds off the rifle, the only problem is it becomes messy.
Please post any suggestions that you have. Pictures as well

Thank you
 
Disassemble rifle then use a handheld steam cleaner. It will melt all the grease off every single part and every nook and cranny.

157978325_-steam-shot-handheld-hard-surface-steam-cleaner-with-an-.jpg


From Can Tire:
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/b...pose-handheld-steam-cleaner-0741024p.html#srp
 
My method is to clean with g96 aerosol for light cosmoline junk or if the problem is serious WD40. All that being said I usually buy cotton cloths from a big box store ringspun or recycled and I just wipe. For the detail areas i use tooth brushes/ q tips. For hand protection I would recommend nitrile gloves. Now I am off to buy a steam cleaner.
 
Throw all your parts in an oven done and done , as for the stock a damp cloth and a electric clothes iron and your laughing, follow up with some linseed oil and it's quite the rifle
 
Remove the rifle from the stock and wrap both parts in paper towel and newspaper, then a black garbage bag and place it on a dashboard of an old car facing the sun. The cosmo will melt out in 2 days. Change paper and repeat once.

If you fire the rifle without it being clean, it will ooze all over everything.
 
Lot's of videos on youtube on how to clean Cosmoline off of any long term stored surplus rifle (ex. SKS, Mosin Nagant, SVT-40), Google is your friend, but from my past experience of cleaning off Cosmoline from any surplus rifle is first field strip it completely, all metal parts soaked in boiling hot water to remove the bulk of the grease and then onto 'mineral spirits'(stinky, but effective) and all soaking envolves scrubbing each part with a brush, dry all metal parts and then spray with WD40, dry again and inspect/wipe each part right down to the little nooks and cracks free of cosmoline, reassemble with attention to oiling and lubricating to the key spots, for the wood stock I use 'goo-gone' on a rag, works awesome and doesn't discolor or remove any of the finish (so far from my experience). this is a labour of love to owning a used firearm especially something collectable and with historical value/functionality, it will take a few hours and requires a sense of mechanical inclination.But If this is too much work for an individual then go buy something brand new off the shelf with a warranty. Already know of a few people who refuse to completely field strip an SKS and clean it free from Cosmoline......"it was a great price for $200, plus I figured if I left it in the hot sun it would melt it away for me"......it also slam fires a lot too"....Duuuhhhh!!!
 
Boiling hot water, dose a couple of times, then give the parts a hot shower rinse
Use a hair drier to get rid the any left over water after towel drying
Then gun oil.
No chemicals needed other than the gun oil to prevent rush
 
Disassemble rifle.

Put in trunk.

Drive to car wash (bay style with pressure washer)

Hold parts down with foot

Pressure wash.

(Wear boots)

Bring rifle home and oil it.
 
Darren saltiel said:
Throw all your parts in an oven done and done , as for the stock a damp cloth and a electric clothes iron and your laughing, follow up with some linseed oil and it's quite the rifle
Click to expand...

Does your food taste like cosmoline now? ;) I've heard of people making an inexpensive oven from some high-wattage bulbs and a barrel.
 
I have used Lordco " Purple Stuff " degreaser. It is made in Canada, can be diluted with water as needed. Worked for me very well, after getting frustrated with oven and oven spray, industrial degreaser.......
 
In the old days of the CF we used diesel and clean rags and 2x4 patches to clean C1's in cosmo..... Oven... make me laugh.
 
Both my rifle and oven are fine . I'd do however blurt out words in Russian from time to time ! (It's called self clean after) ;)
 
I took all of my rifles apart completely, well didn't break apart the trigger guards etc beyond removing them from the rifle and opening them etc... So far I have done this with all of my rifles except a rare SVT

Next I cleaned the stock first with a spray of degreaser if nessesary, then Water hose to remove excess oil. (Note some of the stocks are not or barely greasy at all, these can be left as is just wipe them down)

Next If you want to remove the varnish use that orange/natural stuff avail at home hardware (did this with one SKS and one SVT) I used just a firm sponge as I did not want to sand the stock and disturb it much

Hang to dry

Apply many many layers of true oil after these processes, sanding with steel wool in between working eventually to a firm rag or towel polish.
Results on SKS, SVT and Mauser




Metal Parts
2 Options Option 2 worked better overall unless the parts were Coated in Cosmoline
I recommending cleaning the Barrel/Rifle assembly then the rest of the small parts seperately, even breaking up the small parts into batches may work for you depending on your speed.

Option 1
Soak Parts in Mineral Spirits,
lightly brush to remove residue,
Rinse with hose (WATER)
Dry with Air Compressor
Once Dry Quickly Apply Ample/Lots of Spray on Gun oil (I placed parts in cardboard boxes sprayed them and stored them like this until re-assembly.

Option 2 (best if light cosmoline/grease, mineral spirits excessive for this application)
Use degreaser (commercial from hardware store of crud cutter) then bore spray for the bore (scrub all parts with plastic brush, allow to sit and brush again)
Hose with Water to rinse
Dry with Air compressor
Once Dry Quickly Apply Ample/Lots of Spray on Gun oil (I placed parts in cardboard boxes sprayed them and stored them like this until re-assembly

*Barrels, if esspecially dirty place barrel in PVC pipe with a cap on the end (i used 3") fill with mineral spirits and dunk
Prior to assembly clean the barrel by placing it in your gun rest and passing a couple of patches/bore brush through it to remove bad debris/build up. Then rinse again as above/dry/oil

*** if any of your metal parts have been sprayed with black spray paint it may flake off in this process, mineral spirits with strip it entirely get some more black spray prior to assembly if desired.

Then Assemble the rifle. If nessesary perform then basic barrel maintenace oil and put her away. She is now beautiful, at least that is what you tell her because she has a hell of a whallop!
 
I also found the rack pictured below, purchased at walmart as one of those 5 shelf plastic racks is great for gun stuff, seperated into a 2 shelf unit was great for cleaning and the other piece for storage. then combine as needed.
 
Step 1) Disassemble the rifle completely.
Step 2) Make up a bath of mineral spirits (you can get from home depot) in a small shoe boxed size plastic tub.
Step 3) Put all parts except barrel and stock in bath.
Step 4) Boil a pot a water while parts a soaking in mineral spirits bath.
Step 5) After 15 min or so in the mineral spirits bath transfer parts in to hot water bath.
Step 6) While parts soak in bath take break cleaner and soak down barrel inside and out.
Step 7) Take parts out of hot water bath after 15 min and blow off with compressed air.
Step 8) Use some hot water and douse the barrel flushing off break fluid.
Step 9) After all parts are completely dry soak with gun oil.
Step 10) Wipe off excessive gun oil and re-assemble.

While waiting in between steps you can lay out the stock in the sun on a towel you don't care about and wipe off the cosmo while flipping it over every so often. If it's not a hot day the oven can be used.

Hope this helps,
Cheers.
 
Oh my process takes approximately 36 hours to complete where the majority of the work is spent drying then layering true oil on the stock. I am no expert in anything guns but was happy with my results. I think I stopped around 9 to 10 coats of true oil on the above rifles, maybe 7 on the mauser.
 
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