Cosmoline & SKS.

New2U

New2U

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I know it’s been asked a hundred times and answered even more times, but still no ultimately best method identified. I live in an apartment so cooking metal parts or sun tanning the stock is not an option. So what do you say?
Thanks in advance.
 
A spirit base and/or heat is best to remove that stuff. If you don't get as much as possible off, it will sweat grease everytime you shoot it. An apartment is not the best place to do that, you need to find some where that you can.
 
After trying a bunch of stuff, all I ever use now is glass cleaner and an old towel. It works as well as anything. Tear off strips and pieces as you need em. Soak a long thin strip and 'screw' it through the gas tube starting at the small opening. Eveything else is pretty straight forward.

If you don't want to take it apart, put the trigger group on a tray, under a stainless steel bowel, in the oven @ 220-low until it stops bleeding. That'll sweat out whatever you can't get at with q-tips.

If you're really lazy, you can soak the bolt - away from heat sources - in a sealed container of acetone (it'll evaporate quickly if the container isn't sealed) while you clean the rest of the rifle. Just make sure the pin rattles in the bolt before you reassemble. If not, you'll have to take it apart. You can do your trigger group like that as well if you have a large enough container like a tupperware bin or similar.
 
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I put all the metal parts in a pan of boiled water and dish soap. Rinse, repeat.
Wiped the wood parts with some naptha I had around.
Worked like a charm.
 
Youtube is your friend on this one. Search SKS Cosmoline removal... There are a lot of good ways...

If you dont wanna cook it, then rags, and your choice of cleaner are gonna be your only route in an apartment. But depending on what you use its gonna stink just as much...
I'd find a buddy with a back yard, take it there and spray it down with brake cleaner...
 
I've never cleaned one before until this fall. I just put all the smalls in a pan of varsol, went to work on the barrel/receiver with varsol, rags, acid brush over the garbage can and just took my time. The sludge dissolved off the parts in the tray by then and they didn't need much more attention. The stock I just wiped with varsol on a rag. I don't know how clean it is, but how much goop is varnished wood going to absorb? Afterwards I blasted out the interior of the bolt with brake cleaner so that it was nice and clean and dry and the firing pin rattled freely.

Honestly the most annoying parts were inside the barrel and gas tube. I tried hot water, but it just made a mess out of things. Just used various sizes of cleaning rods and varsol soaked patches.

But all of that aside, from stripping it down to putting it back together, all at a very unhurried pace and taking a few breaks, it still didn't take an evening.
 
New2U said:
I know it’s been asked a hundred times and answered even more times, but still no ultimately best method identified. I live in an apartment so cooking metal parts or sun tanning the stock is not an option. So what do you say?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Field strip your SKS. Tear up an old t-shirt into 5 or 6 pieces. Go to town wiping off the bulk of the cosmoline. Quickly discard the soiled rags before you stink-up your apartment. Put all the small parts in your kitchen sink and pour boiling water over them. About 5 or 6 kettles full and all the remaining cosmoline will wash away nicely. Make sure you turn over the bolt, bolt carrier, trigger group to get boiling water in all the cracks and crevices. Shake off each piece wearing an oven mitt and let the pieces cool down. The heat will evaporate most of the moisture. Carefully do the same thing for the barrel/receiver assembly. Give all the metal parts a light coat of quality oil. As for the stock, I prefer to simply wipe it down with a clean rag. Yes, there will still be cosmoline embedded in the wood, as you will find out on a hot summer day, but many of the methods mentioned in this thread may cause damage to the wood finish. Not worth the risk. When you have it out in the heat on a warm summer day the cosmoline will sweat out of the stock. Kind of annoying, but after a while most will sweat out and you're done. Just bring a spare towel to the range. Alternatively, you can take the stock off, wrap it in in a few towels, and put it all in a black garage bag. Leave the bag by a sunny window for an afternoon (summer). Much of the cosmoline will sweat out.
 
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