There is a decent green-coloured concentrated degreaser you can get at Princess Auto in big jugs that is much more environmentally freindly and way less toxic/hazardous to your skin and breathing than brake cleaner (and less damaging if you spill it on something else). Read the labels as they make more than one kind. (check the items it is targeted for degreasing) It's water soluble, just mix it with water in a dunk tank and soak your parts (but not the wood). If it's tougher than other cosmo you've seen, just let it soak longer, or scrub it with some soft (brass or stiff nylon) brushes a bit harder. I would avoid using steel wool unless you want to ruin the finish on your bluing (if you have any left on your milsurp). That would just be for extreme cases. This topic has been covered in other posts previously elsewhere on CGN, about cosmoline removal (cosmo or whatever the junk they used on your K98 is, the technique is the same). Just search for the posts here with some key words. Googling would have told you reams of info on it too. The SKS guys have posted tons of stuff on this already here on and the web.