I'm floating in a sea of cosmolene...

Claven2

Claven2

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For the record, I have now owned 4 Yugoslavian made Mausers.

I have had one M24/47, two M48A's and now most recently an M48. I have also degreased several others including two for Badgerdog.

All of them were amply cosmolened, but this latest M48 is just OBSCENE.

I am not done cleaning it up yet, but so far have gone through an ENTIRE CAN of WD40 to soften the cosmo and about 4 full rolls of paper towel - no exaggeration.

I have NO IDEA what's going on, but this latest M48 has at least THREE TIMES the volume of cosmolene on it than any Yugo rifle I've ever busted the Yugo Cherry on before.

My basement smells like cosmolene, my garbage can is full of cosmolene, I'm dreaming of floating in vats of cosmolene at night.

I've done enough of these now to say that this one is abnormally greasy for a Yugo mauser. Guess that's just my luck?

Got it last week from P&S militaria. Jean still has a few of these left while Marstar appears to be sold out. No idea if the other rifles are this coated - but DAMN. I can't even comment on the rifle's condition yet as it's still that masked by greasy gunk. I can say it's all matching though - even the floorplate ;)

Anyhow, just thought I'd share.

Oh and for the record, the rumors seem to be true: The M48's ARE much rougher than the M48A's are, by and large. I honestly think that if I could time warp back to 3 or 4 years ago when lots of unissued Yugo mausers were still to be had directly from Marstar, I'd buy only M48A's, despite the stamped floorplates. The bolt are on average smoother and better polished, the metal was MUCH better finished before bluing and the stocks also seemed better inlet. Guess by the time they made the M48A's the workers finally had used up all their mulligans?
 
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I bought one of those Simoniz hand steamers from Canadian Tire and it works well on areas with lots of cosmoline in them. Just blast it with steam til it melts and falls off. Then I use Simple Green and a tooth brush to remove the remnants :)
 
My quick solution for Cosmolene :D:

K98BBQCleaning.jpg
 
Cosmoline is the trade name for a generic class of rust preventatives, conforming to MIL-C-11796C Class 3, that are a yellowish, light-amber, or greenish colored ointment-like mass; have a slight fluorescence; and have a petroleum-like odor and taste. Cosmoline is similar to petroleum jelly in properties, appearance, and thickness. It is the purified residue obtained from the distillation of petroleum oils.

Chemically, cosmoline is a homogeneous mixture of oily and waxy long-chain, non-polar hydrocarbons. It can range in color from white to yellow, and can differ in viscosity and shear strength. Cosmoline melts at 113–125 °F (45–52 °C) and has a flashpoint of 365 °F (185 °C).

Its most common use is in the storage and preservation of firearms. Previously, cosmoline was used to preserve other items. Objects the size of entire vehicles could be preserved for future use with cosmoline.

During World War II, US gun crews serving the huge coastal artillery batteries were known as "Cosmoliners" because they were tasked with the near constant application of cosmoline to the guns.
Click to expand...

http://www.answers.com/Cosmoline
 
BBq_Woa! said:
claven.. no offense, but why are you using tons of WD-40 and paper towels when you could get it all off in a minute with boiling water and a bathtub.
Click to expand...

I've done that before too, but I don't like scrubbing oily scum off my slop sink and I can do a better job with toothbrushes, dental pics, towels and solvent than I can any other way :)

And believe me, I have LOTS of experience degreasing rifles. This way works best for me.
 
CLAVEN2;
If you want a really "pretty M48 rifle get one of the M-48bo we have left....

Many of the tens of thousands of Mausers we shipped out of the former Yugoslavia were coated as you noted.... Standard practice in the Yugo military was to inspect all guns in "deep storage" and recoat them (hot sprayed cosmolene) every five years they were in the warehouses. Of course unless the fellow doing the spraying paid attention the guns on top received more than the one in the bottom layer.

The ones we removed from the hotter areas such as Macedonia had less left on the guns as the heat caused a lot of the cosmolene to melt and drop to the bottom of the crates.

Regards John
 
CLEANING THE M-48s;
On these hot sunny days take advantage of nature....

Stand your rifle in the sun against a dark background, voila after a few hours a lot of the goo is melted away. Oh yes, put lots of newspaper under the gun.

We used this technique when processing automatic weapons which had been in storage for decades. Bolts have to be removed for shipment to Canada.

Line the guns up on the loading dock of our warehouse in 40 degree sunshine, come back in a couple of hours and the bolts would drop out....
John
 
ILOVE POTATOES:
Check out the site, we have some M-48BOs left, the rarest of all by the way.... They are new unfired and come with all the goodies....
Call me at the office, will cut you a deal....

As for the Arisaka rifles, I have not seen any that I would offer to our customers and feel good about them.... On the other hand stay tuned for some intresting toys over the next few months....
Regards
John
 
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