Question about cleaning the SKS

Soli

Soli

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Now that I've received and disassembled the SKS I got from Lever Arms, how do I remove the nasty cosmoline off ? I assume I can put most of the parts (minus the stock and barrel) in a pot and boil it off?

What would be the best way of doing the same thing with the barrel ? What about cleaning the stock ? Any help would be appreciated. ;-)
 
I cleaned all mine off in the shower for the big parts.... just get nakid grab a scrub brush and go at it, although if I actually had a bathtub I would have done it that way.

I used hot water and dish detergent..... and let me tell you it leaves a ring so make sure to clean the tub out after eh.

I never totally immersed the stock, just soaked the brush and scrubbed scrubbed and scrubbed again..... the barreled action though I did immerse and the used compressed air to blow it out and oiled the shyt out of it with clp.
 
So you just kinda let it soak in hot/boiling water ? How long ? Isn't this going to rust the hell out of the parts ?
 
Soli said:
So you just kinda let it soak in hot/boiling water ? How long ? Isn't this going to rust the hell out of the parts ?
Click to expand...

running water will not rust anything, as long as you completly dry the part when your done and oil it rust is not a problem.....

I have gone as far as using a hair dryer to heat the parts if there is a gas tube involved or something I could not access with compressed air to get all the water out.

make sure to rinse in hot hot water.... it heats the part up and dryes it out for the most part just from the heat retained in the metal.
 
OK, I let it soak in hot water and dish detergent for like 20 mins, I'll go clean and dry it off now. Thanks for the info. What about the stock ? Any tips on cleaning it ?
 
Soli said:
OK, I let it soak in hot water and dish detergent for like 20 mins, I'll go clean and dry it off now. Thanks for the info. What about the stock ? Any tips on cleaning it ?
Click to expand...

make sure to use compressed air to get the water off the metal.... little can of computer air works great.

the stock as I said I just used a bucket of hot soapy water and kept changing the water when it got filthy and kept scrubbing..... then rinsed in hot water.

I used simple green for the stock..... sprayed it on in addition to the hot soapy water.

either way it took me about 2 hours total to strip, clean and reassemble and oil the new sks. another trick is to get an aerosol based lubricant like liquid wrench and spray all the metal and inside of the stock down when your done.... to coat the metal on the stock. liquid wrench is better then wd-40 because it does not leave a dry gummy residue and it penetrates areas well.

just don;t overdo it..... if you do just lightly wipe excess oil off.
 
If you've got the space and are feeling adventurous, try the easy-bake garbage can method described on surplusrifle.com, it's cheap and probably the most painless way to get rid of cosmoline :D I haven't tried the boiling water trick myself, but I would imagine that it works pretty good. I did the WD-40 spray-n-clean myself, but truth be told I'm still finding cosmoline seeping from wee nooks and crannies to this day, so it's not the most thorough of methods. If you have access to a solvent tank (the kind used for cleaning automotive parts) you could try that, in fact it might be a worthwhile investment if you have a shop of your own. Princess Auto sells a 3.5L bench-top model for $64.99 :D
 
I've cleaned my SKS D for the first time a couple months ago. The fireing pin wasn't hitting the primers hard enough. I had not cleaned it for a couple years before that.
 
OC-3 said:
Dishwasher method :cool:

surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/dishwashermethod/index.asp

Worked for me.........
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X2, take the cosmo off the metal and the wood great! I had a M1 Garand stock that was black and slimey, thought it was cheap birtch or something. 3 trips through the dishwasher and its beautiful walnut, with minor dings that the steam helped lift!
 
OC-3 said:
Dishwasher method :cool:

surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/dishwashermethod/index.asp

Worked for me.........
Click to expand...


I stripped all the parts I could fit into a boiling pot of water (w/ just a tad of dishsoap) and stuck the barrel/reciever in the dishwasher.

I like my sh!t clean, so I did this twice. Then sprayed everything with wd-40.

came out clean as a whistle.
 
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