Sks cosmoline removal

Strip the gun, take all medal parts and let them soak in kerosene for a couple of hrs, dry and re-oil and take the wooden stock and soak it in warm water with some dawn soap, dry making sure the stock is completely dry then rub linseed oil on it, it will prevent the stock from cracking
 
i had most probs with my stock. somany little cracks it can live in.. so i filled the bathtub with hot water soaped up the stock and scrubed it with a plastic bristle brush.. worked great.

as for the metal parts most of the ways people use here well work.

i used brake cleaner. it rips everybit of oil off and leaves the parts freezing cold.. make sure to run them down with a little oil after if you use it.. the parts acualy start changing color infront of your eyes.. so be sure to give em a little oil to suck up. not sure if anything would happen. but i sure dont wanna find out
 
Santa was nice to me this Christmas and gave me an SKS from Marstar. This is the brand new Chinese military rifle with matching serial numbers and chromed barrel. It came in a box with hard case, oil, stripper clip and Marstar T Shirt.
Very nice but the rifle was covered with cosmoline.
After reading all the suggestions here, I ended up trying Airwolf suggestion since I got the steam cleaner already in my household. Its Eureka Steam Cleaner. And it worked. I prefer this method because there were no chemicals involved. Just water converted to steam. Steam melts the cosmoline and cleans the metal parts at the same time. It dries very quickly. I removed all the cosmoline within an hour. The whole rifle is clean including the wood stock.
After the steamer, I treated all the metal parts with G96 gun treatment. Spray, wipe off 2 times. Spray the 3rd time and let it evaporate to leave a protection on the metal surface.
All this in 2 hours.

My next project is to clean my M14S the same way.
 
I picked up my black bolt 54 Tula about two weeks ago and finally got the Steam Shark working today. I blasted the hell out of everything piece by piece then wiped it off. I then ran Birchwood Casey Gun Scrubber over almost everything and then gave everything a coat of Birchwood Casey Barricade. Things seem to be working well.

My wife just took the kids outside for a bit so I will pop in "We Were Soldiers" and take care of the fiddly stuff while enjoying a pint. Time so far, about 50 minutes.
 
Curtton said:
did you see the russian SKS at the beginning of the movie against the french?
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Sure did! Bayonet and everything! I figured if there is an SKS movie, that's the one. I didn't remember how much SKS action was in it but didn't have to wait too long to be reminded.

My M14 cleaning movie is Full Metal Jacket, and I clean my 1911 to Magnum P.I. :D
 
You can always make your own varsol bath. A gallon of gas with a cup of 30 weight oil mixed in. Strip the rifle down and soak the metal parts for a few hours, and blow the parts dry with compressed air. Good as new.
 
It doesn't say it on their website but can anyone tell me if the Chinese SKS they are selling come with the cleaning kit in the stock and a sling? Do I use regular gun cleaning solvents to clean the SKS after shooting the corrosive ammo?
 
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I got a cleaning kit under the butt plate with mine, but no sling or anything. Maybe that's just where I bought it.

I think you can use regular gun cleaning solvents for the corrosive ammo - the important part is just making sure you clean good. I bought a bottle of "Sweets 7.62" just in case it gets tough, but I was cautioned that I should use it quite sparingly, as it's supposedly very powerful.
 
*Newb questions alert*

So, I just got my SKS in from Marstar, and I will obviously be removing the cosmoline from it. I think I'm going to try the steam cleaner method. I had a question about the finish on the barrel etc (is it gun blue/paint?). Does the finish on the metal ever get affected by the above methods (steam, simple green...)?

And for those who have put their stocks in the oven; any warnings or advice to give out that you wish you had known beforehand? Does your kitchen STINK afterwards?
 
Woodstove

To extract the cosmoline from the stock of my recently-purchased Marstar SKS, I placed it on a stool in front of the glass window of the woodstove that sits in the corner of my living room. It wasn't too challenging to determine the just-right distance, and from that point I just moved/rotated/wiped for a couple of hours for a couple of evenings while I relaxed in the nearby La-Z-Boy and watched TV.

On another note, Break-Free Powder Blast was good for clearing out the firing-pin channel without dismantling the bolt.

Boomer
 
finally disassembled my Marstar SKS and used: a sink full of hot water, the cleaning kit, liberal amounts of Palmolive and a toothbrush on all metal parts. Finished her off with a couple of kettles of boiling water. Everywhere. Took a good half hour for the barrel to be safe to hold (ouch!), but everything ended up nice and clean and dry.
 
sksshooter said:
Hey Otter was your stock all banged up. Mine came from Marstar looking like the rifle was in the war.
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nope, couple of "beauty marks" on the stock, BUT, the bluing was nicked in a few places on the barrel and there was wear from the bolt cover release being moved when they de-cosmolened it.

what I find neat about the rifle is that critical components are machined well, anything not mechanically critical, the factory didn't give a f**k.

I do like it for the fact it was never issued, but like the cosmetics on my '50 Tula better.
 
Finally did 2 new Marstar SKS's this week. disassembled completely and put everything except the barrel and stock into a pan of boiling water and Palmolive soap for about 15 mins. Put the barrel in the kitchen sink and and poured gallons and gallons of boiling water over the barrel, scrubbed tight spots with a paint brush and Palmolive. I then took everything outside, sprayed the heck out of everything with brake cleaner, that will get any big bits of cosmo off. The parts then look really crappy, mottled and look like they have nicotine all over them. I then sprayed every metal part LIBERALLY with G96 gun treatment. I let it sit for a minute or 2 then got some soft cloths and wiped everything down. The brown junk was gone and just left a nice bright sheen on all metal parts, its amazing!!!!! Then just lightly oiled the trigger group bits and a little grease VERY LITTLE on the slides/rails. The supplied cleaning kit is awesome, the cleaning jag when assembled on the rod is a really nice tight fit in the barrel, remember the cap on the cleaning kit is a muzzle protector. About 10 runs through with bore cleaner, then oil and then dry and the 2 carbines are just out of this world. I'm really happy the way they turned out. I put a monte carlo stock on one and a Tapco T6 on the other, really nice. Now I'm going out to get another one and leave it bone stock.
 
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