Cosmoline Removall

[brainard]

What is the best thing for removing cosmoline or packing grease?

[ISC]

Re: Cosmoline Removall

heat is good. If you can leave a cosmoline soaked gun on top of newspapers out in the direct sun on a hot day, much of the cosmoline will just drip away, and the rest will come of much easier afterwards. Boiling hot water will rinse off most of whats left, after the water evaporates (a few minutes) a paint brush and a coffee can with kerosene, diesel, or even gasoline will make it squeeky clean.

If you are doing the last step, make sure you aren't getting the distillate on wood or plastic parts. This is pretty much a must do for the bolt though for old milsurps unless you want to do a detail strip of all the itty bitty parts.

carb cleaner or brake cleaner works too, but be aware that it will dissolve paint and/or some plastics.

[jefferson101]

Re: Cosmoline Removall

heat is good. If you can leave a cosmoline soaked gun on top of newspapers out in the direct sun on a hot day, much of the cosmoline will just drip away, and the rest will come of much easier afterwards. Boiling hot water will rinse off most of whats left, after the water evaporates (a few minutes) a paint brush and a coffee can with kerosene, diesel, or even gasoline will make it squeeky clean.

If you are doing the last step, make sure you aren't getting the distillate on wood or plastic parts. This is pretty much a must do for the bolt though for old milsurps unless you want to do a detail strip of all the itty bitty parts.

carb cleaner or brake cleaner works too, but be aware that it will dissolve paint and/or some plastics.

What he said. I like to wipe out as much as I can, and then put the rifle into one of my vehicles..(On newspaper, obviously) on a hot summer day. It all sweats and oozes out. Even with newspaper, your vehicle is going to smell of cosmoline for a day or three, but that smell makes me smile, so I don't mind that part. Don't do it in your wife's car, though. Bad idea, that......

Around here, you can sweat the Cosmoline out of the stock the same way, but we all don't get 100+ F days everywhere. So improvise, should you need to do so.

Kerosene works, as does gasoline, but that's volatile stuff, and I hate to use it around these parts, because it could actually start a fire, and then where would you be?



Brake/and/or/carb cleaner will cut it if you get it onto the Cosmo, but there are lots of crevices and crannies that don't get hosed, unless you use five cans.



Find a good warm place, and let it simmer for a day or so. You'd be amazed how much will melt down at about 140 F.

In the absence of that much heat, I'd go with kerosene. You can get a quart of "de-scented Lamp Oil" at Wally World or wherever, and that's kerosene. it do work, but it is a mess to work with compared to sweating it out.

(I've done M-44's in my oven, but a bigger rifle won't fit. )

OTOH, in January, up North? The heat would work good if you leave the barrel sticking out of the oven. 'Round here, heat is usually what we avoid, when we can.

[mgjohn]

Re: Cosmoline Removall

Mineral spirits also work great. Not as flamable as gasoline.

[etp777]

Re: Cosmoline Removall

Heat and carb cleaner work for me.

If it's a mosin, 50-100 rds supplies the heat jsut fine and then you don't have to stink up your truck.

[C. M. Wolf]

Re: Cosmoline Removall

It depends. Basically I'll start with a 50/50 mix of lacquer thinner and mineral spirits on a warm day. If I'm trying to clean this out/off of wood, I'll let the 50/50 mix dry well and follow with a Homer Formby's Wood Furniture Stripper lightly rubbed with a 0000 steel wool.

I've had to strip some pretty oil-soaked wood furniture before and this combination seems to work pretty well with good results for refinishing.

IHTH

Michael