Deisel, mineral spirits, gasoline, lacquer thinner, etc are almost ineffective. Not really. For some more cool old guns, take a look at our Walther P1 a much cleaner and easier milsurp. This process is simple but very messy and should be done in a well-ventilated area. Many gunsmiths actually use it to cure or set a freshly blued gun. Removing Cosmoline has given people grief since 1939. Whatever their history was with the PLA prior to being locked in the goo grave for an indeterminate amount of time, they certainly werent babied. JavaScript is disabled. Is either of these acceptable? Cosmoline can create a dangerous situation with your firearm. For the trigger group, I soaked it in some Hoppe's #9 for a few hours and it seemed to have gotten most of the cosmoline out of it. Today, you can find literally hundreds of recipes, formulas, tips, trick and strategies online for removing our favorite rust preventative coatingbe careful though, some of these "solutions" are more credible than others. Attempting to remove the rust-preventive after letting it warm up will turn the Cosmoline into an oilier coating, as opposed to a thicker, wax-like substance. For a complete listing of cities,click here. It's original purpose was as a water dispersant for machining - since the 60s, machine shops have gone to water-based machining lubrication/coolants and when you're done machining a part, you want to get the water-based lube/coolant off the part quickly. You can proceed to the real cleaning whenever youre satisfied. The protective layer was thick, tough and not easy to remove. There is something hugely satisfying about bringing one of these old things back to life. Water based chemicals eliminate the risk of fire. Fact: Over the past few decades, the name Stoddard Solvent was synonymous with all mineral spirits. If planning to shoot your surplus firearms, leaving cosmoline in the bore can ruin your firearm or, worse yet, cause injury to the shooter. Youll want to move, rotate, and flex parts to exercise hidden bits of Cosmoline. Once youre satisfied, you can move on to the actual cleaning. Good or bad idea? Once youve got all of the surface cosmoline more or less handled, youll want to really start tackling the goo in all of the nooks and crannies of the receiver. They cost around $20 if you want something cheap. Acetone, mineral spirits, or kerosene (but avoid the latter when possible, or when your firearm has been painted or blued). You may find that some firearms have been brushed . Kroil can be found here at Brownells.com. Type your new password and hit button below to confirm it. Please avoid producing WW1-era invisible poisons in your shed. A heatgun or trashbag works well enough to get the cosmoline out of the stock. Wrap in paper towels and aluminum foil. They dunked in the guns in a 55-gallon drum of gasoline. Because it was so darn cold (sub-zero temperatures) they decided to speed the process with heat. If the metal is removed from the stock, it shouldn't make much of a difference. Switch to Standard View WD40 is a good cleaner for surfaces that you have good access to wipe down, but when it comes to cleaning small parts such as springs, sears, hammers, and other hard to reach places, I find that mineral spirits does a better job. Dont forget to subscribe to the Pew Pew Tactical YouTube Channel! I'll do better next time. guns & So we essentially got just enough cosmoline out of them to make them safe to fire and left it at that. Mix denatured alcohol and boiled linseed oil 50/50 and scrub a stock with it using 0000 steel wool. Purchased a SKS Type 56 that was so loaded with Cosmoline that the sales person would not even touch it. Even if your item only has a light coating of older Cosmoline, you might have questions as to how best to remove old coatings. Ive always had the best luck with mineral spirits. WD-40 Specialist Rust Remover Soak, One Gallon, 1-Pack 1,330 $2494 ($0.19/Fl Oz) Save more with Subscribe & Save FREE delivery Sat, Feb 18 on $25 of items shipped by Amazon There are lots of options and choices you can make, but what we used were: Specifically, weve got 3 surplus Type 56 carbines that we picked up from Palmetto State Armory which are essentially Chinese domestic clones of the Soviet SKS with a few minor tweaks here and there. This involves two steps: You can do this by wrapping your firearm in towels and placing it in a black trash bag and leaving it sit out in the sun, or using another heat sourcesuch as a heat gun or older ovento return the Cosmoline to its liquid state. Place parts covered in Cosmoline into the bath. Heat and humidity make a heat gun or hair dryer a good option here. Old Steel is dedicated to finding historical and collectible items and making them available to the customer. How would a different solvent such as naphtha fare against the cosmoline? Remove the stock, get a few tooth brushes and start dousing and scrubbing the metal. Wipe it down with a rag with a little denatured alcohol on it. . I took mine in a hot shower, shoots like a dream. (, We noticed that you have previously logged in with your, Check what do you get by creating an account, Bookmark and compare your favorite firearms, [Complete Guide] Cosmoline Removal: SKS Example. After his military service, he attended the Colorado School of Trades(CST) in Lakewood, CO for gunsmithing. Cosmoline Remover is a solvent-based industrial cleaner specifically formulated to quickly & effectively remove all types of Cosmoline and other petroleum-based transportation and storage coatings. Dont worry too much if you cant actually get to most of the grease yet, just consider this an initial pass thatll make later cleaning a little bit easier. Place parts covered in Cosmoline into the bath. Now how come some drug dealer/crook can buy one of this things and whamo bamo it works right out of the box?? Thanks! Place the bolt assembly into the boiling water. Amazon.com: Cosmoline Remover 1-48 of 129 results for "cosmoline remover" RESULTS Price and other details may vary based on product size and color. Using a rag, wipe the stock off. For Cosmoline removal, I get a gallon of K1 kerosene, then put it in a tub. Over time, Cosmoline may have seeped into nooks, crevices, and gaps in the metal but it is actually fairly simple to remove. In our case, you might need to run the gadget a few times to really penetrate the crud. Will brake cleaner remove cosmoline? The consistency of cosmoline varies widely but is mostly found as grease or wax. You can also use another heat source to melt the cosmoline to its liquid condition, such as a heat gun or an oven. The more you wash and rinse the rifle, the more creep will appear. WD-40 is a mediocre lubricant and an OK rust preventative. Use coupon code KTG10 to get 10% off your order of $150 or more at Brownells. Note that if you are going to paint the part, use the brake parts cleaner which evaporates nearly completely and instantly (and skip the WD-40) and then paint immediately to prevent rust from starting. These guns were usually just dipped in a big vat of Cosmoline and then put into storage. * SCAQMD -This product is not to be used in California's South Coast Air Quality Management District because it does not comply with Rule 1144. Both my SKS's I cleaned by first taking off as much cosmoline as possible with paper towels, then soaking everything in WD-40. Try to disassemble your rifle first, then clean its parts by section. Its very important that you get as much of the Cosmoline out of the gun as possible if only to eliminate the risk of having to disassemble the gun to find a hidden chunk of the rust-preventive gunking it up. Repeating this multiple times will remove the cosmoline. He grew up in Elk County, Pennsylvania, where he became obsessed with the world of firearms. Make sure. 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. just cosmoline removed easy. Nylon brush. There is no need the wood is already sealed, just wipe it down with penetrating oil (PB blaster wd40) and the cosmoline will wipe right off. You can empty your disgusting cosmoline soup as you go along or just leave it, cosmo floats in water so you might need to skim that off at least before taking the parts out. Cosmoline & WD40 Removal I used WD40 to cut the cosmoline on some Yugo Mags. If you have some cosmoline removal in your future, you may want to pick up a bottle of this stuff. used kompact kamp mini mate for sale. Originally developed in the late 1800s and marketed as a home disinfectant and veterinary anti-swelling agent, presumably by the same turn of the century physicians inclined to prescribe you cocaine for a staph infection or whatever. You do not pay Very fast and efficient. Brake cleaner is pretty nasty even its not in chlorinated form though, so make sure youve got gloves and a well-ventilated area to work in. The stuff will bubble up as a wonderfully aromatic orange oil like layer on the water. Thank you for the support! Clean and repeat until it stops weeping. Required fields are marked *. Video shows my process start to finish so you can see all stages. When you shoot, residual fouling builds up in the barrel. Cosmoline is used to protect the gun against rusting; however, many military surplus rifles were previously submerged in the greasy substance, making its eventual removal seemingly problematic. Cosmoline continues to be made today and is still a great option for long-term rust prevention. It won't get it sparkling clean but the heat and pressure will remove a large amount. All ultrasonic cleaners are made in the same factory in the PRC. Bolt assembly and small parts steam on top off kettle with rack and follow same process for clean and lube for reassemble .had to deal with this stuff with stored engine cylinder heads and guns a lot steam and compressed air. It is frequently used in indoor and outdoor applications and does a great job for long-term storage. Sealing them in a greasy tomb of cosmo guards against the corrosive nature of maritime environments. after that just give it a good cleaning with some hoppes 9 or whatever and you are good to go. Forget the other 'dangerous processes'boil with water, and you're good-as-new! WD40 is an expensive version of mineral spirits. Try simple green first. It will melt off the Cosmoline then wipe and oil everything down. No other commonly available solvent works as well but it aint magic. Just be sure to oil thoroughly as soon as possible because it'll be bone dry when you're done. Back in the day when I was a kid, we use to take packing grease of with gasoline. WD40 pwnz cosmoline. If you'd like to consider an effective Cosmoline Remover in aerosol, please see our SS-245 product option. connect4education register; don't be a felix cdcr video; westfield knox redevelopment 2020 I took it easy on the wood (making several passes) so as to not hurt the finish. It complies with us military MIL-C-11796C Class 3 rust preventative. No finish injured, wood stocks like-new (it cooks Cosmoline out of the wood grain), and IT'S CHEAP! Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. The main difference between Rust Veto and cosmoline is that Rust Veto has a slightly higher melting point of 140-170 degrees Fahrenheit. I've used WD40 to clean guns (not to lube them) and fired thousands of rounds without any dead primers. It practically dissolves any Cosmoline product in seconds with very little effort. There is no way I would boil a stock! Weve got a dedicated section for the AR-15 here. I last did this with an SMLE stock from 1944, and it was wicked completely dry of every spec of cosmoline, and the oil absorbing compound was almost black. You are using an out of date browser. I've used mineral spirits, gasoline, heat, soapy water, etc. In our case, the two Type-56s we received directly were definitely in the latter category of goo-boundedness, with lots of solvent-resistant hardened grease nuggets tucked away throughout the entire firearm. Cosmoline is our stuff, product of a first world economy, the commies used grease, cheap grease, much easier to remove. Hmm, so it's like packing grease. AK-47 Tips/Tricks, Links, Content and Buyer Guides. Usually requiring a full detail stripping and cleaning of the rifle before its remotely capable of being operated safely. Youll finally remove the majority of the cosmoline from the gun after hours of scrubbingbut basically, you cant stop there. WD-40 does a good job cleaning up wood stocks without removing the underlying finish. I will offer that after trying everything, the absolute best method for degreasing the stock is to put it in a large black garbage bag and fill it with either kitty litter, or that similar stuff you use to soak up oil on the driveway. 15 Best Gun Shops In California (2022 Updated), AR-15 Upper Assembly Guide (2022 UPDATED) Must-Read, Q-tips for cleaning the other metal sections of the gun. Most of the cosmoline may be getting rid of after a few baths. Fact: Over the past few decades, the name Stoddard Solvent was synonymous with all mineral spirits. I tried Hoppes #9 (gun cleaner) on a small section and was surprised at how easy it took it off. Its worth noting that we didnt go SUPER deep with our cleanup job on the two in-house Type 56s as theyre already pretty thoroughly trashed. Refinish the wood with boiled linseed oil or Dansk oil. Air dry with compressor or hang dry then oil all parts. Just avoid gasoline as your cleaning solvent as its not advisable to use. Its important to extract as many residues and greases out of the gun as possible to avoid the risk of disassembling the gun in the future to uncover a hidden chunk of the rust-preventive gunk. This causes an issue as brass expands and contracts on firing. Upon removing the parts, the hot water will evaporate and you will have totally degreased and cosmoline free parts. 2. Here is my latest brainstorm for cleaning up a Yugo M59/66. Now its one of the best toys in the box. Kroil is known as The Oil That Creeps and has made quite a name for itself in the firearms industry. There you go. Thats why it is important to clean and remove it in your rifle to keep your firearm operating at its best performance. While our small parts soak, we took the barrelled action and receiver outside to just absolutely douse in brake cleaner. Want the best cosmoline removal methods for cleaning up your milsurp gun? These two things together will help dislodge and remove the remaining traces of Cosmoline, along with a fair amount of elbow grease. It is safe to work with, cheaper than most products and works extremely well. I remember when a "Yugo" was a piece of crap car. Worked great. For tight areas, I used some Q-tips. The decision to either remove or not remove cosmoline from the rifle is based on each individual situation. A lot of people swear by mineral spirits as a primary solvent to remove Cosmoline, and you can either apply it with a rag or submerge/dip your gun into it. Post author: Post published: June 2, 2022 Post category: symptoms of a bad metering valve Post comments: affidavit for police character certificate affidavit for police character certificate Strips the finish and removes the cosmoline really, really well. In the realm of firearms, as technologies advanced, many militaries put their older, outdated weapons into long-term storage in preparation for any future conflicts or wars. Trip83 . Its chemical composition consists primarily of a homogenous mixture of oil-based, non-polar hydrocarbons. Once youve got your barrel and receiver assembly cleaned up, you can check on your sweaty wood bois and see where theyre at. Reference a disassembly manual and take every piece and part out of it. METHOD #1: Wipe with Cloth, Rag or Paper Towel, METHOD #2: Soak Parts in Cosmoline Remover. Just throw the parts in hot water. Following graduation, he accepted a job at C. Sharps Arms in Montana, where he still works full time as a stockmaker and gunsmith. That means it will come off with kerosene or mineral spirit, and could even just wipe away with rubbing alcohol. Had some residual cosmoline on a receiver that came off surprisingly well last weekend with HOT water, near boiling temp. The use of gasoline as a cleaning solvent is DRAMATICALLY Dangerous. There are a few methods you can use in order to clean Cosmoline off in this state: WD-40 If you spray WD-40 . The spray and handy tube make it easy to get into grooves and slots, as well as bolt holes. A reminder on why you shouldnt use gasoline to clean a firearm: its simply not practicable to clean a firearm, especially in the quantities required to clean a standard C&R pistol. Remove all metal parts, use a spray can of break cleaner to strip cosmoline. 2 When all the parts have been cleaned they must be treated with oil to prevent corrosion. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. However, after three days in salt water, the metal strip was completely rusted, except the top. We hate SPAM and promise to keep your email address safe. All that being said I usually buy cotton cloths from a big box store ringspun or recycled and I just wipe. Wipe off the WD40. Cosmoline melts at temperatures ranging from 115 to 125 degrees Fahrenheit. Hosting, Website & SEO services provided by EZMarketing. Gently remove parts and wipe off Cosmoline or move parts back and forth in bath and Cosmoline will start coming off. (Just like the tutorial on surplusrifle.com) boiling or extremely warm water is THE BEST way to get cosmo off metal parts with little or no effort and is completely safe to the components. Repeating that for a couple of days, gave me a pretty nice, undamaged rifle! cosmoline removal wd40. First off, youre going to want to disassemble the gun down to a level that youre comfortable with. Which makes it susceptible to environments that also kill small children and pets when they get locked inside minivans which well simulate by stuffing it in that trash bag and letting the angry heat orb outside do its thing. Cosmoline can be dipped or brushed onto the firearm at temperatures between 140 and 160 degrees F. While it can be dipped into hotter melts it's not necessary and is done, generally, to allow more firearms to be dipped without cooling the liquid. Stock in a trash bag on a hot day Or mineral spirits scrub down? Your email address will not be published. Eliminates Manual Cleaning with Solvents Green aqueous chemistry eliminates manual cleaning using flammable solvents, acetone and WD-40. Afterward, you can dry out your gun and finish it with lube. (not optimized for mobile browsing), Copyright 2023 COSMOLINE DIRECT, LLC. All petroleum-based products are chemical mixtures that are highly complex. But when you have robbed a man of everything, he is no longer in your power he is free again. This is most likely how you will encounter it on a surplus firearm or bayonet. All of the above is primarily educated guessing for Eastern Bloc procedures, aka a WAG American practice for removing actual Cosmoline (not the ersatz Cosmoline that communist countries used) was the chlorinated solvent approach (disposal in pits, not rivers), based on first hand accounts. It is used for undercoating and preventing the damages in a car caused by driving on roads. got the cosmo out and it looks good too! Cosmoline is a greenish man-butter stuff that most car manufacturers spray on engines/undercarriages of cars to protect during transport. If you have a firearm that has been stored in Cosmoline, the first step is to remove as much of the Cosmoline as possible. Cosmoline is great stuff for protecting guns from rusting in storage, but it can be a rear bear to remove. You can opt to disassemble your firearm before you start this process or keep your gun intact throughout the cleaning process. If the rifle will spend the rest of its life in a safe, it might be better to leave it on. This rifle had not been disassembled in MANY moons and had dried cosmoline in all the tight areas. Aerosol brake of carburetor cleaner, dissolves the cosmolene into thin air almost instantly. These were pretty bad. WD40 worked well, but was basically a waste when the spirits did the same thing. Soak the bolt and small parts in mineral spirits. Kerosene is petroleum-based and will not hurt the metal or metal finish. Kurt is a Gunsmith, Reloader, Hunter, and Outdoorsman. [1]. That is why it is called CitriStrip. Address: www.originalcosmoline.com nothing has been easier or more effective than dawn soap and hot water. Once removed, coatings can be melted again for repeat use. However, it might not be necessary if you have no intentions of shooting it. Used Citristrip on my T53 stock, along with CLP to get the cosmoline out of the metal parts. Click below for a FREE LESSON! Shopping Cart Software by BigCommerce. Spray part again and set aside to air dry. Set the temp to 130 degrees, bake for a while. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, M91, M91/30, M91/30 PU, M38, M44, 48M, T53, Enough Glorious Rifle to arm small milita. Took days of cleaning for all the original proofs and markings to become visible. 4. Cosmo just rolls off. Although, today, there are many rust-preventative oils and greases that are cleaner and will do an as good, if not better, job. I have seen both commercial and military rifles that sat in closets unprotected for many decades that didn't have any wood issues, some rust speckling on metal, but good wood. Let soak for at least 30 seconds. If you use these links, it helps me continue to put out free content for viewers. You can now use, and regularly clean. A dry film of it on the mags isn't going to hurt anything. The greasy substance is used to prevent their military surplus rifles from rusting. For the small parts of the weapon, try to soak them first in hot water. Be that as it may, your general overall approach to de-gunking your gun is going to be pretty similar no matter how much shit is built up within it. Here are the stuff youll need: Avoid using gasoline and harsh chemical solvents as your cleaner because that can strip paint and other coatings from the guns surface. However, this one was never opened, making it extremely rare. You must log in or register to reply here. Free-floating firing pins, like the one found in AR-15s and the SKS, need to freely float. The diesel fuel with get thick as you wring out the microfiber towel repeatedly in the diesel. Make sure you get all of the Cosmolene off of the gun! For metal, Boil water and combine with CONCENTRATED Simple Green in a disposable pan and wash all the metal. We already have an account registered for email address CitriStrip on the wood parts. Attempting to remove the rust-preventive after allowing the cosmoline to warm up can result in an oilier finish. It worked so well that I took pictures and video of the last small cosmoline section of metal I had to clean. By . Drench them in it, let them sit, then rinse them out. Let it sit for a couple of minutes, then run a few dry patches through. Throw on a podcast or something youre likely going to be here for a bit. It was great stuff. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. two weeks ago I used wd-40 to clean off cosmoline off a SAR-80 parts kit, I used it on the plastic stock and metal it worked real well and does not harm the bluing or crackle paint on the receiver stubs. You only have power over people so long as you do not take everything away from them. (cross-posted at mAss Backwards) After trying the old fashioned method of removing the cosmoline from the SKS by repeatedly spraying each piece with degreaser and/or WD-40 and wiping dry with a shop rag, I decided I'm going to give the "low-heat method" a try, and build my own version of the "Easy Bake Garbage Can", as illustrated there at www.surplusrifle.com. Simple Green works great on metal parts, particularly in the ultrasonic cleaner. Remove all metal from stock you are comfortable removing. Enter your email address to subscribe and receive notifications of new posts by email. I also use murphy's oil soap to help remove the oily Cosmoline from the wood. WD-40 or any other petroleum based based solvents will cut it pretty good. Copyright 2023 Pew Pew Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Once cosmoline has been exposed to air for a few years, it will solidify and become a wax consistency. Goo Gone is a cirtus gel product that is marketed for the removal of adhesive residue on consumer projects. Soak a cloth in the degreaser and rub it onto the firearm until the cosmoline is dissolved. All content Copyright 1998-2018 Rifleshooter.com, FTC disclosure: some links on this site are monetized, Sig Sauer MCX Virtus PCP Air Rifle Review- Initial Impressions, Project Guns- Gunsmithing articles and posts, Ruger Precision Rifle Suppressed Load Development: Hornady 147 ELD-Match and H4350 with THUNDER CHICKEN, Wilson Combats Tactical Rail Interface, Modular (T.R.I.M.) You'll now receive newsletters of our best articles on techniques, Oil or grease, residue, and dirt can build up in the barrel and internal parts during shooting sessions. Consider this just a primer on how you might tackle a cosmoline cleanup job, but there are tons of ways to go about it. Something to pay final attention to when doing the last pass on all of your small internal parts is the firing pin channel. Will not soften, dull, or discolor finishes. Go check them out at Oldsteelguns.com! And as if that were not enough it came from a heaver smokers home seemingly as everything, cosmoline, dirt, and grime were shellacked with thick coating of nicotine. Breaks down (dissolves) all forms of Cosmoline in seconds with very little effort. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. It doesnt cut the oil. Just like everyone said, mineral spirits for metal (you can use hot water and simple green too), and bag/heat gun for the stock. Simple, cheap, efficient, but time consuming to remove all the cosmoline before shooting. Just be careful if using a heat gun, keep it on low, and make sure to keep the heat moving and even. Collector, reloader, amateur gunsmith and CHL holder. Then reassemble and enjoy boom. Cosmolines melting point is pretty low, between 113 and 125 degrees Fahrenheit. Very fast and efficient. I found some PD680 from a chemical company, but it must be neutured or something because it doesn't smell the same and doesn't work anywhere near what the older stuff did back in the '90's. Re: Cosmoline removal Ford & Pontiac used alot of Cosmoline back in the 80`s & 90`s to protect the car from transit contaminants. I've discovered recently that WD40 works good. Luckily, cosmoline melts at anywhere between 115-125 degrees Fahrenheit. towards your level. Jump to Latest Follow 1 - 15 of 15 Posts . Q-Tips and cotton swabs also work. Cosmoline is a petroleum based brown wax. A & L Cosmoline Remover will quickly and easily remove petroleum-based transit coatings and cosmoline from vehicles. Cosmoline is petroleum-based rust and corrosion-inhibiting grease.