School me please.

[Gigan]

Hello everyone, I am interested in picking up a C&R gun or two but have a couple of questions that are noob in nature. First cosmoline ? Is this some gunk that is put on the gun for storage purposes to prevent rust? Also how do you go about removing it. Next counter rifling? What is this and how does it help/harm the gun? Thanks

[Agustav]

Cosmoline is used to prevent rest and long term storage. It's pretty nasty to remove! If it's really bad, I usually leave the gun outside on a hot day muzzle side down. Most of it will drip out. After that, I use hot water and lots of elbow grease.

Counter bored barrel is just a cheap way to repair the damaged muzzle with out replacing the barrel. My counter bored Mosin actually shoots as well if not better then non-counter bored Mosin. Of course, the Finn Mosin beat them both!

[Gigan]

sweet Auggy! thanks for the reply!

[Lurch762]

You can use mineral spirits to remove cosmoline too. Just be careful if you use it on the stock because depending on the finish, it could remove that too. Cosmoline melts at about 130 degrees F so you can also use a heat gun, steam cleaner, or hot water to get it out too. I usually try to remove the bulk by wiping off and then use mineral spirits and heat gun to get out the rest. Just remember, it's a pain to clean but cosmoline is your friend. It put guns into suspended animation.

[Spiggy]

I have a black painted aluminum trashcan that I leave outside with my stripped rifle inside. The sun does the rest in sweating out the goo.

If there's no sun, I have a wood strip lined with heating bulbs that I can put inside.

Afterwards, I break out the acetone or brake cleaner, sponge brush and nylon brushes and start scrubbing hunting for the hardened goo.

I avoid using chemical cleaners on wood because often enough the cleaner will sap and dry the wood, making it brittle and prone to breakage.


Counterboring is a neat trick they use to preserve barrels by removing damaged rifling. It doesn't hurt the gun but it's not aesthetically pleasing because of the big hole it makes in the muzzle.

so what did you pick up?

[Jerkdog]

I like the Box O' Truth method.

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/edu23.htm

[Gigan]

you guys are great thanks a million!!!

[glennsche]

start with a mosin nagant 91/30. they're cheap to buy, not too bad to shoot, and a great place to start. it's like learning to drive a stick with a '93 civic. once you get the hang of it, move on to a mauser, and beater enfield or a k31. if you want to play with semis, the SKS is the best choice. from there it gets expensive! (and where the fun *really* begins).

i got my first mosin in january. now i've got 6 C&R guns.

[Gigan]

sweet can't wait!