Cosmoline = SATAN

[deebix]

I got a what I now know is a prized possession unfired 1943 M44 Izhevsk and have, to my horror, looked close to see just how saturated this thing is in cosmoline. It has a laminated stock that looks beautiful but not sure if its soaked into that either. What is the run down on getting rid of ALL the cosmoline? I went to my hardware store and they have mineral spirits etc but I dont know how much to get and all of that. What do I do for the stock? Thanks.

ps: and thanks for getting me the mosin bug...thanks a lot...

[Hopi]

For the Stock:

Leave it in the sun for a day. Wipe down the 'sweat'. Rinse and repeat.

I've used a heat gun on a few stocks, but that takes lots of patience.

Mineral spirits, or liquid of any kind, can warp/expand the fibers, and sometimes leaves a 'fuzzy' look to the grain.

For the action:
Throw it in the dishwasher to steam it off, wipe it down, apply CLP....

[deebix]

So even though its laminated it will still have cosmo in there? Anything in particular I should use as a rag to whipe it off the stock, not to smear it?

[Hopi]

So even though its laminated it will still have cosmo in there? Anything in particular I should use as a rag to whipe it off the stock, not to smear it?

Not sure about the laminate question.

You can use any rag I guess, the cosmo will sweat out and bead up on the surface of the stock, i've used old cotton t-shirts and they work fine.

[Crusader]

I've heard that cosmoline will not necessarily bleed out of laminate stocks. If this is true, it probably means there will not be cosmoline in the stock in the first place. I don't remember where I heard this info, but it makes sense because the last time we took a friend's laminated Mosin out, no cosmo came out at all, and he's never cleaned the wood.

[blackberg]

if you can remove the stock, I boiled my 1919 kit in a disposable alum pan on the bbq, with a mix of water and purple simple green, with very little scrubing got all the cosmoline out, water evaporated quick too since it was hot coming out, just blowed air on it as the pieces came out and sprayed with clp and they where good to go

-bb

[Mark One]

Learn to love it...

Take the entire rifle apart and put all of the metal pieces in a a solution of 50 mineral spirits and 50 denatured alcohol. Leave them in there for a hour or while you are working on the barrel and receiver. For the barrel and receiver just boil some water and pour it all over especially down the bore. Then just scrub with some Hopps until clean.

For the stock, wrap it in newspaper and then put it in a black trash bag and place it on the dash of your car on a hot day. The heat will bake it out without harming the finish.

After the parts have soaked for awhile take them out and scrub them with some Hopps and then let them soak again for a hour or so.

Then re-lube and reassemble and your set to go

Also, Cosmoline is the gift that keeps on giving...

[Full Clip]

Learn to love it...

Exactly.
Once you remove ALL the cosmo, you will know every part of that rifle cold.
Also, cosmo is the only reason why that rifle is in the condition it's in today!
It's really a love/hate relationship.

[tmncali]

I just went through this with a M95 that I recently bought, I wiped down as much on the outside as I could. disassembled the entire rifle, put all the metal parts in the dishwasher, when they came out they were nearly squeaky clean. Wiped out insides of bolt, oiled and wiped down bolt assembly parts, light oil reassembled bolt, ran patches through bore till clean, then ran bore scrubber liquid in it and ran patches again till clean, light coat clp. As for the wood it really didn't seem to have more than a surface coat that I just wiped of with warm damp rag and dried.


HTH.
good luck

[hifiguns]

The original shellac finish should act as a barrier to keep cosmo out of the wood. Use mineral spirits or paint thinner to wipe down the stock. Don't use denatured alcohol on the stock, because it will strip the shellac.

[Jerkdog]

I like the Box 'O Truth's method. http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/edu23.htm

Check out this pic of his gas rod All that orange crap is cosmo!

[Spiggy]

cosmoline = friend!

+1 to sunlight. Works better in a black trashbag.
A black painted aluminum trashcan is even better than the trash bag

[AJAX22]

+1 to spiggy's suggestion....

if it wern't for the cosmo you'd have a tomato stake that had been rode hard and put away wet.

Russian winter ain't no joke, and they treat their equipment like junk at the best of times.

cosmo is the ONLY reason your rifle doesn't look like an affghani buttscrattcher.

[torsf]

I recently cleaned up two Mosin 91/30's. Other than a vigorous rub down, I didn't really touch the stocks on either because they were fairly clean.

The first one I cleaned I mainly used mineral spirits, CLP, and q-tips to clean up the metal parts, and receiver/barrel. Took almost 3 hours to complete.

The second Mosin I used hot water to clean. I put all the metal parts in a cup, and poured almost boiling water in the cup. After a dozen times or so the parts looked fantastic. Just wiped them all down with CLP. Same for the receiver/barrel - A few cups of hot water down the barrel and then followed by CLP & patches. The gun looks much better than the first one I cleaned & it took less than 2 hours.

[Noonanda]

not to burst your buble, but you know that the 1943 M-44's were trials rifles, and WERE fired in combat during that testing period right?