Cosmoline...

[AnimalMother]

I fought this battle also with my CMP Garand. I used the surplus rifle method. I bought a big cheap pot from walmart than put all the parts that could fit in the pot and boiled them in water. Cosmos comes right off while its being boiled. For the barrel and other big parts I put them outside and boiled water than poured it on. Worked great. No harsh chemicals but it does take some time since you're mostly waiting for the water to boil.

[Fate]

I have used the diswasher 5 times on different rifles, never a problem.
http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting...thod/index.asp

The dishwasher method on stocks is the WORST. You'll raise/eliminate cartouches, get "fuzzies" on the wood that require sanding and the whole shebang will have to be refinished after losing everything original to the finish. Bad, bad.

Wrap stock in paper towels, put in black plastic bag and leave in rear window of your car for a few days (change out the towels daily). Much will leech out. No finish loss.

Metal= boiling water, paper towels and Q-tips. Then CLP to prevent rust.

[Rekrab]

I learned something interesting with a recent Mosin purchase: Cosmoline makes your hands really soft.

When I did mine I just took a heat gun to the metal. The wood I've just wiped down. So it feels oily, but not too bad.

[pullnshoot25]

I fought this battle also with my CMP Garand. I used the surplus rifle method. I bought a big cheap pot from walmart than put all the parts that could fit in the pot and boiled them in water. Cosmos comes right off while its being boiled. For the barrel and other big parts I put them outside and boiled water than poured it on. Worked great. No harsh chemicals but it does take some time since you're mostly waiting for the water to boil.

Pyrex and 4min on high= boiling water

[2Cute2Shoot]

And here's me thinking that the cosmoline you were talking about was the online version of Cosmo Magazine

[Super Spy]

Just got my Mosin yesterday and here's how I treated it:

Cranked up the heat on my bathtub as hot as it would go (hotter than you can touch) and placed all the metal in 4~ inches of water and then poured in about a 1/4 gallon of pure ammonia.

It let it sit for about 10 minutes and then pulled each piece out and rubbed it down / dried it with some old rags.

The metal was PERFECT after this. A lot of the cosmoline seemed to 'bubble' away with the ammonia and some came off on the rags when I dried them. EDIT: Also make sure to use a bore snake / cloth pad to dry the inside of the barrel.

For the wood I just sprayed them down with an ammonia/water blend and wiped them down because I don't have a way to heat the wood and didn't want it to become saturated.

After oiling down everything nice with gun oil and reassembling I couldn't be happier with the way the metal looks/feels. No greasy gunk at all

So how nasty was the bathtub after? My wife would wring my neck.......

I like Gunzilla, cuts Cosmoline well, not nearly as stinky as Hoppes, and you need way less of it. I've been buying Swiss rifles lately and they don't seem to come soaked in Cosmoline so I've just been disassembling them and cleaning them.

[BatBoy2 75]

I just put together a trash can easy bake oven. It cost me $50.00 in parts and 45 minutes of my time to put together. So far, it's done a wonderful job on two SKS rifles and a Mosin M38. The two SKS rifles had a ton of cosmoline come pouring out; particularly the out of the butt-stock/cleaning kit areas. Ninety minutes at 150-175 degrees F with a wipe down and rotation every 15 minutes did the trick.

[pullnshoot25]

And here's me thinking that the cosmoline you were talking about was the online version of Cosmo Magazine

This could be a good pun...

[Spiggy]

And here's me thinking that the cosmoline you were talking about was the online version of Cosmo Magazine

There's a running joke about C&R collectors and the love of cosmo...

[Zomgie]

So how nasty was the bathtub after? My wife would wring my neck.......

Heh. I worried a little bit about that, but the ammonia actually left it cleaner than when I started! =)

[Someguy925]

My roommate and I built a cosmoline easy bake oven.

http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/lowheatmethod2/index.asp

Good when you don't want to fudge around with an oven or dishwasher. I suppose the only problem is that I can't really control the temperate of the thing, so I have to watch it so often to make sure the cosmoline doesn't catch fire.