[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Cosmoline - How do you remove it? (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 9/25/2009 5:38:36 PM EDT
| I picked up a Yugo AK a little while ago and need to clean the Cosmoline off it. I'm rather inexperienced at this so what methods do you find that work best for you. |
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disassemble the rifle and put it on a sheet of tinfoil in the oven at about 150 degrees. remove occasionally and wipe off the cosmoline.
also works great to sweat the cosmo out of wood stocks. then do a final cleanup with CLP or another good gun cleaner to remove the final traces of cosmo, oil weapon well, and you're good to go. |
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If it is a nice sunny day, disassemble and let it sit in the sun. Wipe off every 20-30 mins and rotate it every 20-30 minutes.
This method is simular to the slow and constant heat. It does have to be a warm sunny day and allow for direct sunlught to hit the rifle. I did this with 5 of my surplus rifles and they all turned out great. |
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odorless mineral spirits, get them by the gallon at walmart while checking out the ammo counter. Break everything down and soak it in the OMS and give it a scrubbing with an old toothbrush or similar to get into the crevices. Lay it out and let the OMS dry up, oil it up and you're gtg. |
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I've heard of people using heat to help ease it off but didn't have an idea of how to do it. That link explains it much better. Thanks. |
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I use a rag soaked in WD-40. NO NO NO NO NO NO!! Why not. This is what I did to both of my Colts, I sprayed WD-40 on a rag and wiped that brown crap right off of the barrels. Then I followed it up with some brake parts cleaner and a coat of Break-Free CLP. To this day, they are both still fine. |
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I've heard of people using heat to help ease it off but didn't have an idea of how to do it. That link explains it much better. Thanks. You're welcome. I've tried every other possible cosmo cleaning method (on about 140 rifles) and this is the only one that does it properly without damaging them. |
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I use a rag soaked in WD-40. NO NO NO NO NO NO!! Why not. This is what I did to both of my Colts, I sprayed WD-40 on a rag and wiped that brown crap right off of the barrels. Then I followed it up with some brake parts cleaner and a coat of Break-Free CLP. To this day, they are both still fine. Mostly it is about the wood. Almost all "solvent" chemicals are very bad for wood, and over-dry the surface without removing the cosmo more than 1/32nd of an inch anyway. WD-40 is particularly bad for wood. The metal parts are less of a problem, but It still doesn't get it off completely, only heat does that. You probably had greasy hands for a while shooting them until it all heated out, am I right? With wood, the heat method slowly brings the cosmo to the surface to be removed, while not destroying the original finish. The dishwasher is the worst method really, the Walnut stock of a 1944 M1 Garand will never look right again.  Ask me how I know.
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A couple of mag dumps will do the trick. I took it to the range after picking it up only wanting to put one or two mags through just to make sure it functioned properly. I was having a failure to extract or failure to eject about every one or two rounds. Before jumping ahead and to avoid possibly fabricating greater issues, I wanted to make sure I gave it a good cleaning. If it is still having these problems after cleaning off the Cosmoline, I will go from there. |
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I use a rag soaked in WD-40. NO NO NO NO NO NO!! Why not. This is what I did to both of my Colts, I sprayed WD-40 on a rag and wiped that brown crap right off of the barrels. Then I followed it up with some brake parts cleaner and a coat of Break-Free CLP. To this day, they are both still fine. Mostly it is about the wood. Almost all "solvent" chemicals are very bad for wood, and over-dry the surface without removing the cosmo more than 1/32nd of an inch anyway. WD-40 is particularly bad for wood. The metal parts are less of a problem, but It still doesn't get it off completely, only heat does that. You probably had greasy hands for a while shooting them until it all heated out, am I right? With wood, the heat method slowly brings the cosmo to the surface to be removed, while not destroying the original finish. The dishwasher is the worst method really, the Walnut stock of a 1944 M1 Garand will never look right again. Ask me how I know.
Gotcha, didn't think about the wood because I don't own anything with wood furniture. |
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If it is a nice sunny day, disassemble and let it sit in the sun. Wipe off every 20-30 mins and rotate it every 20-30 minutes. This method is simular to the slow and constant heat. It does have to be a warm sunny day and allow for direct sunlught to hit the rifle. I did this with 5 of my surplus rifles and they all turned out great. Being in AZ, we have no shortage of those! 
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Shoot it out Quoted:
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A couple of mag dumps will do the trick. I took it to the range after picking it up only wanting to put one or two mags through just to make sure it functioned properly. I was having a failure to extract or failure to eject about every one or two rounds. Before jumping ahead and to avoid possibly fabricating greater issues, I wanted to make sure I gave it a good cleaning. If it is still having these problems after cleaning off the Cosmoline, I will go from there. Been there, done that, and Failed. |
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Quoted: i learned about using a dishwasher, brake cleaner, gasoline, oven methods, steam sprayers on Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Oven cleaner NO NO NO!! Never seen a cosmoline snob before, thanks for the laugh. You must not get out much. Go to a C&R forum and you'll see more of the same. PS: Blow me.   C&R FORUMS!!!!111oneoneoneone |
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i learned about using a dishwasher, brake cleaner, gasoline, oven methods, steam sprayers on Quoted:
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Oven cleaner NO NO NO!! Never seen a cosmoline snob before, thanks for the laugh. You must not get out much. Go to a C&R forum and you'll see more of the same. PS: Blow me.
C&R FORUMS!!!!111oneoneoneone
Congratulations. |
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It's an AK. Why remove it? Quoted:
I took it to the range after picking it up only wanting to put one or two mags through just to make sure it functioned properly. I was having a failure to extract or failure to eject about every one or two rounds. Before jumping ahead and to avoid possibly fabricating greater issues, I wanted to make sure I gave it a good cleaning. If it is still having these problems after cleaning off the Cosmoline, I will go from there. See above |
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Quoted:
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It's an AK. Why remove it? Quoted:
I took it to the range after picking it up only wanting to put one or two mags through just to make sure it functioned properly. I was having a failure to extract or failure to eject about every one or two rounds. Before jumping ahead and to avoid possibly fabricating greater issues, I wanted to make sure I gave it a good cleaning. If it is still having these problems after cleaning off the Cosmoline, I will go from there. See above I guess I should have noted that my comment was sarcastic. 
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It's an AK. Why remove it? Quoted:
I took it to the range after picking it up only wanting to put one or two mags through just to make sure it functioned properly. I was having a failure to extract or failure to eject about every one or two rounds. Before jumping ahead and to avoid possibly fabricating greater issues, I wanted to make sure I gave it a good cleaning. If it is still having these problems after cleaning off the Cosmoline, I will go from there. See above I guess I should have noted that my comment was sarcastic. I forgot this was GD
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Heat method is the best to get it out of the interior of a piece of wood. Dishwasher method might crack your stock. Also it will make the wood swell and you will have to let it dry to return to normal size. Mineral spirits is great for getting cosmoline off metal parts, just be sure to oil them up afterwords to prevent rust. http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/lowheatmethod2/index.asp |
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Quoted:
I took it to the range after picking it up only wanting to put one or two mags through just to make sure it functioned properly. I was having a failure to extract or failure to eject about every one or two rounds. Before jumping ahead and to avoid possibly fabricating greater issues, I wanted to make sure I gave it a good cleaning. If it is still having these problems after cleaning off the Cosmoline, I will go from there. Now with all this good info that I have been getting, I am becoming curious as to if not cleaning the Cosmoline off would lead to these malfunctions. |