I have a bunch of sten mags. As I purchased them, I found they were old and heavily greased for long time storage. How do I clean them thoroughly?

Brake cleaner.

Get one of those disposable turkey cooking pans at the grocery.

Wait for the wife to leave for a while. Place mags in the turkey tray at an angle so they can drain. Turn on oven to 200 degrees or so. Much more and things will start to smoke. That is bad.

Leave them in until you see the cosmoline running out of the mags. Take them outside and wipe them clean. THEN use the brake cleaner to get the rest off, if any.

You don't have to do this but I then scrubbed them, after disassembly, in Dawn dish washing detergent, and rinsed thoroughly. Bake them a second time to ensure they are really dry. Then refinish or use a dry lube like PermaSlik-G or Remington Dri-Lube.

Bob

What Bob said.  But I'd have somebody parkerize them instead of spraying a new coating on them.  This can usually get done for $2-$3 apiece if you've already cleaned them... or for $4 a mag Derek at [url]www.Azexarms.com[/url]  will strip the grease off, dissasemble them and park 'em back to like new condition.  He did some for me and they look sweet.

One word. Stenisal (ie. parts cleaner) I buy it at a local Amoco station, something like $2.50 gal. And the amazing thing is that it is the same thing as Kingsford charcoal lighter fluid that sells for 4x the amount.

i use Greased lightning and warm water. cuts the grease right off.

mike

I use 3M Adhesive Solvent made to take glues off without harming paint on cars.  Stuff is availbale at auto paint stores cheap and in quart cans.  Cosmo just melts away with the runoff, no rubbing, no hassle. A quart will clean five bolt action rifles soaked in cosmo.

Wipe the parts and oil em down.  I use on guns and can clean one in less than an hour without harming the finish.  Most of the time on a gun is tearing down, oiling, and putting back together.

I collect antique firearms and have tried about everything even acetone which leaves a light white powder film.  This stuff beats em all.

disel fuel and a 5gal bucket. put about 10 mags in the bucket let soak for about 5mins so the first mag you start to clean is easy to clean. use an old tooth brush and plenty of rags

Yep, this method works great.  Did this for a buttload of Chinese M14 mags I had a few years back that I got for $9 each.  Worked like a charm, and I was rewarded with two soup cans full of very useful grease.