I just bought my first AK and love it so far. I am told to clean the rifle and remove all the cosmoline that is shipped in it. The instructions are a waste compared to my AR15 booklet. I have the multi tool storage kit so I have my brushes.
What cleaner do I use to clean all this thick cosmoline out with? Will CLP work for the AK as well as my AR? Since I cannot remove the barrel do I hold the gun with the barrel to the ground to prevent the cleaner from running into the receiver?

The best thing I have found is "roller wash" that is used by printers to clean the ink off of printing presses. It will disolve it and a tooth brush to get into the tight spots. Mineral Spirts will work also but is not as fast working as the roller wash. Strip the rifle down. Then remove the wood and give all the metal parts of the rifle a good cleaning.  There is no need to remove the trigger parts as you can get in there good with a tooth brush. Rinse it all out with a can of brake parts cleaner and spray the rifle down with CLP. I have found over the years that using CLP on the gas system will not allow the carbon to stick as tight as leaving the gas system dry like most people will tell you.
Go to   www.drzero.org/ak1/index.htm
and download the Clayco Sports AKS manual as it shows all the uses of the cleaning kit that came with your rifle. Like this

Also go to my webpages and check the "how to change handguards page" to see how to remove the handguards. Make sure to remove the upper handguard from the gas tube as there will be a bunch of cosmoline you can't get to if you don't. If you don't the cosmoline that is between the handguard and gas tube will melt and run out onto your hand when you get the rifle hot from firing.  If you hold the rifle barrel down into a bowl/bucket while cleaning the cosmoline out you won't need to remove the stock.
mywebpages.comcast.net/jfreeman246/index.htm  

Heating the cosmoline? It will make it very hard, and hard cosmoline is an extreme PITA to clean [i've actually seen the driving shaft in a drill-press get snapped once while trying to un-seize it; the culprit? long storage and hardened cosmoline]


Make sure you disassemble your bolt and thoroughly clean it out, especially the firing pin and its area. (many stories of SKSs which haven't had this done have gone slamfire/fullauto after the cosmoline got hard and jammed this firing pin).


I'd recommend a very thorough detail-strip, cleaning everything with a good degreaser, then liberally oil the whole thing up. Use those pipe cleaners in hard to reach places, like inside the bolt, gas port, around the front sight, inside the mag-catch.....

Kerosene or mineral spirits will work great for a first cleaning. Get a bucket and let the bolt assemble and piston soak in it for awhile. I usually put some rags on the sides of a big garbage can (to prevent scratching) and lay the rifle sideways across the can. I then use an old toothbrush and scrub out the inside of the receiver, and also clean the outside of the barrel, and the bore. Strong spray cleaners are $$$$$$, and can discolor the wood. High temp wheer bearing grease works good on the rails, and Mobil 1 synthectic oil works well as a lube....

I just drove all the cosmoline out of an old M39 stock by putting the stock on the dash of my old GMC and let it sit in the sun.  Every once in a while I would go out and wipe the cosmoline off with some Windex.  I let it sit on the dash until the cosmo stopped coming out, then refinished the stock with linseed oil.  It looks great.