I bought a Russian Mosin M44 today. How in the hell do I get all of this dried grease off of the gun?

This thing was ridiculously cheap and in great shape. I hear that they are great guns for the money. Does anyone here have experience with them?

Did you try vodka?  I've heard they use it for everything...  

Go to WalMart and get a couple cans of brake parts cleaner. Wipe off excess grease (Cosmoline) with paper towels. Go outside and spray Cosmoline covered parts with brake parts cleaner and watch Cosmoline run off.

At least, that's the easiest way I've found to get Cosmoline off...

Jonathan

Rossi, I needed that!  Too funny!

DsrtEgl50, thanks for the advice.  You in the TN part that's near GA?  

Chainsaw, a bit of advice, and I think the reject will back me up on this, buy Wolf for your M44 don't shoot that cheap albanian crap through it.  By the way welcome to the sore shoulder club.

Alright, here's what you do.  Get a few old t-shirts, a punch set, and a screwdriver.

Step 1 - set it in the sun or in a warm place.  The warmer that stuff gets, the easier it is to remove.

Step 2 - wipe off all the excess.  It WILL come off - by itself!

Step 3 - completely (and I mean COMPLETELY) disassemble the rifle.  Wipe the excess grease off of everything, and be prepared for a metric fuckton of that shit underneath the receiver and handguards.

Step 4 - liberally spray EVERYTHING with your CLP of choice.  Then, wipe it off.

Step 5 - apply normal amounts of CLP and put everything back together.

Step 6 - when you first take her to the range, bring an old t-shirt with you.  After about 20-30 consecutive rounds, cosmoline will leak out from wherever you missed it.  Use the t-shirt to wipe it off.

Quoted: Chainsaw, a bit of advice, and I think the reject will back me up on this, buy Wolf for your M44 don't shoot that cheap albanian crap through it.  By the way welcome to the sore shoulder club.

That's a roger there.  If you run across a good deal on Czech silvertip, buy some.  But just hang on to it for "just-in-case" situations.  Most of that old surplus is corrosive.  Buy the new production wolf ammo.  They have a 148 grain and a 200 grain.  Don't get the 200.  Number 1, the proper bullet weight for the rifle is the 148, and number 2, your shoulder will thank me.

Keep in mind that the 7.62x54R round has more muzzle velocity and more energy than a 30-06...

Quoted: Quoted: Chainsaw, a bit of advice, and I think the reject will back me up on this, buy Wolf for your M44 don't shoot that cheap albanian crap through it.  By the way welcome to the sore shoulder club. That's a roger there.  If you run across a good deal on Czech silvertip, buy some.  But just hang on to it for "just-in-case" situations.  Most of that old surplus is corrosive.  Buy the new production wolf ammo.  They have a 148 grain and a 200 grain.  Don't get the 200.  Number 1, the proper bullet weight for the rifle is the 148, and number 2, your shoulder will thank me. Keep in mind that the 7.62x54R round has more muzzle velocity and more energy than a 30-06...

How accurate are these guns?

I bought 2 boxes of Wolf 200 grain to get started. I guess I will look for the 148 grain from here on out. Wolf was only $6 per box, but they had some S&B for $12 per box. Is S&B really twice as good? I shoot their pistol stuff and I like it, but I shoot it because it's cheap.

The carbines I'm not sure of.  DeltaAir could probably fill you in on that.  My M91/30 rifle hits the steel offhand open sights at the FOP range.  And not the large plate in the middle, the small one on the far left.  I can't recall exactly how wide or tall that plate was, though - maybe someone else can help out.

Bernie's has some of the 148gr Wolf.  I bought a case worth from www.ammunitionstore.com the last time - they seemed to have the best price on the 148gr stuff.  I buy Wolf because it's a Russian weapon with loose tolerances - may as well put in the appropriate ammo.  That, and Wolf is dirt cheap.  Oh yeah, and the Wolf ammo is made in the same factory as the original stuff.

One final word of advice - the M44s were designed to be fired and were actually zeroed with the bayonet attached and extended.  The Russians didn't want to their soldiers to be able to lose the bayonets, so they were permanently fixed to the rifle.  So keep that pigsticker on there.  

Quoted: metric fuckton

Quoted: Quoted: metric fuckton

What?  The Russians use metric measurements!

Quoted: I bought a Russian Mosin M44 today. How in the hell do I get all of this dried grease off of the gun?

1. Hot water.
2. Add Dawn detergent.
3. Scrub metal parts with a nylon brush.
4. Dry and oil.

Worked for all 15 of my C&R guns. You may also want to set the stock out in the sun for a few hours to bake out any excess oils in the stock.

Av.

Quoted: DsrtEgl50, thanks for the advice.  You in the TN part that's near GA?

Nah, Im in the part that looks in "Active Topics"... saw the post, and I just went through a similar process a few weeks ago...

Although I do visit Atl a few times a year (family)...

Jonathan

Bench resting my mosin, I plastered about a 4 inch group which is just within Russian Military tolerances.  With the russkies all infantry rifles had, and still have to post a 4 MOA group from the bencrest, or they are sent back to be rearsenaled.  The reject is right about keepin the pig sticker extended, if it's folded it can throw your shot almost 3-4 inches to the right at 100 yds