Is putting out in the hot sun and then pouring hot water all over it (not disassembled) a good start?

Thanks guys.

Heat it your friend. It can do most of the work for you.

Start by field stripping the rifle. Separate the metal parts from the wood. (If possible... If not, do the below all together to start.)

Wrap the metal in lots of blue shop towels, or some other thick, absorbant, disposable cloths or towels. Do the same with the wood. Put them in black garbage bags. Then put them on your porch in the direct sunlight for a few hot, dry days or so.

That will sweat off a lot of the packed cosmoline. If it's really, really coated, you may need to replace the soaked towels and repeat the sun bath.

(Or, if you have a heat gun, you can speed up the process by just using that on the metal, in a towel-lined cardboard box.)

From there, once the heat has melted off most of the cosmoline, to finish fully cleaning the metal parts you'll need a degreaser/solvent, an old toothbrush, a bore cleaning rod, more shop towels, and some elbow grease. Hot water might work here, but I usually use dechlorinated brake cleaner, which works well at degreasing cosmoline-coated metal and also comes in handy spray cans for getting into nooks and bores. Acetone, mineral spirits, denatured alcohol, etc. will work too. Some folks use WD-40.

Using the solvent and your tools, wipe off/scrub out the remaining stubborn cosmoline. And then follow up with oiling all the metal really well, inside and out.

Don't use any of the solvents or hot water on the wood. Just the sweating session(s) will be good enough for that, and solvents or water can damage the wood or its finish.

Yep, as Rogue says, start with disassembly. The metal parts are easy, boil some water, pour over the large parts, and put the small parts into a bowl with some of the hot water. Pull out after a few minutes, then do a normal cleaning process in them, and treat liberally with oil.

The wood is the hard part. I’m in TN, and with the summer humidity, it can take a long time, even with several days in the sun wrapped in black bags, it’ll keep leaching cosmoline. There’s a chance you’ll never get it perfect. If you get impatient, put it in the oven on low (150 or so) for a couple hours when the wife’s not home, and with copious tin foil to catch the drippings.

I heat it up first by putting it in a metal can with a 1000w light above it for a while.

Better do it outside wearing cloths that will never be worn again.
That stuff is so nasty to clean off.

Mineral spirits and a paint brush.

Thanks guys. Probably 40-50% off on the first go round. And yes the stock will take some time. I got the bolt and carrier out. The trigger group, gas tube and piston will be another part of the project. Again, thanks guys. Just takes patience and time it seems like.

First separate it from the wood. Put it in a black plastic bag & hang it from something in the sun for a few hours. Cosmoline drips into the bottom of the bag then clean off any remaining residue.
Lots of ways, as suggested.

Non chlorinated brake cleaner also helps there at the end once the heat/sun remove most of it. I sure do miss the days of cheap SKS's and the pick your own Mosin Nagant from the barrel o'guns for $75.

Thanks guys, pretty much have it taken apart. Got the stock off. It is not terrible. Just sticky/tacky. Not sure how to clean it up both inside and out.

The receiver and barrel assembly needs a heavy cleaning. Thinking paint brush and mineral spirits as mentioned. Could probably spray heavily with CLP and let it soak then rinse with hot water maybe?
BCG, trigger group, magazine, piston and springs all soaked and in hot water. Maybe a clp soaking after drying?

thoughts?

PS, I need to get some of that non-chorinated brake cleaner. Can use the regular BreakKleen?

Yes, you can use regular BrakeKleen. Just be sure to do it in a well ventilated area.

CLP won't do much to cut through cosmoline. But giving the metal a good coating or bath with CLP after degreasing is a good idea. Brake cleaner or other solvents will totally strip all the oils off the metal, so it will need that layer of protection added back.

Similarly, if cleaning it with water, giving it a CLP bath afterwards should prevent it from rusting from remaining moisture.

Repeatedly sweating the wood and wiping off the extruded cosmoline from the inside and outside of the stock should be enough for the wood. As mentioned above, you don't want to use any solvents on the wood. Just heat.

Thanks Rogue. I appreciate all of your guy's help and suggestions. I really do.

tried the orig. brakekleen on the trigger assm. and the mag. assm. really cleaned but not sure I would use that again. It is pretty aggressive. Some surface rust appeared which kind of surprised me. Washed it (brakekleen) off pretty quickly. Dried and soaked the parts in wd40. I suppose some surface rust is to be expected but thought the cosmoline is supposed to prevent that?

Any how if I had it to do over again I would have probably just done mineral spirits. That is what I will use on the barrel/receiver.

It probably had surface rust before it was dunked in cosmoline.

Mineral spirits or diesel work fine-don’t use gasoline

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
It probably had surface rust before it was dunked in cosmoline.

Mineral spirits or diesel work fine-don’t use gasoline

Thanks MikeinNC