mosin tips for cosmoline

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vulcandeathbuny

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I'm new to surplus rifles. the mosin I got was not saturated in cosmoline, so removal was fairly easy. however getting it out of the barrel is a different story. just when I think I got it all I find more.the bore is shiny with good rifling and there seems to be cosmoline mostly in the corner of the rifling. I'm using hoppes 9. the patches were dark brown in color at first now they are more green. any help would be appreciated.
 
Acetone, Mineral spirits, denatured alcohol will all work to get the cosmo out. So will really hot water poured through it. You should also be able to push a bunch of it out with a bore brush. With the green, it seems you're starting to get more into the copper fouling.

Matt
 
You're getting copper out, not cosmoline. Keep working at it. By next year all of the copper will be out :D
 
LOL'ing at bainter's post :D I'm laughing because IT IS SO TRUE ! ! ! ! !


The guns come with a "free" serious case of bad copper fouling unless you manage to get one that was never shot. It seems to me that the typical copper washed mild steel jacket ammo seems to shed all the copper wash vigorously with each round fired.

I used up darn near a full can of Wipe Out cleaning the copper fouling out of my two Mosins. When they were finally clean I took one out and fired about 30 rounds of milsurp ammo and it was just as copper fouled all over again. The other Mosin I took out and shot a box of 20 Privi rounds and when I checked it there was very little sign of deposited copper in the bore.
 
the easiest way I have found to get rid of cosmoline is to field strip the rifle, then melt all the cosmoline with a hair dryer. Once it melts you can wipe off the excess that hasn't dripped off. Took me roughly an hour to do my mosin.
 
I just did SKS - used heat gun. Be careful though not to burn it. If it smokes - too hot. Apply in certain areas and wipe cosmo right away.
 
I've been using heavy duty oven cleaner on my milsurp rifles for many years to remove cosmoline, it works wonders.

It's especially good on wood stocks that are soaked in cosmoline.
 
Hardest place I've found to clean off Cosmo is the chamber. I haven't found a better method than hosing the barreled action down with Brake Kleen.

Funnel
 
I have used WD40 to remove cosmoline from both China and Russia. WD40 does cut through cosmoline without damaging the wood. Everyone should have a can of WD40 on hand. It only has a million uses. it will even work as starting fluid.
 
nwilliams said:
I've been using heavy duty oven cleaner on my milsurp rifles for many years to remove cosmoline, it works wonders.

It's especially good on wood stocks that are soaked in cosmoline.
Click to expand...
Oven cleaner will strip lacquer finishes. I used oven cleaner to strip the finish from my Mosin Nagant. I guess it does look better after you strip it down to the bare wood.
 
wow thanks. I ended up using hot water down the barrel followed by wd40 and more hoppes 9. it took a lot of the cosmoline and grime out. hopefully I'll get to shoot it this weekend.
 
+1 on Gunslick foaming bore cleaner. Works awesome. I've bought more than one nastily bored mosin/mauser that has been completely changed by it.

Matt
 
Deer_Freak said:
Oven cleaner will strip lacquer finishes. I used oven cleaner to strip the finish from my Mosin Nagant. I guess it does look better after you strip it down to the bare wood.
Click to expand...
Oven cleaner is about the worst thing that can be used on wood. Ever. Even on nasty mosin wood. Being caustic, it will damage the wood fibers. The shellac that's used on mosins comes of easily with denatured alcohol or any paint/varnish stripper. The cosmoline in the stock is best removed with moderate heat. Heat guns work, but they have to be used carefully to avoid scorching the wood. Most of the time I just throw the stock in the cab of my truck and wipe it down every hour or so with mineral spirits as it leeches out. You'll never get it all out, but you'll get enough out that you can put on a new finish of your choice without issue.

The metal is much easier. Hot water, acetone, mineral spirits, denatured alcohol, and some elbow grease followed by oil. Or after hot water, WD-40 (shudder), then oil. Just don't leave the wd-40 on it without oiling. It's a great water-displacing oil, but doesn't protect nothin' from rust.

Matt
 
morcey2 said:
Oven cleaner is about the worst thing that can be used on wood. Ever. Even on nasty mosin wood. Being caustic, it will damage the wood fibers. The shellac that's used on mosins comes of easily with denatured alcohol or any paint/varnish stripper. The cosmoline in the stock is best removed with moderate heat. Heat guns work, but they have to be used carefully to avoid scorching the wood. Most of the time I just throw the stock in the cab of my truck and wipe it down every hour or so with mineral spirits as it leeches out. You'll never get it all out, but you'll get enough out that you can put on a new finish of your choice without issue.

The metal is much easier. Hot water, acetone, mineral spirits, denatured alcohol, and some elbow grease followed by oil. Or after hot water, WD-40 (shudder), then oil. Just don't leave the wd-40 on it without oiling. It's a great water-displacing oil, but doesn't protect nothin' from rust.

Matt
Click to expand...
Idea with truck is great, I even thought about attic. Nope. SKS stock was hanging in an attic for a week. Not much came out. Plastic bags, sun, etc - some comes out. Can't fit stock in my owen, that would be ideal at 200F. Heat gun brought out TONS of cosmoline. But yes, be careful. If it's start smoking - you will burn wood.
 
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