new milsurp - getting grease off ...

[bender]

what's a good way to wipe the grease off the wood stock of a milsurp? I know I need to fieldstrip it to wipe off all the metal parts, but what's the easiest way to get the stock ungreased...?

thanks!

 

[kis2]

ive heard of people putting the stock (and other parts) in ovens at low temps (maybe 180) wiping them off every couple of minutes and putting them back in till clean. just be careful not to start a campfire.

 

[ZeSpectre]

If the weather was warm enough you could stick it in a car trunk with newspapers to absorb the grease. Takes time but works well.

 

[Firehand]

Do a search for 'grease removal' or 'cosmoline removal', that should find a bunch of methods.

I like to use odorless mineral spirits, a wallpaper tray and a paintbrush. And rubber gloves. Use paper towels to wipe off as much as you can, then put the stock in the tray, pour on some MS and start brushing. The stuff will cut the grease very well, and with the brush you can work it all through the inletting. This stuff dries a lot faster than using a degreaser and water, and is less likely to cause damage to any markings on the surface you may not know are there.

The only way I know of to get it ALL out, including what's soaked into the wood, is heat and time. The search should turn up various methods for that.

 

[tinygnat219]

Try a black trashbag wrapped around the firearm sitting in the sun for a few hours, or a heat lamp.

 

[Bad Flynch]

Remove all you can with mineral spirits and rags. If you want more, use spray-on oven cleaner (the lye type), letting it sit for a while after application. That works the best I've seen.

 

[Blackfork]

Wood fibers

You just don't want to overheat or use anything that destroys wood fibers or leaches anything out of the wood that ought to be left in. I had a buddy who cleaned his Garand stocks with Gunscrubber. It worked great- but in five years that stock may be dry as kindling. Same thing with oven cleaners.

I'd just wipe it off, wipe it off, watch for it to sweat and wipe it off some more. It will keep sweating out of the stock for a while. Be patient and gentle.

 

[bender]

ok, thanks. I did in fact search the internet before I posted here. I found many tips, most of which involved "baking" it off...

One site (surplusrifle.com I think) made an "easy bake oven" out of a metal trash can to bake rifles...

I'd like to just "wipe" the stock with something, but I don't want to ruin a nice stock. the rifle looks unissued (yugo sks) and I wonder if there are oils or whatever in the wood...

I'm more concerned with fieldstripping it and getting the metal parts cleaned up. The trigger is really "spongy" and the dealer said it was because of all the grease all inside... Haven't done the "fieldstrip" thing before, so I am kind of worried about getting it back together properly... hope I don't have any parts left over... lol !!

 

[bender]

I've got it partially fieldstripped. I take it that I am supposed to get ALL the grease off the internal parts...? I mean, the recoil spring is pretty much solid grease...

 

[Ifishsum]

Yes, all the grease must come out of the action.

 

[[email protected]]

I use one of those propane heaters that you get for a duck blind, heat the stock till the grease bubbles out, wipe off grease. When its done bubbling a light sandind with 200 grit paper finishes the job.

 

[bobsmith]

When I used to shoot highpower rifle competitively, I bumped into a couple of old shooters who swore by gasoline as the best thing for disolving cosmolene. Just stay away from heat sources. Especially gas water heaters and the like.

 

[bender]

I'm looking into something called "whiting compound", that was suggested by a local dealer....

 

[1 old 0311]

I go to the coin op car wash early in the morning and use the hot/soap/pressure setting. Works like a charm.

 

[bobsmith]

bender,
I got some whiting from Brownells. I used it to try to draw out some oil from a Garand stock I got from Sarco. I had limited success with it. You mix it up into a paste with acetone or a similar solvent then apply it to the stock. I guess the acetone is supposed to liquify the grease, oil, etc. and the whiting is supposed to soak it up.

 

[bender]

yes, I also had to order the whiting stuff from Brownells... I went to some local places but none had even heard of the stuff...

I bought some boiled linseed oil on my travels this morning... which I suppose would be used after the whiting paste gets the grease out of the stock... to reoil the wood...

 

[bender]

I should receive my whiting compound from Brownells in a couple of days. How do you do mix it with acetone? what ratio? do you get acetone at Home Depot type places? I don't want to change the color of the stock either... whiting & acetone will not change the color will they?

what do you do... smear the stuff on the stock for how long... a couple hours...? then just wipe it off ?

thanks for any tips!!

 

[bobsmith]

It's been a while since I've used the whiting. I believe it comes with instructions. I think I used either lacquer thinner or acetone. You mix it into sort of a paste and brush it on the stock. After the solvent evaporates , you brush the dirty whiting off the stock. I feel it's kinda messy--leaves white powder all over.

 

[mrmeval]

No toxic chemicals needed. Just low constant heat.

http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/lowheatmethod/index.asp

 

[maxwell636]

I agree that surplusrifle.com has all the info you need to completely take apart and reassemble the sks. I put the stock and handgaurd (with the gas tube) in the oven at 180 and wiped every ten min for a few hours. For cleaning the barreled action, I used mineral spirits, a toothbrush, and compressed air. I have also heard of people immersing the entire barreled action in a piece of pipe filled with mineral spirits. Sometimes the bolt is a challenge to disassemble; takes some pounding with a solid punch and hammer. I filled down the retaining pin so it was not so tight. In the end you just want to make sure the firing pin is free to move back and forth. Also, make sure to put the firing pin back in the correct orientation, you will know it is not correct if the firing pin slides out of the bolt more than a few mm. Once clean, I spray the metal parts with CLP and use Tung Oil on the stock. For the cleaning the small metal parts, a sonicator and mineral spirits works great.

http://www.surplusrifle.com/sks/carbine/index.asp

 

[Afy]

+1 for gasoline or Paint Thinner...

 

[bender]

I have "painted" the stock with a mixture of whiting and acetone (like a thin pancake batter). Let it sit for a while, and then brushed off what "dried" whiting I could. Some whiting could not be brushed off... so I got an old toothbrush and brushed straight acetone all over the stock.

Looks very nice now... the surface grease is pretty much gone, and I just have a dry stock. Still is the same color as originally. I don't think I did the whiting process correctly, since it did not work as the instructions said it would. The instructions said to mix up a "batter" by using "TCE" (whatever that is). I used acetone instead, so maybe it didn't work as good as it should have.

I did not want to disassemble the bolt... do I need to? I have it nice and shiney and dry (on the outside at least). Is it gunked up on the inside? Do the "new" milsurps come with the internal parts of the bolt covered in grease?

thanks!

 

[bender]

I decided to boil the bolt in distilled water. Looks like it worked ok... when I dumped the water out of the pan, there was a film of grease in the pan...

 

[bluecollar]

I detail stripped the 59 I have and put entire stock in dish washer. I had read a lot about this method but was skeptical. This was the first milsurp that I had really cleaned up. After dish washer treatment there was absolutely no sign of cosmo. After several coats of BLO I think it turned out pretty good. Shoots good, too. And yea, you really have to break down that bolt. You just have to keep banging on it but it will come loose. Don't worry, you ain't going to break anything. After you completely clean firing pin and channel, jus think you may never have to take it apart again.

 

[Riss]

try some TSP from WallyWorld

Wal-Marts has some TSP, tri sodium phosphate, substitute in the paints dept. Is a blue liquid and I assume not as potent as the real TSP. I stripped a CMP Garand with it and it came out absolutely beautiful.