Sticky WD40'd rifle - how to clean it up

[Fryerpower]

A "friend" of the family cleaned a rifle that belonged to my dad with WD40. Now the action is sticky and frequently takes several tries to get everything moving.

I'm sure I can find the instructions to take everything down to the point that I can get to the areas that need to be cleaned. My question is what to use to get rid of the WD40 residue and then what to put on it before I button it all back up. Blued steel parts. Wood furniture. No plastic.

I searched but could not find anything on the site already. If there is already a good thread about this, please point me in the right direction.

Thanks,

Jim

 

[rcmodel]

Use more fresh WD-40.
It's about as good as it gets for dissolving itself.

Then blow it out with an air compressor and re-oil with Rem-Oil.

rc

 

[ironworkerwill]

use more wd40 and it will loosen up the old gummy wd40 gunk. then I'd use a solvent like ether then hoppes to get all the gum out.

 

[RustHunter87]

take it apart and spray the metal bits with more wd40, wipe WD away with a clean rag, oil with gun oil and reassemble

WD dissolves WD like a champ, just dont spray it on the wood

 

[Mauser lover]

Or you could use brake parts cleaner, just don't get it on the wood.

 

[Fryerpower]

Thanks for the info guys. I'll give it a shot.

Jim

 

[CHALK22]

FYI, CRC makes a product called 3-36 which works just like WD, but does not freeze or get sticky.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

 

[Skyshot]

The WD40 has probably dissolved the old oils and grease that where on the rifle. I would degrease with brake cleaner taking care not to get any on the wood or painted surfaces and then re-oil.