My new Mosin Nagant
- Thread starter Yme
- Start date
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settleitinthering
1/4 in 22.2
Be careful NOT to lose that little trigger pin, upon disassembly. It may be difficult to relocate, if your eyesight is as bad as mine.
Roger that!
Machodoc
Old Guy
There are lots of options for removing cosmoline. Some of these may sound far-fetched, but I've used them all with good results. Keep in mind that cosmoline is a petroleum product that turns more liquid as it's heated. Because of that, there are various approaches that you can try.
From Wood
Petroleum solvents that will remove the cosmoline without damaging finish (unless left on for too long) include standard charcoal lighter fluid (CLF) and GoJo mechanics' hand cleaner (the kind without pumice!). Apply Gojo by hand or CLF with paper towels, and then remove with paper towels ... over and over again, as needed. Some people use water and soap products on wooden stocks, but I think that the water is bad for the wood and any remaining finish. Plus, there's a tendency to scrub the wood more with soap and water products, and that's hard on the wood. The solvents mentioned above are more efficient. Let the solvent do most of the work--apply fairly lightly and wipe down the same way.
From Metal Without Wood Attached
Plastics and Other Synthetics
Warm (not hot!) water with Dawn dish washing liquid. Start with undiluted Dawn and a soft brush (baby's toothbrush works). This will take some time, and you may have to repeat the process a few times, but it's the safest way to clean materials that may warp or may be brittle.
From Wood
Petroleum solvents that will remove the cosmoline without damaging finish (unless left on for too long) include standard charcoal lighter fluid (CLF) and GoJo mechanics' hand cleaner (the kind without pumice!). Apply Gojo by hand or CLF with paper towels, and then remove with paper towels ... over and over again, as needed. Some people use water and soap products on wooden stocks, but I think that the water is bad for the wood and any remaining finish. Plus, there's a tendency to scrub the wood more with soap and water products, and that's hard on the wood. The solvents mentioned above are more efficient. Let the solvent do most of the work--apply fairly lightly and wipe down the same way.
From Metal Without Wood Attached
- Large items - remove as much as possible with paper towels and CLF, then take outdoors, away from plants and animals, and blast down with cans of the cheapest spray brake cleaner that you can find at the auto parts dept. Then clean and oil as if you'd just been shooting it all afternoon.
- Small items and assemblies - put into a pan of simmering water with a bit of Dawn dish soap in it and let stay there for a few minutes, then turn it over and let it stay a few more. Then repeat the process, but in a pan with just simmering water without soap. Then dry and take outdoors, away from plants and animals, and blast down with cans of the cheapest spray brake cleaner that you can find at the auto parts dept. Shoot the brake cleaner into all the cracks, holes, crevices, etc., that you can see to blast any traces of cosmo out of there. Then clean and oil as if you'd just been shooting it all afternoon. If the item being cleaned is a Mosin-Nagant barrel, use a bronze cleaning brush of the correct size and work on the chamber with it between blasts of brake cleaner. This will save you a ton of "sticky bolt" issues that many people blame on everything but what it usually is ... a very small amount of cosmoline that helps a fired casing get cooked to the walls of the chamber.
Plastics and Other Synthetics
Warm (not hot!) water with Dawn dish washing liquid. Start with undiluted Dawn and a soft brush (baby's toothbrush works). This will take some time, and you may have to repeat the process a few times, but it's the safest way to clean materials that may warp or may be brittle.
Machodoc
Old Guy
It's an old approach to cleaning cosmoline, and has been known for years. The advantage of the same chemicals being available in an aerosol can the past 20-30 years is that it has some blasting power, and you can use the little red tube attachment to get into cracks (but better to disassemble things if you are comfortable doing so).
Also, brake cleaner in large enough amounts may damage blacktop driveway, or drip black grease onto concrete ... perhaps making you unpopular around the house. Be careful with the stuff.
As for using a steamer on the stock -- not the best idea. Steam (not a steamer) can be used to carefully expand wood fibers if you are trying to get a dent out of a stock, but just hitting the wood with your wife's Scunci steamer may expand fibers that don't need expanding, thereby making the stock rough. Then you have to commit the major sin of sanding the stock on a C&R or antique firearm.
jimv8eatr
Hooligan #4.5
Deep Creek Rock
.._. .._ _._. _._ .._
Great for killing bees too!
LOL Ive used brake clean for bee's for many years. By the time you take your finger off the nozzle, there dead and gone!
A 22 mag works for Bee's too... ask me how I know ...
j8064
Garrett Co Hooligan #1
Just don't get any brake cleaner on the wood. It'll eat the shellac off in an instant. 
As has been said many folks use many methods to remove cosmoline. They all work. Places cosmo likes to cake on and hide are in the ridges of the chamber and inside the bolt body. A long bamboo skewer is a cheap tool to use when reaching down inside those hard to get to places.
As has been said many folks use many methods to remove cosmoline. They all work. Places cosmo likes to cake on and hide are in the ridges of the chamber and inside the bolt body. A long bamboo skewer is a cheap tool to use when reaching down inside those hard to get to places.
j8064
Garrett Co Hooligan #1
LOL Ive used brake clean for bee's for many years. By the time you take your finger off the nozzle, there dead and gone!
A 22 mag works for Bee's too... ask me how I know ...
And where were you when I had to dispatch the big Hornet nest last summer?
Deep Creek Rock
.._. .._ _._. _._ .._
And where were you when I had to dispatch the big Hornet nest last summer?
Last year, the bastard baldface hornets were eating my peaches off my peach tree. It rained last summer so much, that I could not get a spray program in.
So I figured if I cant eat those peaches, those F'rs wont either. Peaches explode nicely with a 22mag varmint round - so do the bees
I shot them off the tree.Back in my days as a Porsche Technician - Porsche used to spray cosmoline on everything, including the inside of wheels. When we had to do wheel balances, we used a product from B&G called Solv It. It was acrysol. It would clean the cosmoline, off the wheels without damaging the paint, so that the stick on weights would stick to the wheel (and yes I did recycle the old wheel weights
). Acrysol is basically a mild laquer thinner - it was mostly used as a prepsol, to clean tar and wax, for use of putting on trim panels etc. Just had to squirt some on a soft cloth and wipe off the cosmoline.
45CalFan
Stop and Think
Very nice! That is next on my list. Now get it cleaned and to the range.
PKendall10
Member
Can't wait to get mine over the winter, now to do more research on what to look for!
spanokopita
Member
- Nov 3, 2012
- 68
Can you post where you got it? A lot of the big retailers seem to be ... out of stock, especially in "Excellent" grade rifles...
Machodoc
Old Guy
Just don't get any brake cleaner on the wood. It'll eat the shellac off in an instant.
Roger that!! I tried to make it clear what to use on what materials.
Great minds think alike! I've got a handful of bamboo skewers (two sizes) and a bamboo chopstick in my large cleaning kit. They're great to have around if you don't want to scratch metal.
Another unusual, but effective, tool to have on hand is a hockey puck. It's the perfect thing to use if you ever have to compress a part under tension by pushing it into a flat surface ... and your wife is happier without dents magically appearing in the top of the kitchen table.
Shot my Mosin for first time
My son gave me one of his 2 Mosins and we went shooting this past Saturday at New Germany. Could not believe the first group at 100 yards was 4 in 2 inches with one flyer. Could not repeat as fog moved in and could not see targets clear enough. Loved shooting it, now need more old stuff to shoot.
My son gave me one of his 2 Mosins and we went shooting this past Saturday at New Germany. Could not believe the first group at 100 yards was 4 in 2 inches with one flyer. Could not repeat as fog moved in and could not see targets clear enough. Loved shooting it, now need more old stuff to shoot.
