Removing old dried cosmoline
 

Hi all,

I have removed old dried cosmoline from Mosin-Nagants with good results using mineral spirits.

I have literally put each metal part that needed colsmoline exorcism into a tray of mineral spirits and let it soak for 24 hours.

I then remove from the tray, lightly rinse with warm water, and immediately dry with cotton rags. After that, I get more clean cotton rags and Q-Tips to get anything still left.

However, for WWI lugers, I am unsure of the best way other than using thousands of Q-Tips and Hopps 9 Cleaner and 2-3 hours tedious cleaning.

Though the mineral spirits does not seem to harm the finish on Mosin-Nagants, I am hesitant to use the same technique on rare lugers with significantly more value.

Is there a better (faster) way than going over all the innards with Q-Tips to remove the old, dried, black, and very dirty cosmoline?

I do completely disassemble and clean all lugers that come my way. But it is really time consuming.


Thanks,
Richard

There is a "Blaster" product in aerosol cans, which can help with hard-to-reach places, and it will not harm the finish. It would be similar to using a pressure washer on a car, which does fairly well. Nonetheless, there is no substitute for a gentle hand wash, nor at least a final going-over with Q-tips!

Soak it in Kroil but not the grips.

Hi,

I use WD-40 and an old tooth brush.

I has worked fine for me since the early 1960s.

Sieger

Mineral spirits or Hoppe #9 are two of what I have had success with. I just remove the grips, and have at it. If it is really crusted, it gets a soak in my parts cleaner tub(filled with mineral spirits). No harm has been done to the finishes.

Mineral spirits will not affect the metal or finish, so go ahead; but
do take the grips off!

I do believe Ballistol would work very well as it is mineral spirits with steroids.
Jack

Richard, I'll bet you didn't expect all this! You now have lots of systems, fluids, and techniques from which to choose... Your finish will be safe if you avoid acidic or corrosive chemicals. Hydrocarbon chemicals cannot interact with the finish, so any oil, kerosene, acetone, spirits, paint stripper, etc. will do just fine. Soak as long and as often as desired/necessary, without anxiety! Non-marring, non-abrasive implements.

I agree that wood grips have their own caveats and should be treated separately.

I have had good results with Keroseane.

I've always used WD40 BALLISTOL an old tothbrush and a lot of patience, but it works.

Sergio

Hi all,

I have certainly gotten a lot of feedback and some very interesting ways to clean. I will try a couple three to see which will work for me.

I was hoping someone had figured out how to clean "auto-magically" so I would not have to expend time and effort. You know like leaving a tooth under your pillow and it magically becomes money. :)

Yep, Lifer, lots of methods. Lots of good choices.

Put the gun in a metal can and leave in the hot sun for a few hours, most of the cosmoline will melt off and collect in the bottom of the can.

If you don't live in an area with lots of sun like Florida, I guess you could put the can in an oven at a low temp.

I used to use a metal garbage can for long guns.

This will get about 80 to 90% of the stuff off, then a good cleaning with solvent works

Here in the sunny SoCal, we wrap the weapon in paper towels, place it in the black garbage bag, and leave it on the patio/window sill exposed to the sun for few hours. Cosmo melts, soaks into the paper towel, and the weapon is cleaned in the normal fashion afterward. Works for the wood too.
In the case of rifles, the barreled action is removed from the stock, and both are treated this way in separate "packages".
It works.