cleaning cosmoline off my SKS

[Deenamac]

recently bought an SKS and am finding cosmoline in places I never imagined. I've been using mineral spirits to clean it, but every time I turn around, more cosmoline appears haha! Any tips on how to get this gun FINALLY cleaned up enough so that I can actually start to use it? Should I be using something other than mineral spirits to clean? ANY tips/suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[eagleeyes]

maybe a can of 'breakfree' gun cleaner?

 

[whskylvr]

Try soaking it with WD-40 for a few minutes it will break it down. Or you can try something similar in CRC brand cleaners.

 

[whskylvr]

Or yoy can try CRC 5 56.

 

[turtle886]

plain old white vinager works good

 

[cforgione]

recently bought an SKS and am finding cosmoline in places I never imagined. I've been using mineral spirits to clean it, but every time I turn around, more cosmoline appears haha! Any tips on how to get this gun FINALLY cleaned up enough so that I can actually start to use it? Should I be using something other than mineral spirits to clean? ANY tips/suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

I cleaned mine using a combo of mineral spirits, non-chlorinated brake cleaner, hoppes #9, wd-40, canned air, and lots of elbow grease and paper towels/patches. Make sure you take the bolt apart, and spray the firing pin channel out with brake cleaner or wd-40, then dry with air. Don't want it sticking forward and slam-firing because there was gunk in the channel! Mine took about 3 or 4 hours of cleaning to get it done. If the cosmo is being stubborn, you can just soak the smaller parts in bins, leave them to sit in it for 30 minutes or so, the remains of the cosmo that didnt float off will wipe clean. Just make sure you oil all of the metal surfaces when done, the mineral spirits will strip all the oil out of the metal! Good luck, and good shooting!

 

[Kalamity023]

I used a can of gun scrubber and soaked all the small parts then lubed everything with rem-oil.

 

[Deenamac]

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for all the suggestions !!! I was told to just use mineral spirits and was afraid to try anything else for fear of damaging anything. I now have some shopping and cleaning to do
thank you again!

 

[MamaLiberty]

Mine was so bad that I finally took it all apart, put it into plastic trays and sprayed it down with Gumout Carb+choke cleaner, then let it soak overnight. Next day I wiped the pieces down, using a parts cleaner brush on the crevices and details. When everything was clean and dry, I applied a thin film of a moly grease to metal on metal wear spots, then sprayed a very light coat of EEZoX over everything and allowed that to dry completely before reassembly.

The gun looks and runs perfectly... or as perfectly as it was designed to run anyway.

 

[wuzfuz]

I read with interest the post about CRC5.56. Years ago, several officers in my company were given cans of CRC 2-26 by Bell splicing crew members. It did a fantastic hob of cleaning our bright nickel S&W M&P 10s. As with any lubricant of that type, you did not want to spray the ammo, as it could seep into the cartridges and kill the primer and/or powder charge

 

[R O Bill]

A few years ago (read as Long ago) I bought an Argentine Mauser. I used HOT SOAPY water and a good grade of Polarized Gun Oil after all of the cosmaline was removed.

 

[nrajack]

I use easy off oven cleaner to clean cosmoline off my c&r stuff. It works good. But I may try using gunscrubber on the next gun to see how that works.

 

[ToddR]

Paint thinner option:
Educational Zone #23 - Cosmoline Removal - Page 1

WD-40 option:
Link Removed