Just got this wad of cosmo in the mail on Friday with some wood stuck in it from Allan's.

This is the most cosmo I have seen on any of my surplus rifles to date, it was an up hill battle but after a total

of 8 hours its clean! Used an Ultrasonic I picked up from Harbor Freight and it helped a lot. The stock is a bit ruffer then I thought one side is great the other looks like it was used to hit a few home runs with. The dents and dings are cool it's the 2 gouges that bother me. The larger one on the stock is frayed out. I think I will end up doing a light sanding, steel wool then Amber shellac and d/a mixture.

 

 

 

My new gun cleaning box, has duel drains in the center and on on the side, great soaking in simple green

then pouring a pot of boiling water into to get that cosmo out.

I've have yet to buy a gun that had cosmo on/in it - looks like a huge pain in the as$ to get all that gunk out. Nice SKS tho - russian?

I've have yet to buy a gun that had cosmo on/in it - looks like a huge pain in the as$ to get all that gunk out. Nice SKS tho - russian?

 

 

Lol like 90% of everything I buy is in Cosmo, this was one of the worst though.

It's an Albanian SKS one of the harder countries to get, only 25k were imported during their run.

Other then the small issues with the stock this is a mint one, all numbers match bluing is near 100%,

bore and crown are mint. These were in storage for a long while per the seller who had about 6 of them

and they look it.

Ah - Albanian. I thought something looked different about that top handguard Don't really see many of those listed the few times I've looked for SKS's.

I was thinking to order from Allan's one too but i was too late. I think he was sold out by Monday

I was thinking to order from Allan's one too but i was too late. I think he was sold out by Monday

 

 

They went up on Friday night at like 9:30 and there were 2 of the lower grade one's left until late Saturday

early Sunday and I am surprised they lasted that long.

I missed out on that one..

 

nice alby, we need to gat out one day and have an sks shoot..

 

what did they sell for?

:angry-screaming:

 

Tooooo much cosmo. wow....

:angry-screaming:

 

Tooooo much cosmo. wow....

 

Your not suppose to lick it off..

May I ask which ultrasonic cleaner you got from Harbor Freight? Been thinking about using one for the GSG...

May I ask which ultrasonic cleaner you got from Harbor Freight? Been thinking about using one for the GSG...

 

HF only has like 3 ultrasonic cleaners. It's the bigger one for like 70 bucks. It works fairly well, I saw one at Erics house. That's how he cleaned my Mosin for me. I need to get a 20% off coupon and go pick one up.

 

M

...HF only has like 3 ultrasonic cleaners. It's the bigger one for like 70 bucks. ...

 

So this one then?:

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95563

Yep that's the one, it woks well.

I got it with the 2 year warranty for like $80.00 or something like that.

Figured out a nice solution of 2 quarts of warm water and 80z of simple green works nicely.

I missed out on that one..

 

nice alby, we need to gat out one day and have an sks shoot..

 

what did they sell for?

 

 

These went for $490.00 some of the more beat up one's were listed for like $10.00 less.

An SKS shoot would be fun, I have a Russian I have not taken out also, been sitting for a year.

I was just about to post a rant on cosmo...

 

I just got done cleaning up a Yugo Mauser for 6 hours that was equally encased in a tomb of cosmoline. Generally i use a combination of my heat gun to soften the thick stuff and then soak and scrub the small parts in low odor mineral spirits. I'm not too thrilled with the spirits because while they help when scrubbing relatively clean parts, it doesnt dissolve gunk that i cant reach with a brush. Its just not aggresive enough. Time to find a better solvent that wont harm old metal finish.

 

I wonder if kerosene works?

Purchase one of those ultrasonic cleaners. They buzz the cosmo right off. You can actually sit there and watch the cosmo float to the surface of the water!!

I was just about to post a rant on cosmo...

 

I just got done cleaning up a Yugo Mauser for 6 hours that was equally encased in a tomb of cosmoline. Generally i use a combination of my heat gun to soften the thick stuff and then soak and scrub the small parts in low odor mineral spirits. I'm not too thrilled with the spirits because while they help when scrubbing relatively clean parts, it doesnt dissolve gunk that i cant reach with a brush. Its just not aggresive enough. Time to find a better solvent that wont harm old metal finish.

 

I wonder if kerosene works?

 

 

Yes Kerosene works very well, I did not go that route this time because It was cold out and I need

good ventilation when using it in large amounts. You can also use brake cleaner(non chlorinated) it works well.

Dude, this mauser was so full of cosmo, when you cocked the bolt and pulled the trigger, you could watch the rear of striker fall like it was in slow motion! You could use the bolt as a damper for your screen door it was so sluggish. My mosins only ever had a thin film coating here and there but the the interior of this was so packed full, i could have reclaimed enough to recoat several other guns.

 

For stuff that bad, the heat gun works but again its the crevasses that are hard to get it out of. I do use brake cleaner too but i noticed that sometimes it counteracts itself because when you spray it, the liquid is ice cold which solidifies the cosmo preventing it from draining away cleanly.

 

What about those various chemicals you see in home improvement stores? MEK? Xylene? Toulene? acetone? are these too hazardous to use indoors?

My rifle's have been like that to, this bolt would not even rack.

I 1st wipe as much off with paper towels, then simple green, then dissambel and here comes the fun

part, q-tips and model airplane or fine cleaning brushes for springs and trigger groups. Now on this I had

to completely disassemble the trigger group which was a pain to get back together and ran it though the ultrasonic

a half dozen times. If your going to soak in use Kerosene and let the parts sit for a few day's then find your favorite tooth

brush and scrub away for a few more. I would not use any acetone based products it will remove paint, finish

and stain from all parts. For the stock you can use a damp cloth and a hair dryer or even any grease cutting dish detergent.

When it get's warmer out wrap it in foil and stick in the back of your car window on a 90% day and it will melt off. I also had to boil a few pots of water to pour into the parts that I just could not get in. The gas tube on this was solidly packed it took an hour alone to get it all out.

I used acetone effectively on a Mosin. It's quite aggressive.