So after a few years of owning a yugo and albanian sks, I decided that today would be the day I removed the cosmoline from them. No problem I thought. I bought some brake cleaner and went at it. My albanian disassembled fairly easily, the trigger was somewhat of a pain to remove, I needed a hammer and a punch. But the fucking stock is stuck to the reciever, worse the magazine will not come out like a good boy, its just stuck there. I tried pulling, prying, hammering it out, but it refuses to move. So I cleaned what I could sort of and left it for another day. The yugo came apart fairly easily, but there is only 74 thousand times more cosmoline on it, and its dried to the stock. I gave it a half assed effort and also left it for another day. Removing this crap is hard work. I wish there was an easier way.
Cosmoline, the scourge of my existence
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I HATE Cosmoline.... HATE! My Yugo SKS was slathered in that evil.... stuff... from the deepths of hell as well... I ended up just takeing the stock off, takeing it totaly apart and getting a parts washer sticking the hose in a gas can and even then that evil stuff refused to come off the shiney new rifle.. I still scrape it off the inside of the stock every time I clean it. then once you think you get it all.... theres MOAR!!
Sadly... the only easy way I ever found was a parts washer with gas and compressed air. oh... dont forget your gasmask, I already did that once and just about passed out
Sadly... the only easy way I ever found was a parts washer with gas and compressed air. oh... dont forget your gasmask, I already did that once and just about passed out
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7,388 Posts
I used a rubbermaid tube filled with engine degreaser with good results for the metal as well as those steam cleaners they sell.
For woo there are 2 ways. If you are going to refinish I used oil soap but it does raise the grain. If you are not going to refinish you can sweat it out in an oven. Hang it high in the oven at an angle with a catch pan below. It will sweat it all out on warm setting. Just have to wipe it off the crevices and surface every 20-30 minutes for 2 hours of so. Good articles on this at Surplusrifle.com
For woo there are 2 ways. If you are going to refinish I used oil soap but it does raise the grain. If you are not going to refinish you can sweat it out in an oven. Hang it high in the oven at an angle with a catch pan below. It will sweat it all out on warm setting. Just have to wipe it off the crevices and surface every 20-30 minutes for 2 hours of so. Good articles on this at Surplusrifle.com
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brucelee said:well, in his case, they have been sitting in that crap for YEEEEEARS already, what are a few more going to hurt?
let's see, i bought them, was not able to keep them with me, then I went off to college, kept them with my cousin, moved around a bit, then I retrieved them and now I am finally in a situation where I can keep them with me and use them. But Dan is correct, it has been a long time.
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