I need some help in removing some old dried on cosmoline. I just purchased a new unissued Brazilian 1935 Oberndorf Mauser rifle. It is covered inside and out with cosmoline, some of it having dried to hard yellow wax like coating. So far I have only tried using gasoline as a solvent on the bolt, but it would not remove the dried on grease. Also what is the best way to remove cosmoline from the internal wood parts? The stock is a really nice piece of walnut , and would like to leave it as original as possible. I was thinking of just wiping the grease off the stock with a rag. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Hart.

On the action try wrapping it with some paint thinner soaked paper towels, then wrapping in saran wrap or aluminum foil and leaving over night. Actually what I would do is give it the mummy-wrap with paper towel, set it in a trough made out of a couple layers of foil, then pour thinner over it and roll over the ends of the foil like a burrito. Leave overnight or longer.

On the stock I would first try a little heat from a hair dryer, and wiping it down with rags. Maybe a plastic scraper to help too.

Forget the cosmoline until next summer! Just put the stock outside in the sunshine on a hot summer day and keep wiping it off with mineral spirits.

Warming the action/barrel will help a lot also.

You might try Ed's red as a cleaner.
1 Qt ATF
1 Qt K1 (low scent kerosene)
1 Qt Acetone
1 Qt odorless mineral spirits

Where'd you get the rifle?

Don

Where'd you get the rifle?

Don[/B][/QUOTE]

Answer this question now and we want the truth.
I feel a new custom project coming on.

I picked it up at a gun show up here in Canada. It came with the original test target fired in 1937, bayonet with matching serial number, original sling, and a muzzle cover that has a little flip up lid. I was planning to leave it original since it is such a nice example of pre war craftsmanship. I have a few other nice mausers that I can use for a custom rifle that are already partially converted, or mismatched.

Hart

For the small parts, put some kerosine in a coffee can or ammo box and warm it on a hot plate. Do this outside and be carefull. If you get it too hot it will burst into flames. Use some common sense, you just need it warm not smoking hot! The hot cosmiline will melt away into the kerosine.
For the barrel and action, warm the whole works with a propane torch, wipe with a kerosine dampened rag.
The stock, remove what you can by whiping with rags etc. Use a little mineral spirits to get the last of the surface stuff. Stay away form gasoline!! It is too flamable, stinks, and has health concearns. Never use gasoline as a solvent for anything ever!
To get it out of the wood, warm the wood over a stove burner or hotplate. Don't scorch it! Just get it hot. With a little practice you will figure out how much heat. The cosmoline and oil will boil to the surface. Whipe it off with a paper towel. You will be amazed at how much comes out. Probably going to use a whole roll of paper towels, When you get tired of it re-oil with tung oil or similar. The "stock butter" described below is great for this. Do not get carried away with sandpaper! It will leave the stock with a worked over slick look that looks out of place. The green scrub pads are great for what ever smoothing you might need.
My favorite concoction for military stocks is bee's wax, tung oil, and mineral spirits. Maybe half wax, half oil and some mineral spirits. Melt the wax and add the others. Not critical. Just use it like paste wax.

[This message has been edited by scot (edited 10-24-2001).]

Man, I don't know about all these recepies that use blow torches, ovens, and explosive fuels...Sounds exciting! Back when I picked up an unissued British Enfield, I used lemon juice and a green scrubbing pad on the wood, with light scrubbing all the cosmoline came out of the wood and it did't hurt the finish. For the barreled action, I used an automotive type parts washing station with liquid parts cleaner and a soft nylon brush on the action parts, and nylon bore brush down the barrel. Oh, yeah, I used Brasso on the brass. No heat, blow torches, or open flames were necessary. Of course I live in Phoenix, which some poeple say is like living inside a blow torch!

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"You seem to be suffering from delusions of adequecy."

As an alternative I have used a garage sink full of hot-hot water and simple green detergent. Hot kerosine works best though. The hot plate stock, boiling the, cosmoline and wipeing has no substitute.
I have bought a bunch of surplus stuff in recent years. What I said in the previous post is the best and fastest way, I have found.

Thanks for the replies. I'm not so concerned with the cosmoline that is still of a grease consistency, but find it hard to remove the the stuff that has dried to a hard wax like consistency (actually harder than wax). On the bayonet lug/stock end cap, which has a flat finish in the white, the dried grease came off with a wire brush, but I do not want to use a wire brush on any blued steel. I tried some acetone and some lacquer thinner, but these would also not remove the hard deposits. Before I go and buy some kerosene, I am going to try some ordinary solvent. I'm going to put the action in a plastic bag up to about the chamber and tie some string around it to keep the bag close to the action, and fill it with solvent, and let it sit overnight. The reason for the bag is to limit the amount of solvent used, as it is hard to get rid of the used stuff, living here in the city. Hopefully this will soften up the hard deposits. The stock was not as bad as I thought, it seems that the only cosmoline was where metal parts came in contact with the wood. All the cosmoline on the wood had hardened and came off the external parts using my thumb nail and off internal parts by using a scraper.
Also, what do you guys think, would you shoot a rifle like this, or keep it in unfired condition (except for the three shots fired at the factory test target)?

Hart

If it is truely that pristine, I would have left the cosmoline on it.

I agree with Scot. Also, I wouldn't fire this "semi-virgin" as that would only lessen its collector value.

Thanks for all the replies.

Scot and Herb, you guys are probably right. But carrying this one step further, a while ago I seen some Lee Enfields that were new and still in there factory paper wrappers. Leaving the wrapper on would probably made them more valuable but they would not be much to look at, at least I can use this mauser as eye candy.

I finally got everything clean and put together. Sure looks nice. I never got to soaking the action in solvent. Tried using paint and varnish remover and it worked in softening up the hardened grease, especially the stuff in the crests and lettering.

Thanks again, Hart.

One other thing I wanted to mention about this mauser that I have never seen on any other military mauser. Almost every part of the action was hardness tested. Most pieces had a little dimple like those left by a Rockwell hardness tester. Has anyone else seen this on any other mauser rifles? I have only seen this on commercial FN mausers and then only on the bolt and the receiver.

Hart.