my new military assault rifle; best way to remove cosmoline ?

[nordic alien]

pick up a nice eddystone 1917 at cabelas; $550, great wood and bluing, dark bore with plenty of rifling i would say at least 90% plus. kinda gunked up, but not bad; what is the fastest way to remove cosomoline. they sold out quick but are try to get more at auction

 

[OnTheRoad]

Field strip and wipe off the big chunks. Wrap the parts in newspaper then put the newspaper bundles in a black trash bag, leave on your car dashboard for a few hours in the sun with the windows closed. Cosmoline melts at about 115 degrees, the newspaper will soak it up. Then do a finish wipe after removing from the car.

 

[enbloc]

Leave cosmoline on, wrap in heavy canvas, bind closed with 3/8-inch manila rope and coat with motor oil. Bury in backyard with a case of .30-06
with notable/immovable markers. Bury below frostline.

 

[JDL]

Steam clean

 

[sieveboy]

Congratulations. I bought the one next to yours. These are really interesting, they seem to be old rearsenaled guns that may have been used to fire a lot of corrosive blanks, maybe VFW? Inside they are untouched. The bolt was very tight when I stripped it, it came apart like a brand new gun.

I used white gas and a brush to remove the cosmo from the metal on mine. I decided not touch the stock, it must have 50 coats of linseed oil dried into it. A lot of the gunk on the metal was dried linseed oil. I wish whoever had these invested in Hoppe’s instead of Linseed.

Anyway I took your gun’s brother the range today. Made a lot of wonderful noise but didn’t hit much. Forgot that one needs to drift the front sight to change windage and didn’t bring a punch with me.

 

[nordic alien]

Congratulations. I bought the one next to yours. These are really interesting, they seem to be old rearsenaled guns that may have been used to fire a lot of corrosive blanks, maybe VFW? Inside they are untouched. The bolt was very tight when I stripped it, it came apart like a brand new gun.

I used white gas and a brush to remove the cosmo from the metal on mine. I decided not touch the stock, it must have 50 coats of linseed oil dried into it. A lot of the gunk on the metal was dried linseed oil. I wish whoever had these invested in Hoppe’s instead of Linseed.

Anyway I took your gun’s brother the range today. Made a lot of wonderful noise but didn’t hit much. Forgot that one needs to drift the front sight to change windage and didn’t bring a punch with me.

View attachment 648394

can always re barrel about $300 with install and you have a brand new gun bty how much was it off accuracy wise

 

[Welder1]

You may be surprised how the sewer pipe looking barrel performs

 

[sieveboy]

can always re barrel about $300 with install and you have a brand new gun bty how much was it off accuracy wise

It was a casual afternoon, I only had SR-1C repair center targets and couldn’t get on target with them at 100 yds, but I was mostly out shooting to ensure function, make sure the bullets went downrange and inspect fired cases.

Now that I’m confident I will get more serious.

 

[Broc]

Forget all the complicated answers, trash bags, hot car, heat guns ...

WD40 melts it. DONE.

 

[Arto]

a few teapots of Boiling water

 

[Horrible]

a few teapots of Boiling water

Boiling water for the metal parts. Don’t forget to oil heavily after they cool.

Leave the stock out in the Sun on a warm day, cosmoline will come to the surface, wipe down every hour, flip over and repeat

 

[Waher]

Ballistol and cotton rags.

 

[jpm]

mineral spirits will melt it right off

 

[jpm]

Anyway I took your gun’s brother the range today. Made a lot of wonderful noise but didn’t hit much. Forgot that one needs to drift the front sight to change windage and didn’t bring a punch with me.

FYI, the front sight is most likely staked in place so it will be hard to drift. Read this thread for some pointers...

Drifting front sight M1917

Hey I've been wandering around this forum for a couple of months now and it has helped me alot with my milsurps so thanks for that I couldn't find a thread that answered my question about the 1917 so here goes. I took my 1917 to the range a couple of days ago and fired off a couple of shots...

www.milsurps.com

 

[Road_Clam]

Boiling water for the metal parts. Don’t forget to oil heavily after they cool.

Leave the stock out in the Sun on a warm day, cosmoline will come to the surface, wipe down every hour, flip over and repeat

This is how i bled out the cosmo on my Mosin 91-30. Took about a weeks worth of sitting in the july sun but it worked !

 

[Pafanasiev]

This is how i bled out the cosmo on my Mosin 91-30. Took about a weeks worth of sitting in the july sun but it worked !

So, basically leave it laying out in your driveway for the weekend? Asking for a friend

 

[ldi]

Leave cosmoline on, wrap in heavy canvas, bind closed with 3/8-inch manila rope and coat with motor oil. Bury in backyard with a case of .30-06
with notable/immovable markers. Bury below frostline.

Stick of 6” pvc pipe with caps on both ends - to much ? Lol

 

[enbloc]

Stick of 6” pvc pipe with capped on both ends - to much ? Lol

Nope. The 2nd post (@OnTheRoad) answered the OP's question pretty well and I wanted to offer up an alternative. Many good replies followed. Yours too

 

[whacko]

Congratulations. I bought the one next to yours. These are really interesting, they seem to be old rearsenaled guns that may have been used to fire a lot of corrosive blanks, maybe VFW? Inside they are untouched. The bolt was very tight when I stripped it, it came apart like a brand new gun.

I used white gas and a brush to remove the cosmo from the metal on mine. I decided not touch the stock, it must have 50 coats of linseed oil dried into it. A lot of the gunk on the metal was dried linseed oil. I wish whoever had these invested in Hoppe’s instead of Linseed.

Anyway I took your gun’s brother the range today. Made a lot of wonderful noise but didn’t hit much. Forgot that one needs to drift the front sight to change windage and didn’t bring a punch with me.

View attachment 648394

They would not be direct from a vfw. Those drill rifles that the vfw, American legion, and amvets use are on loan from the US government. If a vfw doesn't want them anymore the only place they can go is back to the US government.

Info on the ceremonial rifle program:

Frequently Asked Questions

tacom.army.mil

 

[whacko]

Boiling water in a big Rubbermaid container. Field strip and put all the metal parts in the boiling water. Use a latel to pour boiling water down the bore (use heavy gloves that you don't mind getting wet). The cosmoline will float to the surface. Clean and oil per usual. For the wood use a hairdryer to heat it up and wipe off the melted cosmoline. This method takes less than an hour and the rifle will be completely cosmoline free.

 

[tuna]

What a nice rifle, great score.

 

[steve8140]

Put it in black trash bags and leave it in the driveway on a 90+ degree day.

 

[Dennis in MA]

$500. Hmmmm. I'm in Hudson in a few weeks. Maybe I'll grab one and have it rebarrelled. Then sell my Garand and 2/3 of my '06 ammo. Profit center! LOL

I like the hot car method, but it might have to wait until next Summer. Cool and comfy for the foreseeable future.

 

[nordic alien]

$500. Hmmmm. I'm in Hudson in a few weeks. Maybe I'll grab one and have it rebarrelled. Then sell my Garand and 2/3 of my '06 ammo. Profit center! LOL

I like the hot car method, but it might have to wait until next Summer. Cool and comfy for the foreseeable future.

sold out, unless more tucked away in back, but they stated they are trying to get more through auction

 

[Dennis in MA]

Booo.

WTH - fingers crossed that things work out for me. LOL

 

[MisterHappy]

Back in the day (ca. Battle of the Bulge), my dad, and Armorer had a bunch of arms that needed de-cosing. He did not relish the idea of using cold gasoline as a solvent. He got a tub of water, heated to boiling, and let the hot water melt it, skimmed off the cosmoline, pulled it out, let it dry ( it was hot, so the residual water evaporated quickly), and oiled it up, with normal oil.

We beat the Krauts. I guess it worked.

 

[groundscrapers]

ive heard of folks using some hvac pipe and putting a heat lamp at one end to melt it out but this was more of a thing when people were buying guns by the crate.

 

[quinnjalan]

As mentioned boiling water. I bought a parts kit a few years back and put a giant pot of water on my camping stove, cranked the frame, got it boiling and dropped in the parts. With the water continuously boiling the cosmo cooks right off. Remove the parts and they will flash dry. Light coat of oil and you are good to go. This is my finished build kit, a 1947 semi auto Bren Gun.