Found a Krag in cosmoline

[Baltimoreed]

At the Md Antique Military Arms show last weekend and found a 1896 Krag rifle in light cosmoline. Unusual to find a krag like this. It was in bad shape, a dark sticky stock, nasty bore, bolt so gummy it hardly would move but it was all there and the price was right so I took a chance. When I got home I tore it down and removed the cosmoline from everything steel and washed the stock in simple green and then a 1/2 terpentine and 1/2 BLO mix. What a difference!
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[atr]

Very cool ! that is a nice find

[BigAlofPa.]

Wow nice. When i got my Mosin Nagant. The bore was caked with cosmoline. I was going crazy cleaning it. Finally soaked it in transmission fluid overnight. Then ran the brush one direction all the way through then the other way back and forth until my arms felt like they were going to fall off. Now it has a very nice shiny bore. And im religious about keeping it clean lol.

[country gent]

Good clean looking rifle there. A lot of military rifles when stored after service are stored back in cosmoline. Ive heard tales of a couple bays of trapdoors in cosmoline in one military warehouse. In The book on Chesty Puller they told of garands in cosmoline that when cleaned were unserviceable.

[Tripplebeards]

Cool!

[redhawk0]

Sweet looking rifle. I love the old ones. My 1895 MN was as you described when I got it. A good soaking in Turpentine helped strip it down. Its not the best shooter in the world...but it does look pretty good for being 125 years old. I have to say though....your new (to you) Krag looks even better.

congrats.

redhawk

[WinchesterM1]

The worst cosmoline you can clean Is off of any Yugoslav weapons

[uscra112]

Ed's Red with the full proportion of acetone cuts cosmoline very well. Just be careful about using it around potential sources of ignition.

Now that you've got the grosser amounts of cosmoline off, fit the stock into your dishwasher, (take the upper rack out), and run it through the full cycle at the hottest water setting. Key is to use straight TSP in the dispenser. The combination of HOT water and TSP will do a pretty spectacular job of cleaning everything out of the wood. The hot water will even raise dents. It will come out looking almost like new wood. Let dry for a couple of days more, then start with the linseed oil finish. I've done numerous grungy old single-shot stocks this way, and one Krag carbine. You will be proud of the result.

TSP (trisodium phosphate) is found in the paint section of any good hardware store. Add a teaspoon to normal dish loads, and to your laundry, too.

This technique updates the old-time gunsmiths' method of boiling the stock in a TSP solution. Hard to do if you don't already have a hot blueing setup with the long troughs and gas burners.

[goryshaw]

The worst cosmoline you can clean Is off of any Yugoslav weapons

My M24/47 probably took me about a week. Ed's Red to clean the barrel and receiver. Odorless mineral spirits to clean wood. Then about a week sticking it in front of a spaceheater to cook it out. Still weeps in the barrel channel on the rare shooting excursion.

[uscra112]

Any Krag is better than a poke in the eye with a cleaning rod. Ruined barrels aren't hard to replace, or you can send them to JES to be bored to .35 caliber. Wood can be restored. The only real tragedy is a cracked bolt lug. Replacement bolts are hard to find.

[Shawlerbrook]

Very nice ! Congratulations ! Did my share of cosmoline cleaning of military rifle back in the early 90’s when I had an ffl. No easy way, but hot sunny days outside worked best.

[richhodg66]

A complete and original Krag is on my bucket list for someday. Congrats on a nice rifle.

[Texas by God]

I always cleaned off cosmoline with gasoline, a pail and parts brush. Then let it set for a few days for the stock to lose the gas odor. Of course where I live I can leave guns outside so this method isn't for all. Oven cleaner will really draw it out of the stock but it does bleach it out a bit.

[WinchesterM1]

If you put your stock in the dishwasher, yes it will raise any dents but also raise out all of the cartouches

Ed's Red with the full proportion of acetone cuts cosmoline very well. Just be careful about using it around potential sources of ignition.

Now that you've got the grosser amounts of cosmoline off, fit the stock into your dishwasher, (take the upper rack out), and run it through the full cycle at the hottest water setting. Key is to use straight TSP in the dispenser. The combination of HOT water and TSP will do a pretty spectacular job of cleaning everything out of the wood. The hot water will even raise dents. It will come out looking almost like new wood. Let dry for a couple of days more, then start with the linseed oil finish. I've done numerous grungy old single-shot stocks this way, and one Krag carbine. You will be proud of the result.

TSP (trisodium phosphate) is found in the paint section of any good hardware store. Add a teaspoon to normal dish loads, and to your laundry, too.

This technique updates the old-time gunsmiths' method of boiling the stock in a TSP solution. Hard to do if you don't already have a hot blueing setup with the long troughs and gas burners.

[Baltimoreed]

I might hit it with some more 50/50 turp/blo but it’s not going into a dishwasher plus as a 30 inch long bbled rifle I seriously doubt that there’s anything it would fit in. Thanks for the info and complements guys.

[edp2k]

Boiling/hot water will melt most of the cosmo off and loosen the rest so that it can be easily wiped off,
doesn't cost anything, and you aren't exposed to petro chemicals.

[ShooterAZ]

If you put your stock in the dishwasher, yes it will raise any dents but also raise out all of the cartouches

If you put a piece of electrical tape over the cartouche, it will not raise it. I have done a lot of Garand stocks using this method, it works really well.

[Tripplebeards]

Watched a few videos on mineral spirits. It seems like mineral spirits dissolves the Cosmoline completely off metal parts with in a few minutes.

[JSnover]

Watched a few videos on mineral spirits. It seems like mineral spirits dissolves the Cosmoline completely off metal parts with in a few minutes.

I haven't used spirits on cosmoline but have been stripping every other kind of grease, oil and assorted filth for years. It would be my first choice.

[Eddie1971]

The worst cosmoline you can clean Is off of any Yugoslav weapons

I wholeheartedly agree. I bought one of those M59/66 years ago and it was literally dipped in a tub of cosmo. The butt had none on and you could see where the guy held it to dip it in. It took forever to clean it properly. I used mineral spirits but the thing was perfect under all that!