It
is important to remove the stock and all
removable parts to be sure you get all the
Cosmoline out of the gun.
This one even had it in the butt stock where
the cleaning kit is stored.
Now,
before anyone says it, Yes, I know that
many old guns have a lot more Cosmoline
on them than mine did. But it was actually
worse than the pictures show. The removal
method is the same.
There are many ways to remove Cosmoline.
Almost all of them work. Some folks like
to heat it up, even in an oven on very low
heat, to melt it out.
I like to use Mineral Spirits, sometimes
simply called Paint Thinner, to remove the
gunk. It is available at any paint department
and is relatively cheap.
Never, never use gasoline. It is far too
flammable and contains lots of really nasty
stuff like benzene and other things that
you don't really want in your system. And,
mineral spirits work just as well, if not
better than gasoline.
As I disassembled the rifle, we really started
to find the Cosmoline.
Here's
the operating spring, fully loaded with
the stuff.
And
look at the mess down in the action.
At
least I didn't have to worry about rust
on this rod.
Now
to get to work on the clean-up.
I put some Mineral Spirits in a plastic
pail and started to wash down the parts.
First, the trigger group.
I just use a cheap paint brush to wash the
parts out thoroughly.
