I have an old Chinese SKS that I got in a trade several years ago. It is heavy in cosmoline, and I've never had a weapon that needed the cosmoline cleaned up. Any suggestions? Or should I just declare it a Cosmoline Queen, keep it in the safe, and let my kids worry about it?

Take it to a DIY wand type carwash and have at it. Use degreaser if they have it.

Then take it apart and clean it, coat it with light oil.

Please don't use a high pressure spray. It will damage the wood.

Have a couple rolls of paper towels or cloth shop towels. I like to use the roll of blue shop towels from Tractor Supply. Or a bunch of old rags you can throw away.

Wipe off as much cosmoline as you can first. Use Paint thinner. You can soak the entire gun first or the gun in parts in paint thinner or work at it with a rag soaked in paint thinner. An old toothbrush would help with the nooks and crannies.

Alternate then with rags soaked with dish soap and water.

Don't forget to get all the cosmoline out of the bore.

Once you get it all off, lay the stock in the sun on some newspaper. Wipe off the cosmoline every hour or two as it leaches out of the wood.

If your rifle is one of the older ones with the original stain on it and not too damaged, it is an orange shellac that can be matched at the hardware store for touch up. It will keep more collector value with the original shellac stain left on it. If the finish is badly chipped or mostly missing, I would just remove it.

Now that all the cosmoline and oil is stripped be sure to wipe the gun down and swab the barrel with some clp or whatever you normally use.

Look at the drug store for the cheap finger nail polish remover and read the ingredient label.

The cheapest stuff usually is 100% acetone and works great.

Walgreen's sells a good size bottle for $3. It is very handy for degreasing.

Birchwood Casey Gun Scubber spray works well too, but is more expensive.

Make sure to use either one outdoors in a well ventilated area.

Thanks, guys. I think I'll get after it and try to clean it up. It's nasty.

Those rifles were completely dipped into a barrel of cosmoline, then stored for a number of years. Imagine covering an entire rifle with 10 jars of Vaseline. The wood will be covered with as much cosmoline as the metal and will be soaked within the porous wood those rifles have. That little $3 bottle and can of gun scrubber won't get very far, but might help with the finishing touch up cleaning.

I used brake cleaner on an old turkish mauser I had, worked pretty well. (Metal parts). Also heard its easier to heat it a little before cleaning to make things easier, but I didnt need to.

If you use brake cleaner, make sure it is non chlorinated.

Mineral Spirits work pretty well, and evaporates pretty quick

Fuel pump gasoline.

Mineral Spirits worked for me.

https://www.theboxotruth.com/educational-zone-23-cosmoline-removal/

Funny growing up that was the all purpose cleaner. Everything from guns to car or bike parts. Haven't used it in years but I know it still works.

I have cleaned the cosmoline from at least 50 rifles. Though I have used gasoline and kerosene to clean off cosmoline, I don't anymore except for soaking some very small parts and really don't recommend it. That bad smell it has is from benzene. It is a true carcinogen and bad for you to breath and get on you. Kerosene too has benzene. It is why fire station engine bays now have extractors. Before benzene was found to be settling on everything in the engine bay and likely contributing to some types of cancer that is more common in firefighters than the general public. Not to mention both will make your rifle smell like gasoline if you soak the whole thing with it. White gas or Coleman fuel would be a better alternative to pump gas as it does not have benzene or other additives in it. Basically it's Naphtha. But I highly recommend paint thinner/mineral spirits for the job.

Now that's good information worth reading. I too was raised in the belief that when it comes to cleaning vehicle parts, gasoline was the way to go.

I have used oven cleaner and hot water on wood that was soaked in cosmoline. Could try that on the metal but not sure what it may do to the finish.

This is basically what I did with my Yugo SKS and it worked very well. Take your time