Cosmoline removal by armories?

[Boris Badinov]

The bone dry stocks are another piece of evidence to argument that the Soviet sks45 stockpiles were regularly inspected, and maintained for metal wear and stock refinishing-- with quick drying lacquer.

[Greasemonkey]

I have 2 Russians, somewhere.. I can not remember if the internals were greaseless, they really aren't my thing.  but at the same time, Yugoslavia pulled and inspected frequently as well, as indicated by log books, and they used quite a bit of storage grease. Some difference could be dependent on local climate of said storage locations. A humid temperate area may require protective grease, a dryer more arctic location may not. And I'm sure the black paint Russia used was used as a replacement for a corrosion inhibitor suited for the climate. 

[Boris Badinov]

I've only ever owned one Yugo, and M59 which i sold.

I wrecked the oven cleaning the cosmoline out of the stock. The apartment we lived in at the time reeked for days, and the stock was still greasy inside and out after many hours of baking at low temp.

Luckily the wife was out of town at the time, so.i had several days to rectify as much of the damage  as possible.

[Chevy Boy]

Ah, what SKS owner doesn’t have memories of cosmoline removal?

I took my first SKS out of the stock, disassembled it as much as I could, then dunked it in a tub of mineral spirits. I let the parts and the main barrel/receiver assembly soak in that nice bath for two days, then dragged them out and scrubbed everything else off with a combination of rags and pipe cleaners. I must’ve gone through a couple dozen rags that were afterwards unusable.

I should’ve worn nitrile gloves and/or a game apron in hindsight. I got cosmoline and mineral spirits soaked into my clothes and all over my hands.

The stock got a cosmetic mineral spirits scrub; I wasn’t worried about harming the wood because it was already pretty beat up and discolored anyway.

I’ve heard of people using a combination of simple green and hot water, as well as diesel fuel to get the stuff off as well.

[High Noon]

My current method is to soak the small parts in hot water and then wipe off (trigger group and magazine).  Pour hot water down the barrel and gas tube, to help break up the cosmoline and then use patches to get the rest.

The metal parts I can wipe of with mineral spirits are easy to clean (pistons, springs, bayonet).

Just use mineral spirits on the stock and wipe it off. 

Probably takes me 6-8 hours to clean one. Just take my time and try to be thorough.  I'm sure armories were much faster and not worried about getting it ALL off.

[Dedeagach]

I wonder if the Russian SKS was considered a "ready" reserve weapon and kept available for quick issue vs the Mosins and other older stuff.

I have read the post WWII Yugoslav army strategy was to rely heavily on partisan mobilization of civilians... which later was considered out of touch. I think part of that was since the Tito Partisans were successful, and part the Yugo army was defeated by Germany in like 11 days. There was mandatory military training etc.

That said during the 1990s Yugo wars a lot of old stuff came out of storage. But there was also a lot of obviously nicer, not issued during the 90s stuff imported.

I wonder how much thought was really put into what would be coated and what wouldn't vs how long it takes to clean.

[Boris Badinov]

I wonder if the Russian SKS was considered a "ready" reserve weapon and kept available for quick issue vs the Mosins and other older stuff.

I have read the post WWII Yugoslav army strategy was to rely heavily on partisan mobilization of civilians... which later was considered out of touch. I think part of that was since the Tito Partisans were successful, and part the Yugo army was defeated by Germany in like 11 days. There was mandatory military training etc.

That said during the 1990s Yugo wars a lot of old stuff came out of storage. But there was also a lot of obviously nicer, not issued during the 90s stuff imported.

I wonder how much thought was really put into what would be coated and what wouldn't vs how long it takes to clean.

The Russian imports to the US don't bear the evidence of heavy cosmoline. The Soviet sks stocks are comparatively bone dry.

[Dedeagach]

The Russian imports to the US don't bear the evidence of heavy cosmoline. The Soviet sks stocks are comparatively bone dry.

Are the Candaian imports any different?