03-04-2008, 04:10 PM
| #1 |
| Registered User  Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Oregon
Posts: 8
| Mosin Newbie Hi guys, Got my M44 (actually my first gun purchase ever) at Big 5 last night. Had to wait until my wife left for work until I could examine it more closley. A beaut she is! Izhevsk receiver with a Tula bolt. After wiping the drool off my rifle, I tried to put it back in it's cardboard box but it wouldn't go all the way in. Upon tipping the box over out dropped a bag with a sling, pouches and tools. What a bonus! The oil can was covered in sticky oily substance that I can only describe as a melted carmel candy. Is this gunk the dreaded cosmoline? Thanks to all of you who participate in this forum. Without all of you I wouldn't have given a Mosin Nagant a second look. I'm looking forward to many years of enjoyment with this prize. I'm sure you'll be hearing from me with many stupid questions. |
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03-04-2008, 04:25 PM
| #2 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: In a Dark Cubicle
Posts: 371
| Cosmoline indeed. Rubbing alcohol and a toothbrush, or just heat to sweat it out of the stock. If you have a chemical tank, it makes cleaning the steel real easy, but I have done it with a can of mineral spirits as well. Congrats on your First Mosin! What year is it? |
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03-04-2008, 04:25 PM
| #3 |
| Senior Member  | Congratulations RainDad: Sir; I'm jealous.  Christmas came early Take some pictures; squat; jump up and down. Crud I want to see it. Send it to me for safe keeping; Keep posting your experience with an M44
__________________ Craig By the standards of most |
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03-04-2008, 04:28 PM
| #4 | |
| Super Moderator    |  Quote:
That won't happen...because no question about guns is in that category. I'm not the expert in this forum...but wanted to welcome you to the forum...and hope you'll post your questions regularly as they come up. There's knowledgable members here who will, I have no doubt, answer your questions with respect. Congratulations on your gun purchase! Yes, that sticky stuff is the "dreaded" cosmoline...and you'll have fun removing it in the next few months.(ha) Wipe off what you can, heat it without damaging the metal or wood and keep wiping, and check other threads here under the category of "search" for methods of removing cosmoline. You'll find plenty of comments from those who have done this with varying degrees of success. It was designed to keep your gun from damage while being stored...and it becomes a challange to remove eventually. Good luck, and we'll look forward to your questions and comments as you enjoy your new rifle. Ox
__________________ "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right". | |
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03-04-2008, 05:17 PM
| #5 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: New York
Posts: 2,356
| Try this, to get an idea of what youa re dealing with. Take the oil can, fill it with water, put it in water in a pot you wife is not fond of and boil it for about 20 minutes. It will clean up the oil can and the scum on the surface of the water will show you what heat does to cosmoline. Be sure to get new O-Rings for the water bottle I strongly suggest using mineral spirits to cut the comsoline on the action and stock. You can get it at the paint store, Wal-Mat, Home Depot. It's about $12/gallon at the moment. Get a gallon. You won't need that much - for this Mosin. But Mosins are like potato chips; nobody has just one. You'll need it for the next one... and the next one... and the next one... Go to the dollar store and get yourself some disposable aluminum pans. I've found the loaf pans are the best size for this kind of thing, but you will need one turkey roasting pan as well. Fill two of them halfway with cosmoline. See if they have a very small funnel and some soft brass bristle brushes (not the ones for cleaning barbecue grilles, they are too stiff), too. Also, break out a wide bladed screwdriver, a sturdy one; a piece of wooden dowel at least 1/4" across; a pair of channel lock pliers; and a mallet, along with your cleaning kit. Next, read this thread: http://www.gunandgame.com/forums/mos...in-update.html (My New Mosin: Update) It describes how a senior board member at gun club I belong to and I stripped down and cleaned my 91/30 of cosmoline yesterday, so i won't repeat myself. One thing you can try that we did not is boiling a kettle of water, putting the receiver into the turkey roasting pan while the rifle leans against a table or something, inserting the funnel into the muzzle and slowly pouring the boiling water down the muzzle. Wear nomex gloves or kitchen mitts so you don't burn yourself. This will melt the cosmoline out of the barrel the way it took it off the oil bottle. Then you just have to get any residue off with the mineral spirits and brass brushes. If your stock was not varnished (most Mosin stocks are not; mine is unusual because it is), you need to get the cosmoline out of the wood, too. This is a job for either mineral spirits or the dishwasher. If you go the dishwasher route, use the hottest water cycle you can get. Run it with a regular amount of dishwashing detergent. When it is completed, immediately do two things. First, put more detergent into the dishwasher and run it again, empty, to get any cosmoline traces out of it. Second, immediately oil your wood. I recommend tung oil varnish for this. Two or three coats will give the wood a mellow glow. You may want to use sandpaper on the stock, about a 400 grit, but watch out for cartouches. They add character and sanding can obliterate them. That's up to you. If you use the mineral spirits, you won't have to worry about warping the wood, but you may not get all the cosmoline in one go. It's a lot of scraping and scrubbing. When you are done, again, oil the wood just to be on the safe side. Here is a video that may help you disassemble & reassemble the bolt: Here is one on general disassembly of the Mosin-Nagant M44: Of course, both of these start with clean rifles and no cosmoline. But they still may prove useful to you, especially if you are working alone without the manual. If you would like a manual, go to J&G Sales. They have one in Adobe PDF format available for a free download: Mosin Nagant Free printable manual. Let us know how you make out with a process every Mosin owner knows all too well! Good luck! |
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03-04-2008, 06:25 PM
| #6 |
| Member Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 49
| Welcome to the club. As stated earlier, there are no stupid questions. I have posted what I thought may have been some stupid questions and received more than enough answers to my questions. So send any questions you have. |
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03-04-2008, 06:32 PM
| #7 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Kentucky
Posts: 384
| Woah does it really take that long to clean all that cosmoline off..? I got all of mine out in like 10 minutes and I haven't seen a single sign of the stuff sense. >.> |
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03-04-2008, 06:41 PM
| #8 |
| Thor's Hammer  | Welcome to G&G Raindad! Eager to answer any questions you may have! Ferro- I think yours was pre-cleaned, like an Ex Dragoon I got.
__________________ Thank God we don't get as much Government as we pay for! -Will Rogers |
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03-04-2008, 06:49 PM
| #9 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Kentucky
Posts: 384
| Naw... Mine was covered in the stuff. o_o And yes. ^_^ Welcome RainDad. =D |
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03-04-2008, 06:51 PM
| #10 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Missouri
Posts: 2,883
| Welcome Raindad;enjoy your rifle .I know you will like it and there are many here that have knowlege that I never will have so ask away! on a different note to the video its a good video but please use the right size screw driver or you will chew up you screw heads !! |
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03-04-2008, 07:28 PM
| #11 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Cheney, Washington
Posts: 108
| Congrats i'm in your exact boat my friend!!! First Mosin first purchase club! Good to see we have good taste/luck. I'll be tracking your questions because i'm sure i'll have the same, Welcome to the club errrrr.. Forum Ellsworth |
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03-04-2008, 08:06 PM
| #12 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: May 2006 Location: The Desert
Posts: 2,210
| And now the fun, and the addiction, begins. It's no surprise that the M44 is my favorite MN (until I get a Finn M39). Welcome to the forum, there is a ton of good experience here. |
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03-04-2008, 10:04 PM
| #13 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Texas
Posts: 1,877
| have fun and shoot your gun, give us a range report
__________________ Submitted with respect to all |
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03-04-2008, 10:18 PM
| #14 |
| Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Oregon
Posts: 8
| What year is it?[/quote] 1944. I'll try to get some pictures up soon. Looks like I had better get some elbow grease going for clean up. Thanks for the hearty welcomes and tips! |
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03-04-2008, 10:56 PM
| #15 |
| Senior Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: The Desert
Posts: 2,210
| There's an old saying/rhyme from my boot camp days (ca. 1965)... This is my rifle This is my gun This ones for fighting This ones for fun Fortunately, I am an Army brat so knew the rhyme, some guys didn't and payed the price, never calling a rifle a gun again. Our CC was a tough old bosun's mate, and a great drinking buddy... four years later... when we were stationed on the same DDG cruising Danang for H&I and GFS for ROK and Special Forces. Those two rapid fire 5"-54's were "guns". "I love the smell of gunfire (actually napalm in the movie) in the morning. It smells like... victory." The best 8 years of my young life. |
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03-05-2008, 10:03 AM
| #17 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Missouri
Posts: 2,883
| I guess I trained to may apprentises really think proper tools are needed to work on anything and a screwdriver is the most abused tool in the world ,pry bar ,chisel ,etc!  |
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03-05-2008, 03:27 PM
| #18 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: San Bruno, Republic of Kalifornia
Posts: 646
| raindad, was your big5 rifle imported from century arms? the one i just picked up from them was. it was so clean there was no cosmo to be found. it was all cleaned up before being shipped. oh, wait. they did miss a smudge inside the sight guard. |
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03-05-2008, 08:33 PM
| #19 |
| Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Oregon
Posts: 8
| Yeah, it was shipped from century. It appears pretty clean, but I figure a good thorough cleaning is in order. The only thing that was a mess was the oil can which was plastered with cosmoline. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow. Last edited by RainDad; 03-05-2008 at 08:34 PM. Reason: misspelling |
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03-05-2008, 08:49 PM
| #20 |
| Listen to yur Inner Hippo  Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: South east Wisconsin
Posts: 3,454
| Always a good idea to clean them up before shooting. Bore may look clean but a little dirt or sand in the bore could cause damage when fired. Plus, cleaning and messing with them is half the fun of having them. Shoot, admire, clean, hug, clean, admire....
__________________ "Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati" (If all else fails play dead) |
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