Best way to remove cosmoline

I just got my M1 from cmp. It's a SA service grade special. I freaking love it. How do I get this cleaned properly so I don't harm anything? Can you guys point me in the right direction?

Many like simple green, but I prefer to use a hair dryer and melt it off.

I use mineral spirits, followed by a wash down with Dawn dishwashing liquid. Blow all the water out of the cracks and crevices with a compressor then clean after that with Ed's Red homemade gun solvent. I lube with white lithium grease to finish.

Would a heat gun be too hot? My Falther in law says soak it in kerosene.

I probably wouldn't use a heat gun close at least. I stand the rifle straight up and heat from the top down. It drips onto the newspaper and after you are left with a very thin coating of grease. You can then remove this with a rag and solvent.

Boiling water is the best method. It gets it all and does no harm to you are your gear. When done, disposal is easy and also causes no harm.

hot water and elbow grease has worked for me .... YRMV

In the 1960's, we used "Red Solvent" in the Army. I asked what "Red Solvent" was and was told that it was gasoline. They called it "RS" because it wasn't an approved method; but, it cut the cosmoline really fast and dried quickly. It was not approved due to the possibility of some dufus starting a fire.

Coleman Lantern Fuel aka white gas. Pour a couple of inches in a disposable roasting pan. Detail strip the Garand and drop the parts in and the cosmoline will melt off. Cut a paintbrush down so the bristles are a couple of inches long and use it to paint the bigger parts. Afterward use some brake cleaner to remove the residue and rub oil on all the parts as the white gas and brake cleaner will remove all the oil.

Marty

Boiling Water. Cheap and readily available.

Boiling water works extremely well. However I would suggest using it outside if possible. De-cosmo-ed an SKS at a buddies apt once. Ended up with a fair amount of cosmo splattered on the wall. It's fairly hard to clean once it's on there, and a bit of a PITA.

I've had great luck with Simple Green. Not only does it take the cosmo out, it strips the oils from the metal (metal feels dry when you are done). I dry the parts in an oven on low temp, then I rub breakfree into every nook & cranny of every part, and let it soak for a week or so. I do that to make the parts slick to reduce wear long term, and for rust proofing long term, not meant to replace day to day lubrication. I got the idea from one of the AGI videos, has worked great for me.

I've never tried it but I've heard people having good luck with a garbage bag and the sun. Put all the parts inside a black garbage bag, hang the bag from a tree or whatever, and let the heat from the sun do all the work.

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