2A Enfield

[DrakinClaw]

you have nothing to fear with the kick of a .308, its by far not a soft kick, but its not painfull either, good luck. a gunsmith is a good idea with a old beauty like that, its worth it! good job buddy! I've been cleaning cosmo of some ak mags and its a major pain in the A$$, what did you use to remove it?
Drak

[762xIan]

Willtallica, where are you in Lebanon Co? I'm in Northern Berks (by Strausstown) and I have .308 headspace gauges.

[Willtallica]

Originally Posted by DrakinClaw

you have nothing to fear with the kick of a .308nato, its by far not a soft kick, but its not painfull either, good luck. a gunsmith is a good idea with a old beauty like that, its worth it! good job buddy! I've been cleaning cosmo of some ak mags and its a major pain in the A$$, what did you use to remove it?
Drak

Oven cleaner, and high pressure warm water and I admit it's harsh, but it's flawless compared to everything else I tried to break barriers with (and I mean tried, by early morning, until dusk).

I herd steamers work good, so before I work on my German K98k I'll be getting one of those, and seeing if it gets the job done seeing it's a lot less harmless. Although I saw no side effects.

Originally Posted by 762xIan

Willtallica, where are you in Lebanon Co? I'm in Northern Berks (by Strausstown) and I have .308 headspace gauges.

That would be cool, but I decided to walk into bass bro with the 10Lbs rifle. I felt like a clown. They said that they'll check out everything pretty well, and make sure that it safe.

[PA Rifleman]

Originally Posted by Willtallica

Oven cleaner, and high pressure warm water and I admit it's harsh, but ...I herd [sic] steamers work good, ... Although I saw no side effects.

Will:

Oven cleaner does have chemicals that were not intended for cosmoline removal, and steam cleaning injects water into your gun under pressure and high temperature. Your best best might be an industrial heat gun (think hair dryer with attitude) available at Home Depot and similar institutions.

A heat gun will also help dry out a stock that has oil & grease soaked in over decades of use. If you've ever tried refinish an old gun stock that's oil or grease soaked, you'll know how difficult it is getting the varnish to dry or cure.

I receive a lot of military surplus rifles in the course of a year, many have actions, bores and oil bottles completely filled with cosmoline.

[Willtallica]

Everything was pretty nasty on that gun, and I actually had to scrap a good portion of the cosmo out of the action, and chamber with dentist like tools. I didn't stop until the parts looked like raw steel (-) the stained shade from the black paint. Also I ran hot water over everything, until there was no more tint of brown falling off. It was about almost 3 months of work.

About that heat gun, does it itself clean the cosmo off the gun?

[P95Carry]

About that heat gun, does it itself clean the cosmo off the gun?

A heat gun can be useful same as leaving woodwork out in summer sun. Heat (controlled) does help leech the goo out of the wood. Takes time but has always seemed to me to be the best approach on wood.

Cosmo when cold is sticky stuff but once reasonably warm does thin and flow - so also this can help remove it from the intercisties on metalwork. Never sure of exact temp but loosely speaking it is in the ''getting too hot to touch'' category on metal and a bit less of wood.

[phillyd2]

Very nice rifle. I never knew they were made in 7.62 NATO until last year while I was in India. They were all over the place:

[DrakinClaw]

Originally Posted by P95Carry

Never sure of exact temp but loosely speaking it is in the ''getting too hot to touch'' category on metal and a bit less of wood.

that is pretty true, i found with the metal ak mags and heat gun, when it got just a bit to hot to hold it started to come off pretty easy, its just those hard-to-reach places is were the trouble lies. Oh and Brake Cleaner works pretty well as well.
the steps that i used to clean my mags (and ill post a few to show) is
1. heat gun- takes off the excessive amounts of cosmo
2. Break cleaner - gets the rest of the "thin-film" of cosmo off.
3. Break Free CLP gun cleaner- for a lil lube and protection
and no matter what you do it takes FOREVER!
Drakin

[Willtallica]

Today I went to BassPro. Got bad news, and charged 25 smackers.

Head space is excessive, and I forget by how much.

I herd I can just try different bolts, is this true?

[PA Rifleman]

Originally Posted by Willtallica

Today I went to BassPro. Got bad news, and charged 25 smackers.

Head space is excessive, and I forget by how much.

I herd I can just try different bolts, is this true?

First, did they use a field gauge, or no-go? If no-go, I'm not surprised, nor would I condemn the rifle, yet.

For what they charged, you could have bought your own field gauge! And before someone raises the exploding 2A or 2A1 myth, read this.