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I've wondered before what the "official"/SOP for removing cosmo is...
Is it really just to throw everything in boiling water, then tell everyone to dry their parts and oil them before they rust?
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Yes. Really. It works great. I've done it to the last several milsurp rifles I've purchased.
It's less expensive and
much less stinky than using mineral spirits, brake cleaner, or carb cleaner.
Get a big stockpot (one that you don't use for cooking
), a campstove, some heavy gloves, a pair of tongs long enough to reach the bottom of the pot, and a strainer. Strip the rifle down to its individual components. (I've had good luck leaving Mosin-Nagant sights in place since they're hard to remove.) You'll want to do this outside because it gets stinky, and liquid cosmo leaves nasty yellow stains. Wear old clothes.
Heat the water to a gentle simmer; a vigorous, rolling boil will splatter liquid cosmo everywhere when you start cleaning, and the stuff burns like cooking oil if it gets on your skin.
I dump small parts into the pot and boil them for a minute or two, stirring frequently, then dump the whole mess through the strainer. Use the tongs for the larger parts. The cosmo rises to the top of the water, so you'll want to rotate large, complex parts so the cosmo comes out of the nooks and crannies.
To clean the barreled action, hold it by the barrel and dip the receiver into the water. You'll want to leave it in there for a few minutes, rotating frequently; it takes a while to heat everything hot enough to melt the cosmo off. You obviously won't be able to get the whole thing into the water unless the pot is
huge, but I've had good luck holding the receiver in the water until the barrel gets hot enough to start liquifying the cosmo (hence the gloves), then promptly placing it on the ground and dumping the leftover boiling water over the areas that weren't immersed.
Oil everything thoroughly when you're done. Spray oil comes in handy because it's a pain to reach the little nooks and crannies with a rag.
The only hitch is that this won't work on the stock because the wood will swell.
Constant heat is the key. Since a Mosin-Nagant stock won't fit in a normal oven, I like to leave them outside on a hot summer day and wipe the weeping cosmo off every half hour or so.