Now that it's hot again, the best way to get a majority of cosmo out of your wooden stock is to wrap it as tight as you can without ripping, with newspaper. Putting rubber bands around it to keep it in place nice and snug. Place that badboy out in the sun to cook all day long.
Unwrap it, wipe her down really good, and repeat the same process. The heat will cause the cosmo to come out of the wood, though this process can take weeks, and never fully get it out.
As far as the metal, break cleaner works well, but nothing works better then heat. Heatguns for the barrel, to be followed up with swabs works wonders since the cosmo mostly melts and drips right out. I boil a lot of parts like bolts etc in a large mixing bowl. It'll help break it up, then I follow it up with mineral spirits, or if its really bad, the break cleaner.
As far as refinishing, it's a pain in the butt. You'll never match the original finishes. If you want a brand new looking rifle, that's your own business. As far as re-sale value, no collector considers a refinished mil-surp worth a dime and will usually ignore it.
As far as any tips or howto's, feel free to get in touch with me. I've got a "little bit" of experience.
Anyway, I'm looking for your experiences as far as what has worked well in procedure and product wise in stripping stocks and getting all the cosmo out, stripping the metal parts, finishes, etc. Actually saw one thread where the guy put the wood stock in a dishwasher with degreaser, followed by stripper and another trip to the dishwasher! Would not have thought of putting a piece of wood in the dishwasher! Anyone heard of that or other techniques to clean up these old stocks? Thx and good shooting!
