Ak style magazines that in poor condition from long term storage, can be giving a new life with some easy to follow tips.
Here are a few magazines that I mail ordered, as seen they are covered in Cosmoline. For those of you that have never encounter this wax-like grease, you may find it rather difficult to remove. Cosmoline has seen been replaced by Vacuum packed PET film.(1)
After extensive reading of gun forums and Youtube videos, I found that mineral spirits makes quick work of dissoving the Cosmoline from metal parts. So I picked up a cheap roasting tin from a local dollar store and a gallon of mineral spirits from the home improvement store.
I would recommend doing this in a well ventilated area , to avoid inhailing the chemicals used during the process and to always wear eye protection.
Step 1: Place the Magazines or other parts to be cleaned into the pan and fill the pan with mineral spirits until the parts are covered completely.
Step 2: Let the parts sit in the solution for 10-20 minutes longer if needed, using and old parts cleaning brush with some old rags during the process to help remove some of the Cosmoline.
After the solution has done its job I wiped the parts down with blue shop towels since, the Cosmoline is impossible to remove from cloth. Make sure to dispose of the rags and used cleaning solution properly. I saved the Mineral Spirits in a large Ball Jar for later use.
Step 3: (optional) I washed all of the parts in hot soapy water to remove any loose bit of cosmoline, promptly dry the parts otherwise they may begin to rust rather quickly , which is ok if you plan to repaint them. Repainting/Refining will be found in Part 2 of Magazine restoration. Stay Tuned for Part 2
References:
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmoline
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