[motocrossdad]

i just bought and sks yugo and it had a lot of cosmline.i used mineral spirits to clean the metal and wood.the wood became dull.What can i use to make the finish shine again and in doing so will it decrease the value of the rifle?Also ,the dealer said it was a yugo sks but when i look at all the picture of a yugo one they have the geranade launcher on it.did they make some with out it?on the barrel it says yugo.

 

[gun-nut]

Boiled Linseed Oil Works nice.

 

[mogunner]

I use lemon oil, available at Walmart. I have a M44 stock that came on a T53 that was nasty, whatever finish might have been on it was dissolved in the axle grease or whatever they smeared on it, it sure wasn't cosmoline. Degreased it and started rubbing a coat of lemon oil on it every so often, I'm hooked on the stuff now.

 

[JLA]

The Yugos are supposed to have grenade launchers on them. Its kind of a risky deal, They are categorized as obsolete C&R firearms, and so are legal to own so long as they are unaltered. If yours has been altered, in that the grenade launcher has been removed, technically it can be deemed not legal for civilan ownership without certain legal paperwork. The waters around this issue are very muddy, but this is the way I understand it. I would definitely look into it.

As to the dull stock, Boiled linseed oil works great, lemon oil work great, a good scrub down with Murphys oil soap and a rub down with Johnson paste wax or lemon oil would be my go. Use the BLO only of you have access to a thermal dryer big enough to put the stock into. Get the cosmo leeched out of it then BLO it.

 

[1952Sniper]

The Yugos are supposed to have grenade launchers on them.

That is the M59/66. There are also Yugo M59s which do NOT have a grenade launcher. They are just regular SKS rifles. Two of mine are shown below for illustrative purposes.

As for bringing the wood back to life, I would highly recommend baking the stock at low heat in the oven (around 175 degrees) for several hours. Loosely wrap it in foil and let the oven door hang partially open to vent the fumes. There is a lot of cosmoline still soaked into the wood, and the heat will help it seep out of the pores. Take it out every 15 minutes or so and wipe off the excess.

If you don't do this, that cosmoline will start seeping out of the wood when the rifle heats up as you're shooting it, or even just on a warm day when the sun is shining. You want to get it out as much as you can.

Once the cosmoline has been mostly baked out (you'll never get it ALL out), you can use any sort of finish on it to give it the look you want. I like BLO as well as tung oil. But I'd avoid any sort of shiny/glossy finish, as these rifles were never meant to look like that.