I recently got some 5.45 AK mags from an online vendor, and some arrived with some type of gunk on them (I'm guessing cosmoline...?). Anyway, what is the best/easiest way to clean the gunk off?

soak em in gasoline.

Or leave em someplace HOT HOT HOT with rags around em to soak up the shit when it liquifies.

Yea, its probably cosmo.

I get a roll of paper towels and WD40. I wipe off as much of the cosmoline as possible, then disassemble the mag. I spray each component with WD40 and wipe clean.

ELBOW GREASE,

AND IT'S FREE

PANZERTRUPPE

I just use the parts cleaner at work, essentially just paint thinner type solvent that gets pumped all over them and flushes out the grease.

If it is cosmolene, the safest thing to use is hot/boiling soapy water. Wait until the wife leaves, put the mags in the stoppered kitchen sink, squirt some dish soap on them and pour boiling water over them, let soak. Rinse in hot water, blow dry and oil well.

I took mine apart and put them in a covered bucket containing some diesel fuel or kerosene and let them soak overnight.
I took a little brush to it and it comes out spanking clean.
No muss,no fuss!

buff'em down with your happy sock

Brake Cleaner spray from your local auto parts store. Give it a try.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bigpatvoodoodad
I get a roll of paper towels and WD40. I wipe off as much of the cosmoline as possible, then disassemble the mag. I spray each component with WD40 and wipe clean.

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Remember the OP said these were 5.45 mags, the majority of which are bakelite or plastic. Some solvents may attack the mag.

Good ole mineral spirts seems to cut it pretty easy. The 5.45 ammo tins work fine for soaking mags.

If your mags are steel you can stuff a bunch of paper towels into them and put them in the oven at about 200 degrees.

But whatever you do, do not let your wife or girlfriend see you do this unless she is über cool! I once was busted boiling Yugo SKS parts in pots that belonged to a girlfriend... Did not turn out well... At least she didn't see what I did with the dishwasher just prior...

Yeah, got busted boiling an Arisaka bolt in my mother's favorite pan a while back, she wasn't real happy about that.
If there a lot of hard to reach corners, I'll sometimes put the parts in our outdoor grill braced upright so that the cosmoline will flow out.
You have to be careful to keep the temp under flash point when you do it this way, though.

We used to put the wet weather gear on and take the m-60's into the shower in the military. Was the easiest way. Then there was the E-6 in Korea tha tried oven cleaner on his m16. He looked real cool in line turning in a chrome looking m16. Think he lost a stripe for that one.

I just hose them down with some generic CLP and wipe them out with shop towels. Soap and water works well too!

Use "NON-CHLORINATED" brake cleaner. It will not hurt the plastics, but remember it must be "NON"-chlorinated. I then wip down with WD-40.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bigpatvoodoodad
I get a roll of paper towels and WD40. I wipe off as much of the cosmoline as possible, then disassemble the mag. I spray each component with WD40 and wipe clean.

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If you're single or sure you won't get caught you can disassemble the mags and stand up the mag bodies on a dishwasher rack and throw the springs and followers ect in there with 'em and run the dishwasher through a cycle... The hot water works wonders! Afterward just wipe down lith some CLP and reassemble.