@GarrettCroslin
When my grandpa was in the USMC, he noticed that the brush used to clean 1911s packed with cosmoline could be put in the drill press and used to clean the barrel. He ended up getting a letter from the Corps essentially telling him they were proud of his ingenuity.
@scottwatts3879
My father was an artilleryman in WW2 and became the gun mechanic in his battery. As such, his job included maintaining all the small arms also. He used hot kerosene. Put the parts in a pot and let them simmer for a few minutes. Remove, shake, and wipe. Move to a another pot with less contaminated kerosene. Repeat. Do it a third time. Take all the used kerosene and burn it for heat in the kerosene stoves (like potbellied stoves for heating big tents). He and his two assistants were able to clean all the battery's small arms in under a day after they had been packed for oceanic shipment whereas the "older way" required a detail of 24 men working three days AND required an ordnance detail to clean the bolt interiors.
@esquad5406
Cosmoline 50% beeswax 50% heavy grease. Things were dipped in the stuff hot. When it cooled it would keep rust off. Cleaning was best with diesel fuel and a stiff brush.
@dougtaylor7724
You should see a surplus lathe covered in the stuff. Grease, cosmoline then thick wax paper. Repeat this 5 times. It took 2 guys 3 days to clean it off. Plus 10 boxes of rags and 80 gallons of kerosene. But it did the job protecting a machine for 50 years. No rust anywhere.
@TheAcetoneGreaser
Bro has a fiancé, why is nobody saying anything about it-
@brianmanners8910
Cosmoline comes off easy with Kerosene, Gasoline or brake cleaner. Ive cleaned many surplus firearms and those things worked best .
@justanotheryoutubedoofus
If your gear doesn’t come smothered in ungodly amounts of cosmoline, are you reeeeeally getting the full surplus experience?
@CDNR711
There’s a good chance they were using gasoline or white gas to dissolve the cosmoline. This was a common practice as it made cleaning anything with the preservative on the item easier. But it was dangerous if it was near any open flame or fuel powered devices.
@CSMSteel7
We worked smarter, not harder. We’d heat Varisol on an electric hot plate to a temp that would melt the beeswax, and the solvent took care of the grease. No wire brushes scraping the black oxide protective layer off the gun parts.
@Lightning-History
Can you do the M1 gerands grenade sight?
@MightyElo
I worked in military museums. I can still smell cosmoline to this day….
@scott1395
That piece you have there is a winter trigger for the m1 garand! It allows you to shoot your rifle with gloves or mittens!
N/A
My great grandfather or how he liked to be called grandpa Moe was the gunner of a Sherman tank of the 735th armored division of the 3rd Army and served in three tanks and one was named cyclone.
@Frankensteins_Highboy
When I was building my 43 GPW, I was buying NOS parts. The cosmoline covered paper that the switches were packed in is an amazing fire starter
@bailey3668
Put the parts in a box or some kind of small container. Then use a hair dryer. It will melt right off. If it's a rifle then you need a length of PVC pipe, cap one end and use the hair dryer. Then you can save the grease for something else if you want. Be advised the parts will get hot so be mindful of that.
@steveflorman9922
It comes off with gasoline, which was strictly against regs (both because it was a waste of fuel and because it was a little bit dangerous!) but apparently done whenever soldiers and Marines could get away with it. 🤷🏽♂️
@DANDYSWRLDANDFANF-22tbh
cosmoline even the name sounds disgusting
@CaptainRon76
I have an item from WWII I'd like to donate. How can I do that?
@sytron3912
What I really wanted to know is did Canadian soldiers wear M1 Helmets during WW2?
@raydobratz6349