Recommended method of cleaning old grease

[House Beagle]

What solvent do you guys use to loosen up old grease and dirt? I recently acquired a carcano and the underside of the metal is covered in a very thick tar like grease. I’ve used hoppes and rem oil with a brass brush but it’s barely cutting it in some places. I’ve heard that mineral spirits usually works but can remove bluing so I’d like to stay away from that.

[millman]

Lacquer thinner will eat it and will not hurt the blue. Make sure you reoil it as it will be stripped of grease and oil. Also keep it away from any wood bits.

[House Beagle]

Thanks for the info Millman, I’ll have to make a Lowe’s run in the morning. I’ve already got the wood separated and dealt with, it only needed a wipe down with a damp cloth, it was pretty clean compared to the metal.

[steelbuttplate]

Thanks for the info Millman, I’ll have to make a Lowe’s run in the morning. I’ve already got the wood separated and dealt with, it only needed a wipe down with a damp cloth, it was pretty clean compared to the metal.

WD 40 will combine with grease and liquefy it. Try it with an old tooth brush.

[Junk Yard Dog]

The best on metal? Gasoline, it's also the most dangerous to use. If you use it do it outdoors far away from ANY ignition sources as gas vapor is EXPLOSIVE, and hugs the ground to travel some distance to find a spark. That aside, it's the best and fastest thing I have found for stripping ancient grease off of 100+ year old Victrola motors. I use it out in the middle of a field far from anything that can make a spark, need I even say not to smoke while doing it? Number two is Kerosene, or No2 heating oil, slower than gas, but will get the job done, use a stiff parts cleaning brush that can be had from your local auto parts store. Paint thinner is more expensive, but when gifted with some I found it to work well, but again, almost as flammable as gasoline. WD, 556, Ballistol, PB Blaster, all will strip old nasty grease, but take longer, and cost more. I have used pretty much every way to strip grease from metal, including hot water and soap. The worst would be the " as found" Nepalese Martini clones from the dungeons of that palace in Nepal were they had been sitting for over a century before IMA unearthed them. Bad doesn't begin to describe them.

[House Beagle]

JYD- Never thought of gasoline. That’s always been my standby for getting roofing tar or caulk off my hands at the end of a work session. Only thing with gasoline is then you have to find something to get the smell of gasoline out of your hands!

Forgot to mention I did try ballistol, didn’t even budge it. And I tend to stay away from PB because I have found it to thin bluing when used to soak. Had an SVT40 with a seized gas adjustment knob. It unseized it for sure but also took some bluing with it, which really hurt.

I didn’t get any lacquer thinner but I did try some of my wife’s fingernail polish remover (don’t tell her) and it seams to cut through it pretty well, but it evaporates super fast. It did reveal some really beautiful color case hardening on the bolt and trigger mechanism.

I’ll check back in after I get a little further into it. Taking it slow at the moment.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Just remember, a mistake with gasoline can be fatal, or highly destructive. The army used diesel fuel, pretty much the same a no2 home heating oil. I just spent the last three hours scrubbing the crud off a 106 year old Victrola spring motor using gasoline. I have not found anything else that touches that level of baked on filth.

[House Beagle]

Well here it is put together. Got the bolt, trigger mechanism and bore/chamber very clean and gave the other parts a fair wipe down. Kinda had to call it good enough for the moment, tired of looking at it in pieces.

But anyways, here are a few pictures I snapped of it. It’s an 1894 Brescia M91 carbine. Very early style, before they added a handguard. This one has definitely been around but the bore is in remarkably good condition, should make a decent shooter. After a terrible experience with one of the RTI carcanos, I’m very happy with how this one has turned out. One of the pictures is it laying next to my 1890 berthier carbine just for comparison.

[qz2026]

Very hot water and grease cutter (Krud Kutter) worked on hundreds of my rifles. Wipe the excess off and maybe use a plastic scraper to remove thick globs. Then wipe as much grease off as you can. Then dip it and wash it using a soft brush to remove virtually all the grease. I used compressed air to fully dry the rifle. When finished, coat in a protectorant such as clp. You'll see remaining traces of grease on your rag...You got a pretty nice piece there... I recently picked up a very similar Carcano - 1914 Brescia. Looks like your's is missing the handguard... One's your age didn't have handguards initially but later handguards were installed because of complaints of burned fingers. At some point I suspect that a handguard was installed and subsequently lost. But, who knows... Your configuration might be original since your's is a very early example. Mine has the "pinch pull" bayonet release for the bayonet, I think the original design. Your's looks to have been changed around 1916 to the lever lock release. My understanding is that this was done at armories and not that common to find. After that they used a push button. Very cool carbine...

[Junk Yard Dog]

Nice carbines, I have examples of them both, very light and handy, but pack one hell of a punch.

[awalker1829]

Gasoline vapors are extremely dangerous. Gasoline vapors were responsible for an explosion that blew up most of Ardmore, Oklahoma. https://www.okhistory.org/publications/ ... ntry=AR009

The Interstate Commerce Commission investigation determined that once the dome of the car was removed, vapors emitted were ignited by a kerosene switch lamp just over a hundred feet from the car.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Gasoline vapors are extremely dangerous. Gasoline vapors were responsible for an explosion that blew up most of Ardmore, Oklahoma. https://www.okhistory.org/publications/ ... ntry=AR009

The Interstate Commerce Commission investigation determined that once the dome of the car was removed, vapors emitted were ignited by a kerosene switch lamp just over a hundred feet from the car.

Oh yea, gasoline vapor hugs the ground and can travel a good distance to find a spark.

[awalker1829]

Somewhere I read of a British railway station employee attempting to determine the source of a gas leak back in the early 1900s. The area of the station he was checking was unlit and his light source was an oil lamp with a naked flame. Somehow, he was not killed in the resulting explosion nor was the building seriously damaged.