This weapon is a version of the Mosin Nagant carbine, and includes a folding bayonet which is totally cool. It is chambered in 7.72x54R, which is a very powerful round. There aren't too many animals on the North American continent that would survive this round. It is probably too hot for go-to survival weapon, but makes an excellent scout rifle that has the power to penetrate ballistic vests and most automobiles. The gun cost $119, and came packed with about 4 lbs. of cosmoline.
Step one with these weapons is to remove the cosmoline. I accomplished this by breaking the weapon down, and heating the individual parts in the oven on a low temperature.
There are some good videos on YouTube explaining how to break this rifle down, so I won't post those details here. The cosmoline melted off, and after a quick wipe-down with an old cotton shirt, it was clean. Not too difficult, but very time consuming. The next step is to strip the varnish. I used Citristrip because it is not very harsh. Let it soak, then scrub it off with a scotch-brite pad.
That's all I've gotten done so far; I'll keep you posted.
