M1grand match... has been submerged in flood

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Longshot4

New member
A close friend had his basement flooded night before last. He is overwhelmed in issues... He asked me to clean and oil his M-1 grand match for him. It looks to have never been fired. it was 2 foot under water in a silicone sheath. It is clean but needs to be disassembled and oiled. It appears that he sprayed with oil. Stock has oil blotching saturation. I tried to soak it up into a paper towel. It helped but still blotched.

I'm looking for suggestions on removing oil from stock. I have it off of action. The wepen is like new.
 
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FrankenMauser

New member
To remove oil from the stock, you'll probably have to use whiting and bag it.
Apply the whiting, put the rifle in a puffed up black garbage bag, and let it do its thing.
Lather, rinse, repeat.

Cosmoline is commonly leached by baking in the sun. But most other oils don't respond the same way.
 
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Longshot4

New member
I was able to remove most of oil stain using a rag with Isopropyl alcohol. So now The stock was made after 1953 according to wing cartouche. I'm not sure of the wood. It is a porous wood seams to be stained as walnut. Beach? When I saturated a rag and rubbed the stock to remove oil stain. Stain from the stock finish came off on the rag. I'm thinking of giving stock a sealer to restore to original finish.

Any one with a suggestion?
 
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Longshot4

New member
Wow! Tung oil sure brings out the color of the wood. What was left from the oil stains just blended in. I put just a light coat on the stock to close the pores and pop comes the grain. I will let it sit a few days and hit it again with a light coat. That will give me time to study the re assembly. I stopped the take down when I got to the bolt. Hopefully I can dry it out more in the hot sun. Since I don't have any special tools for the bolt for take down.

Thanks for all input. Hopefully I will have a report of progress this week.
 
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