Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Remove oil from stock inlet

Bought a rifle and has a lot of excess oil in the inletted part of the stock. I wiped everything out I could with a rag. Seems to be pretty fresh/recent. My question is there anything I can use beyond paper towels to soak it up out of the wood before it becomes a bigger problem. Also want to make sure whatever I use won’t damage the original stock finish.

Acetone

That won’t damage the finish??

I'm not exactly talking about hosing the stock down with it......but you did say get it out of the wood. If the oil is soaked into the wood, acetone is the quickest way to get it out.

There's a good chance the oil has soaked deep enough into the wood that you would need to soak the stock in acetone to get it all out. That will ruin your finish.

I would suggest rigging the stock on a slight angle over a heat source and letting it drip dry. It's just a WAG but it might help leach the oil out.

You can also try Brownell's whiting compound. Mix it with acetone to the consistency of pancake batter. Maybe a more controlled process if you're worried about the finish.

Wait, let's back up.

1) Is the wood "raw" inside the inlet, as in no finish applied inside the inlet? Where excess oil would soak deep into the wood?

2) Or, has finish been applied to the inlet and the oil is just on the surface and not soaked in?

1....you'll need the help of acetone and/or whiting compound.

2....you can probably just whipe out as much as possible with paper towels and then swab it down with rubbing alcohol (or even dawn dish soapy water) which won't likely harm your finish.

I tape off the outside finish areas and use spray brake cleaner carefully on the inletted areas to degrease , or warm water and simple green in a spray bottle and float out the oil and crud on urethaned stocks. Spray brake cleaner works great for degreasing an old stock crack for repair.
Rich

Heat gun and acetone

I wiped all the excess out with a paper towel and haven’ t been able to work on it for a couple days. When I went back to it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Instead of everything being dark at the rear action screw it is clear there is finish in the inlet and the oil is on top of that and is a lot more spotty than I originally thought. I will try some heat and see how it goes and worst case a toothbrush with one solvents above should take care of it. Thanks for all the suggestions.

I was thinking heat gun as well. You guys suggesting acetone sounds like a good trick too. I know that a heat gun will draw moisture out, and on a real hot day, I've seen some guns that were packed in cosmoline (like old military rifles) weep out oil from the stock. Especially if you are shooting them a lot, and the heat of the barrel just boils out the oil in the stock.. Not me, but a buddy that is hard on his rifles, did that once.

Tape off exterior. I’d wrap the tape slightly around into the inletting too. Use Brownholes Whiting Powder to make a paste with Acetone. Paint on carefully and it’ll pull it out.

I’ve only done this on fully stripped stocks, but if I were to do this to preserve the exterior finish, this is what I’d do.

Nothing wrong with opening the hole(s) in the finish down in the bedding to allow the acetone/whiting slurry to work faster; as long as you skim coat bed with epoxy after.

I would lacquer thinner before I would use the acetone. They both will penetrate the same, but the acetone will eat up stock finishes more quickly and severely than LT.

I have found Laquer thinner to be hotter Than acetone myself

90% rubbing alcohol will do less damage than either lacquer thinner or acetone. Use a microfiber towel and soak it with alcohol, and give the bedded area a good scrubbing, then use a hair dryer to evaporate the alky. Repeat as necessary.

I also use whiting and 90% alcohol. It doesn't evaporate as quickly as acetone and isn't as likely to damage the finish.
I normally put under a desk lamp with a high watt bulb.

For removal of the grease used to pack old mitary surplus, I have used cat litter, wrapped the stock in brown paper, and laid it on the dash of a car in the sun.

Read the label or MSDS for lacquer thinner. I'll bet is is mostly acetone.....

Get the left over oil out using powdered white chalk. Go to a craft store get a box of white writing chalk and use a large flat bastard file, cut a good pile of chalk dust, Put the end of the stock in a plastic bag, pour the chalk over the top of the effected area, submerged in chalk, put a rubber band around the bag, let the chalk covered wood set, end down for 24 hours. The oil will be aubsorbed, if any is left, set it outside in the sun, in a black plastic bag. Sun is a cheap oven.