Lately I have picked up an original Sten MK V at a good price, unmolested and with all numbers and stamps in place.
The gun had a serious amount of dust caked to the finish so I first gave it a good diesel soaking bath and took off all woodwork to give it a thorough "revival". All steel parts came out quite alright afterwards, appearing to have most of its original blueing still in place. The only thing I noticed was that the barrel end had old red paint on it, mainly in the area where the bayonet attaches.
Some pieces were still coated with a thin film of brownish stuff (I gues a mixture of dried oil, fly rust and dust) so I have put them in a soaking bath of old milspec cleaning oil (the thin summer version, gets everywhere) and the first results look promising. I hope this treatment will soften up the red paint on the barrel so it can be scraped off with a soft piece of plastic but in case this does not help, does anyone have other suggestions on how to remove that paint?


Many thanks!
Using either paint stripper or thinner would be my very, very last resort...
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