Mineral spirits will dissolve the cosmolineicon. I use it to thin Alox bullet lube, which is similar to cosmoline, and I have used it to clean the cosmoline out of an old Kragicon I bought. No big deal, no need for caustic cleaners. I believe the old GI way, when the Krag was originally issued, was dunk the metal parts in kerosene, wipe with a rag until off. With the stock it was wipe with kerosene soaked rags until it was off. The wood absorbs some of the cosmoline over time. The Krag stock I mentioned must've weighed a couple lbs more than the other I had. It absorbed so much in fact, that the cartouche is an outtie! Hard to say how long it was in there, up to 117yrs!