How do you strip an old gun covered in thick,hardened grease( I think)? Gun was completely covered with grease, including stock and poured down bores and then wrapped in burlap and stored for many years. Can't even read lettering or see any engraving but it is a 10 guage Parker hammerless of a lower grade probably.

For the metal, use steam,
or boiling in a long skinny tank.
This should provide good temperature control.
Mike

acetone works on metal. I found WD-40 to do a great job on some cosmoline dried on wood.

Old soldiers used gasoline, a practice that cannot be recommended; however they were supervised, not allowed to smoke, and did it outside. Again, I have to say, this practice is not recommended.
Mike

Or, steaming hot Mess Hall coffee- we used that in the base armory at Quantico-- plug the bore and the gas port on a cosmoline treated M-1 barrel-- use a funnel, fill it with hot steamy coffe and let it percolate- then drain-- then punch out the bore with bore brushes. RWTF

I've boiled/simmered oil/cosmo soaked milsurp stocks in water and washing soda, worked wonders with no damage to the wood.

When I was in the army we cleaned them up in the barracks shower set as hot as it would go. Hot enough the water dried off soon as it was exposed to dry air...Geo

Ditto to Georges method, when I ended basic training in 1952 I was waiting for orders and our company went to M1 rifles instead of carbines. I was in charge of new trainees cleaning M1s that had been in storage, we used the showers and hot water. Sure made a mess of the shower floor.

I used the hot shower method also, but never for cosmoline. A friend of mine worked at "Ordnance" at Ft.Bragg while I was there. I visited him one day and he showed me how they did it in those days. They had a vat with Trichlorethelene(?) that was heated until it became a vapor. He lowered a 50 cal. machine gun barrel, packed full and a heavy coating on the outside, into the vapor with a hoist. Within a very short time he pulled it out and it was cleaned to the point of the pores of the steel had been cleaned. He had to dip it into a vat of oil to keep it from rusting right away. That stuff would pull all the oil out of a stock also, but I don't think it is allowed to be sold anymore due to the danger of cancer. It was impressive though.
Mike

Prefer to keep things sort of traditional. Soak in Diesel oil or Paraffin (you folks call it kerosene) and a stiff brush, this method can be a little slow but penetrates well also adds some lubricant so you will be able to move whatever mechanism you put in it.