Cleaning old bullets?

[blixen]

I bought 25lbs. of cast bullets that a guy found in his garage. They still have blue lube in the grooves and are mostly just dusty. Unknown alloy.

BUT many of them have some powdery oxidation on them. What's the easiest way to clean them up? Or does it matter?

BTW, they seem to be 9mm, .44 and .45, all semi-wadcutters pistol. I'll mike 'em later. (Haven't counted them either.)

I'm going to offer them in trade for stuff I need for casting.

Thanks.

[trying2learn]

Why not melt them down. If you are unsure of them. Get new lead that way. Lol.

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[blixen]

Actually, melting them down was my original intention and probably the easiest thing to do. I'll start with the messed-up ones and spare the best for last.

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

If they shoot OK, why do anything else?

[blixen]

'Cause they don't fit anything I own--except maybe my Ruger Old Army--but the alloy might be too hard.

[williamwaco]

If they don't fit, you must acquit.

Send them to the pot and make bright shiney new ones.

[runfiverun]

the white stuff is lead oxide it's pretty hard and abrasive.
i'd batch the whole lot, mix it with something else and then shoot it.

[MBTcustom]

Commit their crusty whiteness to the pot, and like the phoenix, let them be reborn to fly in a blaze of glory!

[44man]

Dust is bad and so is oxidation. Lead oxide means the boolits are soft, maybe pure lead. A good alloy will not oxidize.

[blixen]

Thanks for the wisdom and feedback. I'm just learning this stuff.

1. I'm melting them down. (See "first cast" post.)

[**oneshot**]

I'd remelt. Almost no way to get them clean enough as is.

[Dannix]

Something similar happened to me recently. I was a wonderful casting session, and probably the highest percentage of keepers I've ever had. The boolits looked beautiful.

The alloy was Water Dropped WW/PB (50/50%), so I laid them out on paper towel to dry. Unfortunately it rained that night and the next several days, and then I was busy with work. So by the time I came back to them a few days later, they looked a little, well, weather worn -- not in bad condition, but, from what I recall, a matteness and not the shiny beautifulness from before.. Concluding it must be slight oxidation, I put them in a bucket with half water, half white vinegar and placed them in a spot for maximum sun exposure to encourage the oxidation reduction reaction. A few days later, the weekend came so week had past with them being out in the elements and getting rained on for several days earlier in the week, and then the vinegar bath.

The results are the below. I ultimately decided to melt them down and re-cast them. And I didn't do nearly as well as the weekend before. Word to the wise -- don't let your boolits get rained on. My table now has a lead wash too.

P.s. I'm using paper (and a stirring stick I allow to smoulder) as my fluxing agent. I posted the pot pics since I'm used to seeing hardly anything since I'm using The Captain's sickons and Muddy Creek Sam's 95/2.5/2.5.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_111535084b8825512a.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=7122) http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_111535084b89740f45.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=7123)
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_111535084b8a5c21cc.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=7124) http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_111535084b8b0f3f7f.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=7125)

[bobthenailer]

Since they are oxidized and the lube dried up , i would melt them down.
The oxidation is very undersible stuff, when handleing the bullets and PB poisening is feared.

[blixen]

Good advice, bobthenailer.
I'm dumb enough already w/o injesting Pb.

[williamwaco]

Oh My.
I have that same table,

Be sure you don't cast barefooted.

.

[Jon]

If they won't fit anything you have, then definitely melt and recast.

Otherwise, I'd just put them in some ALOX and load them.

[Dannix]

Oh My.
I have that same table,

Be sure you don't cast barefooted.
That's in part what the plywood is for, but yeah, always closed-toed shoes.

[blackthorn]

Quote-"Concluding it must be slight oxidation, I put them in a bucket with half water, half white vinegar and placed them in a spot for maximum sun exposure to encourage the oxidation reduction reaction."

Can you expand on the way this works to reduce oxides please? I cannot recall hearing or seeing this process mentioned before. Thanks.

[D Crockett]

the best way that I know of to clean old bullets ismelt them down and make new ones out of them D Crockett

[Dannix]

Quote-"Concluding it must be slight oxidation, I put them in a bucket with half water, half white vinegar and placed them in a spot for maximum sun exposure to encourage the oxidation reduction reaction."

Can you expand on the way this works to reduce oxides please? I cannot recall hearing or seeing this process mentioned before. Thanks.
I was going to post something longer, I've forgotten far too much from school to explain it clearly.

But in a nutshell, when a metal rusts, it is oxidized.

I wish I could find a source that shows electron flow, step by step, but here's a quick link:
http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/ch19/oxred_1.php
http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/ch19/oxred_1.php
I also want to mention this -- it's all theoretical models. When a model breaks, we adopt new ones. We know the before and after, but it's a whole lot harder to test what's actually happening with electron flow.


P.s. Sometimes oxidation is actually desired e.g. using Liver of sulphur (a base) on a brass mould (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=169575).


Edit: There's some videos on youtube that may help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Xxz-VBE6s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=orI2m6IarJg&NR=1