any way to clean old boolits?

[TheDoctor]

have a couple boxes of old hard cast boolits. Boiled the old lube off, was very hard and flaking. Had the intention of trying to powder coat a few of them, but some of them have a rough gray texture on parts of them. I do not have this particular mold, so recasting them is not an option. The plan is to use them for my youngest boyo for range ammo. Getting tired of using my gas check mold for powder puff loads. And I cannot convince him to shoot 45 Colt, no, he wants to shoot my 8 3/8 inch model 29! Using gas checks for soft loads is a serious waste. Anyway, boiling off the lube did nothing, of course, for the rough texture that is on part of some of the boolits. Anyway to get that off, or should I just relube them and forget about coating them? Thanks.

[pworley1]

For the intended use, I would just re-lube and enjoy.

[Old School Big Bore]

I agree. No sense wasting the coating for poofers anyway.

[bhn22]

Run 'em.

[runfiverun]

I'd re-lube them and go with it.
sooo I'm thinking that model 29 is a 44 mag.
and since you are shooting poof loads this is one of those times that you could shoot the gas checked boolits without a gas check.
in my 41 mag a load of 4 grs of titegroup/231 type powders will shoot the lyman 210gr gas checked boolit [without it] acceptably well enough to shoot bunny's out to 35-40 yds.

[stubert]

Try putting them in a tumbler or vibrator for a while.

[TheDoctor]

never tried not using a gas check, have always been cautioned not to, but, if it works with poof loads, great! Checks are sometimes hard to find, and they're more expensive than the primers. Need to get a good plain base mold, but I inherited the one I have, so I can't gripe about it too much... I guess a 240 grain at 800 fps would count kinda as a poof load?

[osteodoc08]

Can you post a pic so we can get an idea of the gray texture youre talking about?

Did you cast them? Did they have this rough texture immediately after casting?

What alloy? Any reason to suspect contamination? Does it rub off?

I'm guessing you had some lead oxidation. At this point, relube and shoot your powder puff loads.

[TheDoctor]

I did not cast them, they were commercially produced, and were quite old when I acquired them. It doesn't readily rub off.94174

[runfiverun]

run em through the sizer.


800 is right in there, give it a go, airc I'm hanging out around 750 or thereabouts.
it'd only take a quick ladder test 6 shots at a time to get the load figured out.

[osteodoc08]

They sure are ugly but will shoot fine. Size lube shoot

[TheDoctor]

Might reduce the load just a bit for gp. Barrel will notice before the kid does. The ones in the pic do not require checks, but they are bevel base. I do not like bevel base. Seems that with the angle they have, it would be worse than shooting unchecked gc boolits!

[Chihuahua Floyd]

For low power loads the bevel base will work just fine. I run bevel base 38s at about 800-900 fps with no leading, you can do the same with the GC bullet, sans the GC. Just need to keep velocity to under 1200-1400 fps.
Another option would be a 200g RNFP mold from Lee. Not to much money, lighter bullet, more bullets per pound, no GC needed, ect.
I load 38, 357, 40 S&W, 44 Spl, 44 Mag, 45 Colt, 45 ACP without the GC, some are bevel base and some are not. Even load some of my lower power 30-06 without GC. Only had leading occur in one firearm in the 35 years I have been reloading.
CF

[zuke]

Just tumble lube with 45-45-10 and shoot.

[tg32-20]

Just tumble lube with 45-45-10 and shoot.

They will be fine!

[MtGun44]

All that will be knocked off when they hit the berm.

;-)

Just shoot them.

Bill

[Dave C.]

Throw them back in the pot and cast what you need.

Dave C.

[DRNurse1]

Dave, I have a top secret process for fixing these ugly boolits. Unfortunately, although it is 100% effective, you loose 100% of the boolit mass. I am still working out this kink in the process so maybe the OP should send his ugly boolits to me for treatment. Now, I am looking for someone with ugly powder.....:bigsmyl2:

[runfiverun]

the powder thing is getting ugly on it's own.