Uncovered lubed boolits

[Shiloh]

Found some lubed bullets on a top shelf in an uncovered large tuna fish can. They are dusty.
Not really dusty, but not clean either. Will the accumulated dust stuck to the lube harm a bore when fired??

SHiloh

[lancem]

I have some in the same boat, except here dust is really dirt. When I get around to it and need them I'm planning on boiling off the old lube and relubing them.

[bedbugbilly]

I think lance has a good idea about boiling the old lube off . . . .

This probably doesn't pertain to you question, but I'll tell it as a warning anyway. Many years ago, when i was shooting N-SSA, I had a friend who also shot N-SSA who passed away. His wife gave me quite a large wooden box full of vast minie balls. They had been laying around for a number of years (he had been gone for a while) and most had been lubed like we always did with a finger swipe of Crisco in the hollow base. The top of the big cigar box was gone and it was obvious that they had set around for quite a while - dusty, dirty, etc. I decided "what the heck" - I'll just re-melt them, let the lube burn off and then last new ones. I fired up my propane burner and with a large cast iron ladle, gently put them in the pot. I waited to let the first ladle full melt down and was then going to add a second ladle full to the melted lead. All of a sudden "kaboom". Luckily, I had walked away from the pot. I later determined that there was a musket cap that had gotten in to the box and when added to the pot, it went off. Had I been near the pot, I would have probably been burned. I dumped the rest of the cigar box on the bench and then started to look at each minie ball - something I SHOULD have done to begin with. I found two more of the minies that had percussion caps stuck to the old crisco in the bases. I'm guessing that someone, after my friends death, tried to "organize" things and since percussion caps go with minie balls, they just tossed them in the cigar box. Moral of the story . . . . regardless of what kind of boolit you are going to "re-melt" - check them thoroughly first . . . THEN toss them in the pot!

[lightman]

Technically the dirt/dust will not be good for your bore. In reality, I doubt there is really enough to hurt. I probably would put them in the next pot of melting lead.

[mdi]

Yep agree with lightman. Depends on what the "dust" consists of; plain old light soil, dead skin cells, GSR, etc., and some may be abrasive to metal, but I like casting so in the pot they would go...

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Maybe that dust will improve the lube?

[Tom W.]

Or help shine your bore some?

[Wayne Smith]

Certainly can't be as bad as what people do deliberately to change their bores!

[mdi]

Or help shine your bore some?

Yeah! Fire lapping...

[edp2k]

Yes, the dust and dirt will abrade your bore.
The solution is very simple.
Get an old pot (thrift store), toss bullets in, cover with water, add table spoon of laundry detergent,
boil for 10 minutes, use tweezers/hot-dog-grabbers and pick bullets out of water, leaving heavy grit at the bottom of the pot.
15 minute job.

relube (or PC), load up, shoot.

[dondiego]

Got a rough spot in your bore? Use those dirty boolits!

[Jack Stanley]

Got a rough spot in your bore? Use those dirty boolits!

I was thinking the same thing .

Jack

[Echo]

I think lance has a good idea about boiling the old lube off . . . .

This probably doesn't pertain to you question, but I'll tell it as a warning anyway. Many years ago, when i was shooting N-SSA, I had a friend who also shot N-SSA who passed away. His wife gave me quite a large wooden box full of vast minie balls. They had been laying around for a number of years (he had been gone for a while) and most had been lubed like we always did with a finger swipe of Crisco in the hollow base. The top of the big cigar box was gone and it was obvious that they had set around for quite a while - dusty, dirty, etc. I decided "what the heck" - I'll just re-melt them, let the lube burn off and then last new ones. I fired up my propane burner and with a large cast iron ladle, gently put them in the pot. I waited to let the first ladle full melt down and was then going to add a second ladle full to the melted lead. All of a sudden "kaboom". Luckily, I had walked away from the pot. I later determined that there was a musket cap that had gotten in to the box and when added to the pot, it went off. Had I been near the pot, I would have probably been burned. I dumped the rest of the cigar box on the bench and then started to look at each minie ball - something I SHOULD have done to begin with. I found two more of the minies that had percussion caps stuck to the old crisco in the bases. I'm guessing that someone, after my friends death, tried to "organize" things and since percussion caps go with minie balls, they just tossed them in the cigar box. Moral of the story . . . . regardless of what kind of boolit you are going to "re-melt" - check them thoroughly first . . . THEN toss them in the pot!

I bought a SAECO furnace and a box full of solder snippets from an old rummy LGS owner who was retiring. Took 'em home, and decided to check out the solder snippets (about 5 lbs worth). Good thing - I found about a half dozen small primers. Think 'Tinsel faerie' if I had dumped the box in the furnace to melt into ingots...

[Shiloh]

Technically the dirt/dust will not be good for your bore. In reality, I doubt there is really enough to hurt. I probably would put them in the next pot of melting lead.

I'm going to tske the top layer off the can and shoot the rest. Looks like about 40-50 back in the pot and shoot the rest.
Light dust and not dirt.
Thanks for the advice gentlemen!!

SHiloh