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Thread: Pulled bullets with powder stuck to them

  1. #1
    Boolit Bub
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    Pulled bullets with powder stuck to them

    I pulled some of my reject cast bullet cartridges apart to salvage the components. I plan to remelt the bullets, but they have powder stuck to the lube. What is the best way to remove the stuck powder kernels from the bullets? How perfect a job cleaning it off do you need to do before melting?

    Thanks


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  2. #2
    Boolit Buddy
    BP Dave's Avatar
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    You probably want to wipe off as much powder as you can before melting. Lube and a few flakes or kernels here and there shouldn't hurt, but to be safe you should melt it outside and start with the bullets already in a cold pot, preferably on top of your other lead, before you turn on the heat. What you don't want to do is dump powder-encrusted bullets into a pot with molten lead, because the bullets can carry the powder down into the liquid lead before it ignites, and as with water, the danger of lead pot explosions comes from submerging a gas-producing substance under the surface of the molten lead where it then turns into a gas and rapidly expands.

  3. #3
    Boolit Grand Master


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    I would just melt them down, it will work as flux.
    Charter Member #148

  4. #4
    Boolit Buddy
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    Maybe hit them quick with a propane torch.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master


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    To my mind Its a bigger issue that its stuck! Was your PC fully cured/cooked?? Usually handguns are not compressed. Assuming thats what we are talking here)

    Just scrape off and melt its not gonna hurt anything.

    CW
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  6. #6
    Boolit Grand Master OS OK's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cwlongshot View Post
    To my mind Its a bigger issue that its stuck! Was your PC fully cured/cooked?? Usually handguns are not compressed. Assuming thats what we are talking here)

    Just scrape off and melt its not gonna hurt anything.

    CW
    CW'b...I think it had something to do with the rounds being stored nose down and something in the coating of the powder, like TiteGroup that was attacking the cured PC?

    Can't trust the old'memory but it was something like that...charlie
    a m e r i c a n p r a v d a

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  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    He said lube not pc.
    QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES?

  8. #8
    Super Moderator


    ShooterAZ's Avatar
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    Yes, I also read it as conventional lube...not PC. In that instance I will wipe as much powder off as I can with a rag, then throw them into a cold pot and proceed to melt them down. A few grains of powder, no big deal.

  9. #9
    Boolit Bub
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    Conventional lube and LLA is what the powder is stuck to.


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  10. #10
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I would put all of them in a cold pot and light the fire. Probably would not sit or stand real close to the pot until everything melted.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check