Lead boolits turning black?!?!

[Lizard333]

I am wondering if this is normal or not. I have some commercially cast boolits that were given to me by my dad, and they are black. They are not very appealing. I could feel an old lube on them as well. I melted them down because they were already sized to small fo any of my pistols. Yes they smoked but the lead was fine, nice and shinny. Do I have to worry about this happening with my boolets in storage for a long time? I don't worry about the powder and primer going bad, just as to wether or not shooting black boolits is ok.

[ku4hx]

I've got some boolits I cast way back in the mid '80s ... maybe earlier. They've been stored in cardboard boxes and/or plastic containers both lubed and unlubed. They were cast from Lyman #2 alloy and they look exactly like the boolits I cast earlier this month.

I suspect your black boolits had some sort of final coating on them and that the black was not some sort of chemical change or oxidation.

[bumpo628]

I believe that is called a 'moly' coating. Nothing to do with age.

[baker1425]

I've seen that occur with moly also, it's a pretty common additive for commercial cast. Was there a manufacturer anywhere?

[9.3X62AL]

I'll pile on with the others, that is very likely some sort of coating given by the maker. My bi-metal and tri-metal boolits don't oxidize noticeably over 2-4 years, which is about as long as they last before getting shot. Unalloyed lead gets a darker gray appearance after awhile, and this doesn't affect accuracy in my patched roundball or Minie slugs.

[BruceB]

Sheesh...out of step again.

I have a leather bullet bag which lives in my "possibles pouch" for muzzle-loading purposes. The bullet bag has been full of pure-lead .490 round ball for about ten years. I cast those balls myself, and they were shiny-bright gray lead when cast.

Today, they are as black as a good high-gloss custom paint job..... from oxidation.

I used a few of them as donors for softpoint material back when I began all the softpoint experiments. You've never seen such an ugly mess, with the black oxidation appearing in random chunks in the 'new' softpoint.

These bullets were not coated with ANYTHING....they just grew their own!

I do find that most of my cast bullets, stored in lubed-and-sized form, do NOT turn black in storage. Probably they all get a miniscule amount of lube on all surfaces, just from handling. Also, maybe pure lead is more "reactive"? Hard to imagine that, though.

[JSnover]

I melted several bags of lead shot a few years ago from various sources, age unknown. All of those pellets were black. By the time I had finaly converted them ino boolits they looked and acted normal.

[Alchemist]

I melted several bags of lead shot a few years ago from various sources, age unknown. All of those pellets were black. By the time I had finaly converted them ino boolits they looked and acted normal.

I believe most shot is graphite coated to make it flow better and not "bridge" during loading. That is most likely in this case.

[Sonnypie]

Nice part about Boolits...
When in doubt,
Melt them out,
Flux off the crud,
And no longer duds.

Burma Shave! :bigsmyl2:

[whisler]

"I have a leather bullet bag which lives in my "possibles pouch" for muzzle-loading purposes. The bullet bag has been full of pure-lead .490 round ball for about ten years. I cast those balls myself, and they were shiny-bright gray lead when cast.

Today, they are as black as a good high-gloss custom paint job..... from oxidation."

Probably caused by tanning chemicals from the leather.

[theperfessor]

Used to love looking for Burma Shave signs as a kid when we were on family vacation.

[Hang Fire]

I believe that is called a 'moly' coating. Nothing to do with age.

Ditto, the wife bought a box of 500 moly coated .380 90 grainers that are black and oily feeling. They shoot good with no leading.