need help in removeing alox off of bullets.

[johnson1942]

have a bunch of lead bullets i want to reswage that are coated thick with alox. is their a solution i can soak or boil them in to remove the alox? help please and thanks before hand.

[curator]

Simple Mineral spirits will dissolve the Alox coating. You may have to stir or shake. If you can't find mineral spirits, charcoal lighter fluid will do also. Put the bullets in a closed container and add the mineral spirits. Close or cover, shake periodically until the coating is gone.

[johnson1942]

thanks curator, i knew their had to be an answer to cleaning them of alox. now i need better weather to go into my unheated shop.

[ukrifleman]

Simple Mineral spirits will dissolve the Alox coating. You may have to stir or shake. If you can't find mineral spirits, charcoal lighter fluid will do also. Put the bullets in a closed container and add the mineral spirits. Close or cover, shake periodically until the coating is gone.

+1! Turpentine substitute (white spirit) will remove LLA with no problem.
ukrifleman.

[possom813]

I've only had to remove alox once, I used mineral spirits to get it 99.9% of it off, then used alcohol to wash the mineral spirits off and dried them on a towel.

The mineral spirits is probably sufficient though. I just used the alcohol because they still 'looked' funny to me and the alcohol made that go away.

[johnson1942]

thanks every one, yesterday i put all the old alox covered bullets in a big ice cream pail, about 3/4 full, and filled the pail with paint thinner. i just checked them and they are all bright and shinny more so than when they were new. wow, now i can reswage them all into something useable. saves a lot of money for bullets,thanks again.