What happened here?

[Greg_R]

162184
Opened my coffee can to tumble lube my bullets and found this.

My procedure is to water drop, dry in a food dehydrator, store in a large plastic coffee can about a month to age them. Never had a corrosion problem before. Are these bullets still usable. Do I need to run them through my tumbler to clean them. Just tumble lube and go on? Melt them down and recast? Any ideas why this happened?

[C. Latch]

I'm guessing they weren't dry. I'd hand-sort them; if any looked really bad I'd cull them but shoot the rest.

[jcren]

I don't think the oxide would hurt after tumble lubing. I do not advise putting them in a tumbler, I did so once and was amazed by how much lead was powdered into my media. Can't be good for ya.

[Hickory]

I'd try several things.
1) Rinse them in mild bleach and water and redry them.
2) Tumble them.
3) Shoot them as is.
4) Final option, remelt them.

[44man]

Lead oxide, too much pure lead that reacts with oxygen.
Lube sooner or spray boolits with something like Barricade to keep air away.
Add tin.

[thegatman]

Send them to me and I will dispose of them.

[chutesnreloads]

Don't know where you live or get your water.Could that just be hard water deposits?If so rinse them in distilled water or some other "softer"water and dry again.

[Greg_R]

I tumble lubed them. I'll install gas checks and size and lube them again next week. I'm guessing all is fine, they do look a little darker than the others though.

Wondering about the lead oxidation. This batch of wheel weights had a lot of stick ons in the mix. I understand now that I should have sorted them.

[osteodoc08]

They look oxidized to me. Personally, my shooting time is far to valuable to use inferior (even if cosmetically) bullets. I'd remelt and lube them sooner. But that's just me. You could lube and shoot as they are, but my OCD side wouldnt allow that (for me personally)

[MT Gianni]

Probably time for a process review. They will age harden just as well lubed sized and loaded as in a sealed coffee can. If you don't need to load them I place them in freezer bags sealed with as little air as possible. I also see no need to do more than air dry but if your climate needs a dehydrator keep using it.

[runfiverun]

lead oxide.
they weren't dry when you put them away.

lead oxide is pretty hard and abrasive
[think about aluminum oxide being used as sand paper only a little softer]
i would re-melt them.

[Greg_R]

Ok, back in the pot they go. Learned a lesson. Thanks!

[earthling121757]

Actually lead oxide has a mohs hardness of 2
Copper is 2.5-3
Brass is 3-4
And steel is 5-8.5

The real danger is that lead oxide can be absorbed through the skin. (Much more so than metallic lead). Even washing with soap afterward can increase the absorption due to soaps action as a surfactant.

I'd avoid handling them and remelt them like you said you were planning.

[JWT]

Remelt. Lead Oxide is harder than lead. I wouldn't use it.