Removing white “oxide” from 22 LR lead bullets

[smkummer]

276409So a friend has about a brick of store brand 22 LR from the late 60’s early 70’s that the exposed lead bullet has dried white lube “oxide” thick enough that the cartridges won’t chamber on a semi auto and hard to chamber on a manual repeater.

What might work to remove or soften the white “oxide”. I call it oxide because that is what it looks like. My first thought was some type of oil on a rag that would leave a light trace to maybe act as a lube.

So as you can see, these are copper plated bullets with a wax lube ring. It is swelled too much and is dried and hard.

[Winger Ed.]

To wipe it off with a slightly oily rag would be fine, but I never bothered with it.

All the old .22s I ever shot still held to one minute of soda pop can or squirrel.

[2A-Jay]

A soft wax is what was on the .22lr That I used to buy in the late '70s early '80s. as far as removing the oxidation I would use a Scotchbrite (dry) pad brfore applying a thin wax coat as a bullet lube.

[smkummer]

To wipe it off with a slightly oily rag would be fine, but I never bothered with it.

All the old .22s I ever shot still held to one minute of soda pop can or squirrel.

It may not look like much but it’s enough to not allow easy chambering.

[shampine]

I use 0000 steel wool wet with Ballistol and then wipe off the crud with a rag . A quick wipe with a little Ballistol on a paper towel and I am done . Seems to leave enough on them for lubrication , they work fine enough to cycle in a finicky 10/22 that is very picky about it's ammo.

[smkummer]

My friend tried a gun solvent on a scotch bright pad. He said it took a bit of work to get them to fit in a H&R 929 cylinder. I’ll tell him about the ballistol.

[Outpost75]

The problem with plated .22 bullets is that they are knurled on the crimping machine after the lubricated bullets have been seated, so that the knurling roll cuts through the plating and lube, exposing raw lead which then oxidizes after some time. Old school greased bullets last forever. I use a Scotch-Bright pad with 10w30 motor oil and this cleans off the oxide and relubes the bullet at the same time. When done just wipe off the excess oil with a cotton patch and you are good to go.

[smkummer]

276529Ok, here is what he did. I used a steel 223 case to “cut” the dried crud off. He says it works pretty good.