Vacuum packing basically pure lead balls

[Sasquatch-1]

I've found the best coating for my balls is KY Jelly

It helps them slide into the bore with ease.

Should this be in Purple???

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Back before my casting days, I'd buy Speer round balls, they had some sort of wax coating.
Floor wax would probably be easiest, JPW should do the trick... BUT, if you are cheap, like me, Maybe just heat the balls and heat an old candle and melt a few drips onto the heated balls, in some sort of container and tumble them.

The nice thing with some sort of wax coating is, there is less likely any lead residue will get on your fingers while handling them.

[megasupermagnum]

I tumble my balls in powdered graphite.

This is the time proven method. It works as good today as it ever did.

[GregLaROCHE]

A thin coat of boolit lube will keep them from oxidizing too.

[greenjoytj]

This thread spurred me on to check on the balls I cast about 5 years ago.
A small lot of 48 balls I keep in plastic 35mm film canisters, 12 balls to in each canister.
I had heavily smeared “ Renaissance Micro-Crystalline Wax Polish” on all 48 balls, let it dry.
I had not buffed or polished the wax prior to packing them into the film canisters.
The balls are still the grey colour they were when I waxed them no sign of white powder corrosion.
Good luck finding film canisters these days.

The bulk of that batch I placed in a heavy freezer type Zip-Loc bag. These balls look the same grey colour and no white powder corrosion.

I have a small MTM Case-Gard bully storage box for some bullets that I cast in the summer of 2017 and lubed in January 2018 with my homemade Emmerts Improved. Lube the bullet noses look dull grey and a bit sparkly, the sized shanks all still mirror shinny but the lube has dried and feels tacky. They were cast from mystery metal so the sparkly almost purple colour my be an issue with the mystery alloy used.


Currently I am storing my cast bullets in plastic 1.1 litre size “Starfrit Lock&Lock Krystal” food storage containers all 4 sides have tabs that lock down and are air tight and are strong enough to stack up several high.

[Brokenbear]

All great thoughts and ideas gentlemen ..I'm leaning to some type of air deprivation because I will cast in the fall (outside) several thousand balls in 3 calibers ..then as winter sets in I will use the balls to roll my supply of paper cartridges ..so I need my nitrated paper/adhesive to stick to the lead ..once rolled.. I dip them in warmed 75/25 bees wax and olive oil ..
That dip incidentally is of course ball first and I dip deep enough down the paper to the imaginary line the bottom of the bullet would scribe ..so that gives me a "grease ring" below the ball that won't be sheared off at the time the ram seats the complete cartridge in the cylinder chamber
I have witnessed no migration of the lube outside of the dip line ..I cannot tell you about long term storage life of the completed dipped cartridges because they only stay alive about 6 or 7 months before they are down range and gone
I use 777 3F and home made primers (double wall pop cans n cap gun "Dots" [3ea] ) and clean up is eazy peazy
I already have a vacuum pak machine so I think I will do half and half on each caliber with 50% ziplock bags and 50% vac pak ..we'll just see which one (if either) shows proud.

Thanks
BEAR

[Walks]

I keep My balls and Maxi's in pipe tobacco tins, never tarnished yet. Got a little Macco bin in a back corner from casting 2+ years ago. It's half full of .323cal balls, no tarnish yet.
Don't plain on powder coating any. But I may PC Maxi-Balls to differentiate between .50cal & .54cal .

[oley55]

some Johnson & Johnson One Step no buff floor wax (blue cap) aught to seal them up nicely. But only if you bought some before they stopped making the stuff, as it is currently only available on evilbay for $55-89 a can.

[Sasquatch-1]

A small lot of 48 balls I keep in plastic 35mm film canisters, 12 balls to in each canister.

Good luck finding film canisters these days.

Ask around on this site. I am sure there is NO shortage of prescription bottles available. Should work similar to film canisters.

[William Yanda]

"Good luck finding film canisters these days."

I think the current replacement is diabetic test supply containers.

[Brokenbear]

Man the KY jelly lubing ball post... I must have been brain dead when I first read this ..re-read it this morning and about spilled my coffee!

Bear