Lead oxide on old cast bullets

[jaysouth]

I found a stash of bullets that were cast at least 20 years ago. They have been stored in sealed cardboard boxes. However some of them have a grayish residue on the outside. Powder coating does not stick to the discolored part very well. I assume that this is lead oxide.

Is there a safe way to remove lead oxide from bare bullets? I thought of tumbling but am mindful of the airborne residue. Any suggestions or should I move outside and smelt them?

[RickinTN]

It would be slow tedious work but you might try buffing them off with a paper towel or similar. I'm not sure how thick the oxidised coating would be. Harder yet to get in the lube grooves and such.
Good Luck,
Rick

[FLINTNFIRE]

I remelt oxidized , I was melting all the alox bullets and all the cast but not lubed , but I started taking the top layers off till I got down to shiny ones then powder coated them , the lubed and oxidized went into next batch of cast bullets other then smoke and mess from alox all was well , yes I did use thinner to clean some of the lubed as putting in a pan did not get all lube off thinner did and they coated just fine .

[rancher1913]

wear a face mask, the oxide is very bad to breath

[Bazoo]

Run them through the tumbler with fresh untreated media so as not to contaminate them with anything that would hinder the PC. Then rinse them in water to remove the fine dust from tumbling.

[John Boy]

Wipe them with mineral spirits

[NyFirefighter357]

I wet tumbled some like that the oxide goes down the drain.