Cleaning old bullets

[trigger hippie]

So I have a bunch of Hornady 52 and 55 grain spire point and match bullets that an older gentleman passed on to me. They seem to have a good bit of tarnish and/or waxy buildup on some of them; the ones with open tips show some red (I'm speculating from oxidizing lead).

The spire points in particular seem to show large variation in weight (+/- 0.6 grains or more, sample size n=30 so I'm pretty sure they all have them). I'm speculating that the buildup or tarnish could be accounting for some of these wild swings as the spire points are also the dirtiest.

I tried to tumble 'em in a bunch of crushed walnut shells and a good shot of Brasso. Spectacularly unimpressive results (perhaps because I used brass cleaner?) No real dings or nicks on the bullets though which is nice.

Anyone have a good solution for cleaning these old waxy or tarnished looking bullets? Not loaded ammo, by the way, just bullets.

[CSACANNONEER]

Load 'em up and run them through your barrel once or twice. That should do the trick.

Or, tumble them with ceramic media? Ultrasound? How many do you have?

[trigger hippie]

Load 'em up and run them through your barrel once or twice. That should do the trick.

Or, tumble them with ceramic media? Ultrasound? How many do you have?

Got a metric crapton, aka about 3,000 total.

I could always spin 'em and polish them individually with steel wool, if I wanted to go completely and utterly insane.

[CSACANNONEER]

Got a metric crapton, aka about 3,000 total.

I could always spin 'em and polish them individually with steel wool, if I wanted to go completely and utterly insane.

I've done a few .510 dia bullets that way (scotchbrite pads) and I know EBR Works has done it too. But, I didn't want to go down that round with the little ones.

If you want to send me 100, I can try a few things and send them back to you.

[ZakAttackMan]

White wine vinegar has worked for me

[ireload]

Trigger Hippie use Nu Finish car polish. Start with fresh ground walnut media. Put several cap full in the walnut media and run your vibrator aka tumbler for 15 mins to distribute the polish. It should remove most of the oxidation on the bullet.

[trigger hippie]

Trigger Hippie use Nu Finish car polish. Start with fresh ground walnut media. Put several cap full in the walnut media and run your vibrator aka tumbler for 15 mins to distribute the polish. It should remove most of the oxidation on the bullet.

Dude, nice. I'll try that and then the vinegar if it fails.

Someone else suggested soaking in Hoppe's, so I have a batch running, will see how these turn out.

[M27]

this may be an unwarranted worry but if using some kind of wet cleaning is there a chance moisture can get between the jacket and core?

[Gutz]

this may be an unwarranted worry but if using some kind of wet cleaning is there a chance moisture can get between the jacket and core?

Can tumble dry???

[trigger hippie]

this may be an unwarranted worry but if using some kind of wet cleaning is there a chance moisture can get between the jacket and core?

Unless we're talking soaking in WD-40 or Kroil I can't imagine that happening.

The core is also form-fitted to the jacket. On open-tip match bullets I'd expect this means that short of melting it out or fragmenting the bullet that core isn't coming free.

On FMJ bullets with exposed lead bases... maybe? It's a novel hypothetical at least.

[Sunday]

Most bullets are somewhat different in weight . The target types are usually more equal in weight. Just use them.

[bohoki]

yea tumble them i put some old surplus dirty 30 carbine 110 grainers they came out looking like brand new hornady i suppliment my walnut with kit brand scratchout polish only worry about any gunge on the bearing surface

[trigger hippie]

Most bullets are somewhat different in weight . The target types are usually more equal in weight. Just use them.

That's the other weird thing too. I've only used Sierras and Speers before, and they are monotonously uniform with regard to weight. Even the Hornady bulk handgun bullets I've bought have been within at least 0.1 - 0.2 grains.

I've never seen this wide a variation in weights. It's like apparently in the 1980s, Hornady did not give an efffffffffffffffff about QC.

Also, ironically, the "Match" bullets are the most inconsistent. Check out my notes:

Hornady 2249 Match BTHP 52 GR lot 11-23181
Most inconsistent out of 4 types sampled. Oxidation or corrosion of lead tips. evident. Open-tip match construction, no cannelure, similar boat tail to 2267 FMJ-BT. Greenish tips may indicate corrosion. Tarnish/waxy buildup apparent, may account for substantial variation in weight. Good candidate for tumbling?

Average weight 51.96
Standard deviation 0.29
Median 52.05

51.4
51.5
51.5
51.5
51.6
52
52
52
52
52
52.1
52.1
52.2
52.2
52.2
52.2
51.6
51.6
52.2
52.2
51.6
51.6
52.3
52.2
52.2
52.1
52.1
52.4
52.1
52

By comparison, the most accurate out of the 4 bullet types I sampled:

Hornady 2265 55 grain Spire Point lot 2-3981
Most consistent weight. Lack of cannelure, semi-bonded construction, flat base, soft-tip suggest hunting bullet (short range under 200 yards) originally intended for bolt-action rifles. Open-tip match bonded-type construction. Brass jacket with six "teeth" engaging lead tip. Jacket thinner, approx. 0.015 thick.

Average 55.22
Standard deviation 0.07
Median 55.20

55.2
55.2
55.1
55.2
55.3
55.3
55.3
55.1
55.2
55.3
55.2
55.2
55.2
55.2
55.3
55.3
55.1
55.2
55.1
55.2
55.2
55.2
55.2
55.2
55.2
55.3
55.3
55.2
55.3
55.3

[OldShooter32]

If you get out toward Lodi I'll toss them in my big tumbler with SS and Lemishine. It will clean them as well as they can be, I'll warrant.

[koehn,jim]

Try soaking overnight in denture cleaning material and than tumble with coarse walnut media. The denture stuff is made for getting out stains and loosens the oxidation. It sometimes works on old brass.