Getting rid of lead oxide on shot

[The Crisco Kid]

I've come into some old shot that has been sitting around in open cans for years. When I poured it into some shot bags there was a lot of lead oxide dust floating around. I'm not worried about dying tomorrow because I was in the same county as the dust but is there a way to get rid of it? I know shooting it out of my smoothbore will do the trick so maybe I'll leave it at that but I would like to make the shot look better for esthetic and social reasons.

 

[Master Blaster]

Mild white vinegar solution followed by thorough rinse in plain water. Experiment on a small quantity.

 

[smo]

I’ve heard spraying with WD 40 will remove the oxide..

 

[64Springer]

Halloween is coming.

Tell the kids to spit them out, gently, if they don't like the taste.

 

[Kansas Jake]

I’ve used WD40. I’m not sure it gets rid of the oxide but it coats it to the shot or ball so it isn’t floating around in the air to get inhaled. Remember, don’t pick your nose or lick your fingers after working with it.

 

[IanH]

Run it in a vibratory tumbler with some used dryer sheets very lightly dampened with a few drops of mineral spirits. Check on it every 10-15 minutes and replace dryer sheets as necessary until the shot looks good. If you want it re-graphited, remove the contaminated dryer sheets, let all the mineral spirit film flash off, put a couple puffs of lock graphite in and run it a few more minutes.

 

[Rifleman1776]

All good solutions. Or, just don't worry about it. Use and wash your hands aftewards.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

That sounds like my kind of solution. It's about the only place that I can think of lately that wearing a mask might be a good idea if I do something other than just loading it up and shooting it. I patterned my new 58 smoothbore today with some heavily oxidized shot and it patterned really well. I think maybe the oxide helped.

 

[IanH]

Meh, just stand upwind when pouring it down the barrel and don't wrap your soup vacuum around the muzzle to blow out the barrel after the shot. The dust will get turned into lead sulphate, carbonate, or some other compound and blown downrange

 

[The Crisco Kid]

I got rid of most of it by putting into a gallon can and running a hard stream of water into it while I sloshed it around with my hands. It took awhile to get it out but it definitely cleaned it up.

 

[leadhoarder]

Put powder and wad in bore. Pour in a fair amount of shot. Ram down an overpowder wad. Cap or prime your gun and pull the trigger. No more oxidized shot!

 

[morehops52]

Studies have shown that the oxide gets blown off the lead at velocities over 800 fps

 

[nhmoose]

Oxi-Clean perhaps?