How to clean the oxidation off of round balls?

[8W8]

I have a couple of boxes of 0.490 round balls that have oxidation from storage over the last three years. Should I clean these before hunting with them and if so does anyone have any recommendations as to what to use? Does wiping them with bore butter help with storage over time?

 

[paulvallandigham]

Spray them with WD40. Or, put them in a case tumbler, or cleaning machine( vibrator). The oxide will be removed one way or the other. Before we had WD40, we simply use an oily rag and took a handful of frosted balls, put them in the rag and rubbed the balls inside the rage a bit to distribute the oil.

 

[brubincam]

shooting cleans mine off,,,,found some balls made 30 yrs ago,I just use them,,, :yakyak: :yakyak: :yakyak:

 

[54mountain]

I personally wouldn't worry about it just load them and shoot them. the gun don't care if they're shiny or not. :grin:

 

[tnlonghunter]

Yup. Only thing I ever noticed shooting oxidized balls was the the oxidation scraped off the sides when loading, so it never made a difference at all.

 

[Black Hand]

Why? Shoot them like they are.

 

[roundball]

One answer to your question is to pour them onto an old towel or t-shirt, spray them with WD40, roll them around with the other part of the cloth and they'll be clean as a whistle

 

[Stumpkiller]

Wrap 'em in a greased patch and run 'em through a deer or a target backstop. Shines 'em up nice. ;-)

 

[George Holton]

What ever for???? :blah:

 

Use your ex mother in laws tooth brush. :haha: :surrender: Sorry!!

 

[tom hargrove]

:rotf: :rotf: :rotf: my mother -in-law aint had no teeth in 30yrs let alone a tooth brush, :rotfut them in a brass tumbler

 

[djnye]

besides--they taste a little better in the mouth with some fuzz on 'em.

tae care, daniel

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

Welcome to the Forum! I've always used WD-40 and a rag, works every time :wink: .

You can have your Mother-In-Law clean your balls for you, just make sure that she doesn't use a ciggarette lighter WITH the WD-40 :rotf: :shocked2: .

Have a great day!

Dave

 

[Va.Manuf.06]

Wrap 'em in a greased patch and run 'em through a deer or a target backstop. Shines 'em up nice. ;-)

:shocked2: But Stumpy, the oxidation on the lead ball may cause the deer to suffer some serious long term health problems!!! ..... Oh, wait, I forgot....

But seriously John, we are just kidding. Welcome to the Forum, hope your time here is enjoyable and that you learn a lot. The oxide won't hurt your shooting or affect accuracy to any noticeable degree.

 

[brubincam]

betcha :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: DAVY CROCKET didn't clean his balls at the ALAMO :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:

 

[Mountainman56]

I believe Stumpkiller has the correct answer. :bow:

 

[David Sbur]

Not that it matters, but I've cleaned up Civil War minies using granulated Drano (sodium Hydroxide) in a little water, boils the stuff right off. Doesn't make them shiny, just removes the white stuff to dull lead. FWIW.

 

On a serious note, as I used to work in a factory that produced lead products, That "frosting" is lead oxide (PbO) and is more harmful than the lead itself. It can be inhaled or ingested by either skin or mouth contact. It is considered a poison and in extreme cases has caused death. The most common symptons are stomach pain, vomiting, headache and blood in the urine. I personally re-melt balls that have oxidated.

 

[brubincam]

I ain't dead yet--but I don't call this living either-- :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:

 

[8W8]

Thanks for all of the replies guys. Mark Painter hit my concern on the head actually. I was wondering if the lead oxide was worth cleaning off before using these balls for hunting so that I could reduce the amount of meat that I might need to trim away and waste. I was not sure if WD40 would actually remove the oxide or only "wet" it so that it was not as noticeable. My kids still wolf down the lion share of the hard sausage that I bring home and so I want to error on the side of caution. I think that I will use new un-oxidized balls for hunting and the oxidized ones for plinking. Sounds like the best solution is to shoot more often so that nothing has time to oxidize.