keep'n lead roundball's shinney

[Spot Shooter]

Howdy all,

Jest got done cast'n 250+ lead ball's this weekend, and a few things crossed my mind.

1) How do you keep them from gett'n oxidized - oil?

2) How deep does ya want ta store 'em - Start'n ta wonder if they might jest get out of round if there be toooo many piled on top of one another.

Spot

 

[musketman]

You Brass plate them...

Oh no, here we go again... :no:

You could cast them out of silver... Too costly...

I have some musket round balls that turned almost black from the oil that leeched out of the leather ball bag, so I think oiling them might not be the best thing to do...

 

[vanstg]

Just brainstorming...
How about coating the balls with vaseline and then storing them in plastic sandwich bags (you can seal them up with very little air inside)?

 

[Spot Shooter]

I was getting worried no one was taking me serious.

I hadn't thought of bagg'n them, I guess I'll have to shoot them all before they start getting gray.

Spot

 

[Huntinfool]

Gettin' gray won't hurt em. Heck I cast 300 or 400 at a time enuff for more than a year for me. I couldn't tell one bit of difference in the way they performed.

You might try one of vacuum packer deals keep out the air and they won't oxidize...Maybe? ::

 

[roundball]

Same here...recently received a few boxes of Speer and a few boxes of Hornady .58cal balls.
The Speers were so bright / shiny they looked like chrome;
The Hornady's were white with oxidation;

Test fired them both in the same range trip a couple weeks ago and really couldn't tell any difference...except possibly, just possibly, the Hornady's might have actually shot a hair tighter...

 

[musketman]

Are these a tad over-oxidized?

18th Century American Colonial Musket Balls.

We humans turn gray with time, why not our lead...

 

[cayugad]

You know it is funny but I had casted some .535 pure lead balls over 20 years ago. When I discovered they were near impossible to load in my rifle, I put them in a small cardboard box that other round balls had came in and tucked them away on a shelf in the gun room.

A couple weeks ago, I was cleaning the gun room and found them old balls. They were not bright but just a dull lead gray. No oxidation to speak of, so I remelted them and turned them into nice bright .54 caliber REALs.

 

Oxidation of lead is dependant on several factors including relative humidity amongst other things. A light spray with some WD-40 will prevent this from occuring. One of the few uses I can think of for WD-40.
Any light oil will work including cooking oil if you please.

 

[musketman]

If you are not going to shoot game with them, only targets, then why not coat freshly cast and cooled round balls with a polyurethane spray...

Place the round balls on the flats and spray them evenly, once dry, roll them so the spure is up and spray the flats too...

This way the entire ball is sealed in a thin polyurethane jacket...

 

[Bald Baron]

Musketman, did you shave your beard off?

 

[musketman]

Why, yes I did... Thanks for taking notice. :winking:

Here is the answer to the keep'n lead roundball's shinney question...

Chrome plating... :winking: :haha: :haha: :haha:

Ooooooh, shinney... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Myra lou]

If I cast 250 round ball they won't be around my house long enough to oxidize........I usually keep them in a big plastic Vitamin bottle......one for each caliber......I'm not a traditionalist......ball bags and such.......put a little bore butter on your hands and roll em around in your palm.....john.....

 

Johnsons floor wax!

 

[Stumpkiller]

Run 'em through a deer once. ::

Rotate your supply and use 'em before they oxidize.

I honestly never spent much time worrying about keepin my balls shiney. If they are about round and don't have a cakey, white accretion from spending too much time at the bottom of the bag I'll use 'em. Same for my lead ones. :winking: If I can't fix it with my thumbnail at shooting time they go into a pocket to be recast.

I don't want a deer catching a glint off the ball and ducking as it lopes along after being fired. ::

As far as deforming from the shear weight of balls, no. There's a name for it, but I'll be darned if I can remember. Each ball in the pile shares the weight of the above balls evenly with all the balls its level (except at the boundries) . That's why the inner stones at the base of the Great Pyramids aren't crushed to powder by the millions of tons of rock above.

 

I'd would suggest that you not store them in a leather pouch. This almost guarantees that they will oxidize. The diameter of lead balls expands when they oxidize. Poly coating them would do the same. I cast what I need and if any of my back stock starts to turn white, back to the pot it goes. I store some of my balls in those 35mm film canisters. Versitile things those film cans. I have a pile of .44 lead balls I cast back in 1987 and are stored in an old WWII Australian cloth personal effects bag and they are only a dark shade of gray. The cloth acts as a mild abrasive to keep them smooth and clean. As long as they aren't turning white, I don't worry myself about it.

 

[roundball]

I bought a few boxs of old stock Hornady's one time and they were completely covered with white powder...poured them out on an old towel, housed them down with WD40, rolled them around on the towel to dry them off and they looked normal again...

 

[strongarm]

spray them with WD-40 and keep them in an air tight container, like tupperware.....

just don't tell the wife.

strongarm

 

[Deadeye]

If your balls get oxidized your shooting way too slow. :winking:

 

[Stumpkiller]

I just came across five had stored in a tin with some greased patches - maybe 15 years old. They were white as snow and looked almost furry. I'm thinking snow camo balls here.

Back into the melting pot. They're shiny again now! (But part of a batch of ingots).