Question for the cast bullet pros

Mr.Rigpig

Mr.Rigpig

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About 20+ years ago I ended up with a model 94 in 38-55. In my initial search for ammo and components I was at a gun store and there was a fellow trying to pawn off 3 boxes of 500 cast lead bullets, .377 245gr Oregon trail lazer cast silver bullets. The store was not interested but as I overheard them and I mentioned I was interested. I ended up buying them all. Once home I began doing some research on my purchase and realized .377 might be too small for the 38-55 and .379 was preferred. (I never did slug that barrel). Anyway, long story short, they got stashed away in basement and forgotten about. Fast forward to this January and I became the proud new owner of a 375 Winchester model 94. Hey! I have bullets! I went and found them in basement of the old farmhouse that we moved out of 8 yrs ago.... at some point they got wet and boxes are rotten. I picked them all up, most have some sort of white corrosion? on them but it wipes off pretty easy with a rag. The green colored lube though, is hard as a rock.

Heres the question...
Run em as is? (Cleaned up of course)
Run through lube sizer? (I currently do not have a .377 or .378 sizer die)
Tumble lube?
Melt and re cast? (I don't currently have a mould but am not against getting one)
Powder coat?

I cleaned up a few with an oily rag and loaded them with 32 gr of RL7 to try out. I'm concerned about leading due to the hard lube?

Thoughts?
 
I would shoot them, see what happens. The lube may have dried out somewhat, but I expect it is a wax lube and would still work.
 
If the wax lube is a problem, I would boil them in water for 10 minutes to remove it and then give them a bath in Methyl alcohol or paint thinner to remove any residue and then powder coat those slugs and shoot as is, .377 PC'd should work very nicely in that 475 bore.
I would do the same thing to use them in the 379 bore of your 38-55, only I would give them 2 coats of PC to bring them up to a .380 dia...they will work perfectly!!
 
Depending on your load, they will work fine, as long as the lube is still good.

If they're made by one of the reputable commercial casters, such as Bullet Barn back in the day, they will be soft enough to obturate into the rifling without issues, IF you load them hot enough.

Powder coating, as mentioned by fingers is the best overall option of course but these should work fine as is, other than you're going to get leading in your bore.
 
bearhunter said:
Depending on your load, they will work fine, as long as the lube is still good.

If they're made by one of the reputable commercial casters, such as Bullet Barn back in the day, they will be soft enough to obturate into the rifling without issues, IF you load them hot enough.

Powder coating, as mentioned by fingers is the best overall option of course but these should work fine as is, other than you're going to get leading in your bore.
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I loaded a few to try, but I like the idea of powder coating.
I believe its Oregon trail who makes/made the lazer cast silver bullet. I believe it is a fairly hard alloy.
 
fingers284 said:
If the wax lube is a problem, I would boil them in water for 10 minutes to remove it and then give them a bath in Methyl alcohol or paint thinner to remove any residue and then powder coat those slugs and shoot as is, .377 PC'd should work very nicely in that 475 bore.
I would do the same thing to use them in the 379 bore of your 38-55, only I would give them 2 coats of PC to bring them up to a .380 dia...they will work perfectly!!
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I am going to try that with some.
Thanks
 
Lacquer thinner or automotive wax and grease remover work well to remove lube, I did a box of cast 10mm that were lined with alox. Canadian tire will have laquer thinner and I’m pretty sure they have liquid wax and grease remover, or any auto paint supply store will have it.

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I'm just spitballing here but I would have some concern about removing the lube and then powder coating. In principle it's a sound idea. The main issue is getting the lube COMPLETELY removed because if you don't the PC is not going to stick very well. I had some old lead bullets that I tried removing some scungy 50/50 Alox lube from with lacquer thinner (which is much more effective than paint thinner) and it didn't do an very good job because the lube is in the bullet grooves is thicker and harder to get off. In the end I just left the residue on and relubed them with liquid Rooster Jacket (unfortunately no longer available).

Maybe boiling first will do a more effective job of removing most of the lube but i would test a few samples before dumping all of them in the boiling water just to make sure it works. Also, I would recommend against using paint thinner if you are going to PC as it leaves a residue which could impede PC adhesion whereas lacquer thinner and acetone are residue free.

As I recall the Oregon Trail Lazer Cast Silver Bullets were pretty high end cast bullets so you may want to try just wiping off the white stuff and shooting a few of them as is. Virtually all modern lubes are wax based so it should still work even if it has hardened up somewhat. You may find that they're OK as is without going to all the extra effort of cleaning and PC'ing them.
 
Butcherbill said:
Lacquer thinner or automotive wax and grease remover work well to remove lube, I did a box of cast 10mm that were lined with alox. Canadian tire will have laquer thinner and I’m pretty sure they have liquid wax and grease remover, or any auto paint supply store will have it.
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This works fine with Lee liquid Alox and tumble lube bullets but bullets with deeper, more pronounced lubes grooves are harder to clean out effectively.
 
ted_dent said:
This works fine with Lee liquid Alox and tumble lube bullets but bullets with deeper, more pronounced lubes grooves are harder to clean out effectively.
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That’s the beauty of the wax and grease remover, it’s specifically made for removing wax based products from automotive finishes while prepping for new paint. If you had old thick hard wax lube in the grooves it would only mean you would have to do a longer soak or multiple soaks, it’s strong stuff.

You can get it in smaller size containers at any auto parts store that has a paint section.
 
ted_dent said:
This works fine with Lee liquid Alox and tumble lube bullets but bullets with deeper, more pronounced lubes grooves are harder to clean out effectively.
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Boil the bullets first will remove 99% of the lube, then degrease with whatever degreaser you choose. All of which is messy and takes time. I would probably just melt them and recast.
 
Butcherbill said:
That’s the beauty of the wax and grease remover, it’s specifically made for removing wax based products from automotive finishes while prepping for new paint. If you had old thick hard wax lube in the grooves it would only mean you would have to do a longer soak or multiple soaks, it’s strong stuff.
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If it does that's great. All I know from my experience is that even after a couple days of soaking in lacquer thinner quite of bit of lube remained in the grooves.
 
ted_dent said:
If it does that's great. All I know from my experience is that even after a couple days of soaking in lacquer thinner quite of bit of lube remained in the grooves.
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That’s what it’s made for, when prepping anything for paint you don’t want any wax or grease on the surface. Otherwise you will have adhesion problems.
 
Boiling is the only method I have found that is foolproof effective on deep grove wax. another tip I should have mentioned is to not pour your bullets out of the water after boiling ... your just contaminating them again with wax that is suspended in the waterm I let the water cool to room tempm by then the suspended wax has floated to the surface & solidifies and can be skimmed easily.
They may look really clean but I still give them a swish in a couple ounces of Methyl and sun dry before coating.
 
fingers284 said:
Boiling is the only method I have found that is foolproof effective on deep grove wax. another tip I should have mentioned is to not pour your bullets out of the water after boiling ... your just contaminating them again with wax that is suspended in the waterm I let the water cool to room tempm by then the suspended wax has floated to the surface & solidifies and can be skimmed easily.
They may look really clean but I still give them a swish in a couple ounces of Methyl and sun dry before coating.
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You're making too much sense, they will ignore you, lol.

Boiling is the easiest and most effective way to remove lube, period.
 
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