Bullet corrosion question

[Hengehold]

I have a few thousand bullets (6.5mm, 142gr, HPBT) that are about 15yrs old and I weight sorted them when purchased then stored them in an old J4/Berger plastic bucket with lid on top. All the bullets have what appears to be corrosion occurring inside the opening of the hollow-point. While I have not been able to measure with calipers yet, corrosion does not appear to be protruding out the end to cause irregular bullet length (base to tip). I was planning to use these bullets for 600yd highpower prone shooting (jacket/sling).

Question 1: I have not experienced this before. What would cause this ?

Question 2: If you have experienced this, what effect did this have on accuracy?

-Trevor

 

[piie]

Probably lead oxide from exposed core.

Perhaps the storage conditions were not ideal in terms of humidity or temperature.

If it is lead oxide, I don’t know how safe they would be in terms of the oxide dislodging and becoming airborne and into your lungs- specially with the quantity you have.

If safety was no concern I’d probably sonicate them and dry them properly and then do a weight test again, and just shoot them.

 

[Hengehold]

Probably lead oxide from exposed core.

Perhaps the storage conditions were not ideal in terms of humidity or temperature.

If it is lead oxide, I don’t know how safe they would be in terms of the oxide dislodging and becoming airborne and into your lungs- specially with the quantity you have.

If safety was no concern I’d probably sonicate them and dry them properly and then do a weight test again, and just shoot them.

Thanks for your thoughts.

What does it mean to sonicate the bullets? Do you mean put them in an ultra-sonic cleaner? If so, what kind of solution would they be used?

Thanks.

 

[Walt Krafft]

Load and shoot. It wont hurt a thing.

 

[piie]

Yes, ultra-sonic cleaner - I make my own solution - non-amonia household cleaner ( kleen-green) and citric acid crystals - buy from a soap making hobby shop.

 

[jepp2]

Question 1: I have not experienced this before. What would cause this ?

I had several thousand spitzer tipped bullets that were stored in a painted wood case, in wood loading blocks. The lead was attacked by something during the time in storage. I always suspected it was the paint on the case. I cleaned them off and shot them. But not at the range and accuracy you will be.

Question 2: If you have experienced this, what effect did this have on accuracy?

I would load them a shoot them as is. If you decide to clean them, I would suggest a dry media tumbler with corn cob media in it. This is the way Sierra used to treat theirs (not sure how they do it now). If you use a wet method, you will have to make sure they are completely dry before you use them and it could take a while. I've removed moly from bullets using rice in a tumbler.

You already said these are weight sorted, so you can verify by weight nothing has changed that would impact their accuracy potential.

 

[Hengehold]

Thanks for all the replies

 

[divingin]

I've quite often found some kind of papery-looking stuff in the hollow points of Berger bullets. I assume it's some kind of polishing media. Doesn't seem to hurt accuracy at all. I've also got a collection of little steel balls that have been shipped with the bullets (though I haven't gotten any in the past few years.)

 

[Zero333]

I'm another one who says sort and shoot.

Best 107 SMK's I've shot was 3 years ago and they were made in 1996, and had slight discoloration from aging...
I sorted them according to bearing surface and bullet length. They were PHENOMENAL.

The variance you find from the corrosion is nothing compared to the consistencies of the shooter. It might be a different story at trans/sub sonic velocities,... but at 600 meters it matters little.

 

[Ned Ludd]

Over the years, I've noticed various kinds of krusty stuffs in bullet meplats from bullet manufacturers including Berger, Sierra, and JLK. Sometimes it's a salt-like kind of krustiness with a very slight greenish-blue color, other times it's the papery kind of krustiness mentioned by @divingin. One of the main reasons the different kinds of krustinesses are so noticeable is that I point bullets prior to loading and the pointing process sometimes causes the krustiness to squeeze out of the meplat a little bit [i.e. protrude]. Unfortunately, it's human nature that if you see anything like this, it can prey on your mental well-being.

I have always tried to wipe the krustiness off, or pull it out with tweezers or a needle, because it's psychologically disturbing as I mentioned. Nonetheless, I don't think it harms precision to any great degree. In your shoes, I might not initially use the krusty meplat bullets for an important competition, but after doing load development and validation, you ought to be able to determine how well the affected bullets shoot and thereby get a little peace of mind that they are not causing any major precision issues. If you were to observe any alarming behavior from the krusty bullets during the testing and load workup process, then you would have reason for concern. However for now, I'd just load them up for some testing and see how they behave.