Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Any solutions to this mess???

I bought a 1000 count pack of Speer .22 cal TNT bullets off the classifieds here recently and want opinions on the simplest way to clean these bullets. Apparently over the years the packing material "melted"into the bullets and created a huge, sticky mess that dried and adhered to the bullets. I dropped them into the tumbler for two hours -- and there was virtually no change other than the fact my media was ruined and had to be discarded. So I put in new media and let it run for 16 hours. The bullets are better, but the inside of the tumbler was hard to clean as the dust stuck to it,and the media again was blackened and had needed to be tossed.

I wondered about stainless steel pins but don't have a tumbler for that.

Any ideas about a solvent/solution that will clean these? I sure don't want to use steel wool and clean 1000 pieces individually. We'll already have to try and unplug the media from the HPs one at a time, which won't be fun.

Your suggestions are appreciated...

After 2 hours of tumbling:




After 18 total hours in the tumbler:

Weird.

You've tried physics. Now you might want to try chemistry: Toss them in some solvent, like acetone.

What about brass cleaner? Maybe?

Swish them around in some gasoline.

acetone

I was given a few hundred Speer 55gr SPs with the same issue. Mine weren’t quite as bad, I just rubbed them with a rag and everything but the discoloration would come off.

Maybe hose some carb or brake cleaner on them.

Chemistry IS physics.

Without knowing the exact composition of the packing material, I’d try gasoline and acetone, in that order.

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. I appreciate it!

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Unfortunately I paid for these LOL. To the seller's credit, he did send me $30 for new media. But had I been aware that the bullets were in this condition, I would never have bought them.

Bobby as suggested I’d try acetone to remove the adhesive.
You might need to soak the bullets in it to make it easier to remove the adhesive.

I’ve had old Speer grand slams corrode but not that bad. Green corrosion and it was hard to get off. Kinda reminded me of battery corrosion.

Goo gone may work, but gas or acetone should be fine, or thinner, outside!!!

It's not corrosion on mine. It appears that the factory packing material inside the bullet box material broke down over time and resulted in this situation.

gasoline will clean the hell out of them... Pulled thousands of bullets back in the day to make Mexican match.... cleaned the sealant off of the 173's really well.

Goo gone automotive in the tumbler?

Ultrasonic cleaner

OK, guys, I didn't have acetone, but one of the kids is bringing some shortly. But I did have a few ounces of gasoline left in the lawnmower can. It was just enough to cover about 150 bullets. I kept stirring it around, and lots of the gunk started coming off and turning the gas black. After a few minutes, I poured them out onto paper towels and began lightly drying them. More of the gunk came off -- and not much was left on the bullets.

Looks like this will work. I'll give the acetone a try later tonight, but if that doesn't pan out, I'll just get more gasoline and finish them up.

Some staining was left behind, but that'll likely come off in the tumbler. And if not, that's no big deal.

THANKS to everyone for your suggestions.

Plus, you can get a lot of tracer rounds that way. Lol

Is packing material common in bulk bullet boxes? I don't recall seeing anything like that in smaller quantity boxes.