Dark Brown stuff attached to surface of bullets

[Nemo]

Yesterday partner and I hunted a rifle practice range overgrown with cedar trees. Dropped bullets from this area (apparently were wet and were cast to the ground). I'm told that when this site was first found there were circles of dropped bullets all over the place. Now the bullets have to be dug from around the roots of cedar trees and when they cleaned up the was some sort of brown coating that refused to come off the bullet.

Anyone know of a product to remove this stuff? I'm thinking it might be from the cedar trees. I have one bullet that is half white and half brown.

Thanks for the help.

Dave Poche

 

[ConfCav]

Its organic material from the Cedar needles, dead branches, and trees leeching into the soil over the years that causes this coating. Usually bullets found near pines or cedars will have this effect, and sometimes in old hardwood forests. I just clean em' up with soapy water and a toothbrush to remove the dirt. They're still brown, but are considered "as found" to collectors and that's how I leave them.

If you really want to remove the brown coating, some folks use a real light steel wool or Brillo pads to get down to the white patina. But doing this IMO takes away from the "as found" status, as well as risking scrubbing off not only the brown coating but going through the white patina and exposing the original lead.

Suggest leaving them the way they are; if nothing else years from now you'll be able to recall where you found these bullets by their color.

HH.

 

[Jigflipper]

I wondered how to clean them also, the brown would not come off. I went ahead and put them up for a while and on a whim tried cleaning them again. The brown came off pretty easy. I don't know if it was the partial cleaning and drying or what caused it but they did evenually clean up nice to the white patina. One thing that helps me clean my bullets is a Sonic Scrubber ( Thanks Ihuntrelics! Scott ole buddy ). It will clean a bullet in no time in just warm water as it is a hand held battery operated brush. Ole Scott hooked me up with one and it was a great addition to my cleaning supplies for relics. You may want to invest in one, I think they sale them at WalMart for about 15 or 20 bucks. They really help. Let the bullet set a spell and try again, It worked for me....Flipper out

 

[Nemo]

Thanks to all for the PMs and posts. I have test 2 products tp try to remove the krud. First, I soaked the bullets in kerosene and brushed with a toothbrush. For lightly soiled bullets, it did a reasonable job. However, not very good on deeply soiled ones. I furthered reasoned that the krud was something like tung oil shellac - so I tried stripper. Perhaps a little better than kerosene and certainly quicker. My partner has some stuff that he uses that works well but we are trying to find out what it is from the person who gave it to him.

stay tuned I'll let you know if we find out..

Dave Poche

 

[Carolina Phil]

Turpentine might work.

 

[Nemo]

I think I have found a solution to this problem. Use Original Krud Kutter at full strength for about 15 minutes or so and clean bullet with a soft toothbrush till you have removed as much as the brown stuff as you wish. When I put my bullet in this cleaner and moved it around I immediately noticed the solution was getting darker.

Although my bullet was not severely soiled There were places like the grease grooves where I was inable to remove the cedar stuff. I am enclosing a picture of my bullet after a 15 minute soak in this stuff with tooth brushing every 5 minutes. Wash final with water.

I purchased this product at Ace hardware to clean my garage floor so this is an unexpected benefit. I would advise buying a gallon of the stuff and sharing with partners as you will never use up a gallon on bullets.

Hope this research helps those who hunt under cedar and hardwoods.

Dave Poche