Author Topic: Civil War Lead (Read 8401 times)

Eric Krewson · « **on:** November 10, 2016, 02:51:59 AM »

I have a friend who was a Civil War relic hunter as was his brother. He got in a fix with the law for a crime he didn't commit and left me all his possessions when he went off to jail. After 3 years in the slammer his case was overturned but he was a ruined man. I still have all his stuff and he doesn't want it back as his health has deteriorated to the point he is on oxygen and lives in a small duplex with not much of a life.

Today I was going through the boxes and found a plastic jar full of battlefield lead, all in unrecognizable shapes, what I call splatter lead.

All is heavily oxidised and seems to be harder than pure lead. Anybody find any alloy lead on a Civil War battle field?

I will melt it down and put it back in service but not mix it with any of my other lead.

Daryl · « **Reply #1 on:** November 10, 2016, 04:36:38 AM »

Eric - careful handling the oxidized lead - the lead oxide is bad for you.
I thought all projectiles of that period used dead soft, pure lead, whether round ball or Minnie ball. It is possible the early Henry and Spencer rifles used some alloy slightly harder than pure lead - but I thought they also had dead soft bullets due to their small powder charges and low velocities.

PPatch · « **Reply #2 on:** November 10, 2016, 04:44:36 AM »

"...but he was a ruined man." And, his health has gone.

That is one sad story Eric. As you suspect it I think you are doing right be keep the CW lead separate.

dave

Ky-Flinter · « **Reply #3 on:** November 10, 2016, 07:04:33 AM »

Speaking of oxidized lead, I bought a box of Hornady round balls at Friendship this past June. The box didn't appear to have ever been opened. I opened the box last week and found all the balls have white powdery oxidation on them. Is there a way to clean off the oxidation?

-Ron

Jerry V Lape · « **Reply #4 on:** November 10, 2016, 09:06:31 AM »

Firing it out of a muzzleloader should pretty much fix it.

Daryl · « **Reply #5 on:** November 10, 2016, 09:22:27 AM »

Quote from: Ky-Flinter on November 10, 2016, 07:04:33 AM

Speaking of oxidized lead, I bought a box of Hornady round balls at Friendship this past June. The box didn't appear to have ever been opened. I opened the box last week and found all the balls have white powdery oxidation on them. Is there a way to clean off the oxidation?

-Ron

Ron - I would spray them liberally with something like WD40 - then roll them around on a heavy cloth- like denim or some form of canvas to rub off the coating. I'd probably ditch the 'cloth'.

OldMtnMan · « **Reply #6 on:** November 10, 2016, 04:58:57 PM »

You mean lead balls are bad for us?? I have a big bowl of lead balls with milk and sugar for breakfast every morning. The mountain man breakfast.

P.W.Berkuta · « **Reply #7 on:** November 10, 2016, 06:33:42 PM »

The white oxide coating is what makes the lead feel hard. Once you remove the coating you will have soft lead - I don't know of any alloys that were used in small arms projectiles back then. You can try spraying or soaking the scrap projectiles in CLR and see if it will remove the oxide. Wear a mask & disposable gloves. Brushing with a toothbrush after the soaking will help in the removal and be sure to get rid of the waste liquid, mask, gloves & toothbrush when done

.

OldMtnMan · « **Reply #8 on:** November 10, 2016, 07:39:00 PM »

Are we talking about lead or uranium?

bones92 · « **Reply #9 on:** November 11, 2016, 01:14:50 AM »

If it's Civil War bullets from the battlefield, you should preserve them, or sell them online.

T*O*F · « **Reply #10 on:** November 11, 2016, 02:20:15 AM »

Quote from: Ky-Flinter on November 10, 2016, 07:04:33 AM

Speaking of oxidized lead, I bought a box of Hornady round balls at Friendship this past June.

I suspect they came from a certain wholesale supplier. Several years back I ordered 10 boxes each of all calibers between .36 and .69. About 1/2 of the larger calibers were oxidized in sealed boxes. They were all Hornadys.

Eric Krewson · « **Reply #11 on:** November 11, 2016, 02:51:39 AM »

Here it is, no projectiles or parts of projectiles are discernible just blobs of lead, between 5 and 10 pounds.

They also had a lot of dug bullets in pretty good shape but sold them years ago.

OldMtnMan · « **Reply #12 on:** November 11, 2016, 03:19:02 AM »

Breakfast!

Robin Henderson · « **Reply #13 on:** November 11, 2016, 04:25:21 AM »

I had a friend (now deceased) who was heavy into metal detecting back in the day. He told me one time that he regularly used his not so pristine dug minie balls, etc for his casting of round balls to shoot out of his longrifles. I remember in one find he and a friend found over 400 lbs of minies in one dig. I was aways amazed at the amount of stuff that both armies left behind in their wanderings around middle Tennessee.

bones92 · « **Reply #14 on:** November 11, 2016, 05:56:59 PM »

Perhaps that is better suited for the lead pot, then.

Can one tumble the lead to clean up the oxidization? Or is it just as easy to melt it all down and skim off the impurities?

Daryl · « **Reply #15 on:** November 11, 2016, 11:27:30 PM »

Yes - melt that down - outside only - then flux well (couple times at least) with beeswax or paraffin- stirring constantly, then skim off the dross, box and mail the dross to Pete.

OldMtnMan · « **Reply #16 on:** November 11, 2016, 11:52:00 PM »

Gravy.

Clark Badgett · « **Reply #17 on:** November 12, 2016, 01:23:15 AM »

Civil War lead musket balls were swaged from dead soft lead wire. Some of those blobs look much bigger than musket balls. Could they possibly be parts of cannon balls or grape shot. There were some cannon balls that had lead rings for gripping the rifling. I have no idea what grape shot was made of, steel or lead?

Tim Crosby · « **Reply #18 on:** November 12, 2016, 01:45:46 AM »

Just melt it down outside, pour it and move on. I used many Lbs of that stuff back in the '60s. Lived around Petersburg Va. and you could not dig a hole with out finding bullets. It all was cast into .58 Mini's for an original 1863 Springfield that I bought for 50 bucks with my paper money. It went Everywhere with me, in 1959 at 12, I was the youngest member of the NSSA and shot the rifle, was at the first shoot at Ft Shenandoah and many after.
Hung out with a couple older guys who had metal detectors and had a box full of Minis and slag. Once I got a metal detector I would sell a big Coffee cans full of them to a dealer for 25 bucks. I literately had Tons of stuff, Shells, Balls, Buttons, Belt buckles, Breast plates, canteens, bayonets, you name it I probably had it.
Got a little carried away here.

Tim C.

oldfireguy · « **Reply #19 on:** November 12, 2016, 06:08:34 AM »

Just a thought but why melt it at all? Why not sell it and give your friend the money or buy him something to make life comfortable for him? People will buy that and pay decent money for it.

Joe S. · « **Reply #20 on:** November 13, 2016, 03:51:28 PM »

Quote from: OldMtnMan on November 11, 2016, 11:52:00 PM

Gravy.

I often wondered what affect eating paint chips off window sills as a kid would have

OldMtnMan · « **Reply #21 on:** November 13, 2016, 05:19:34 PM »

Quote from: Joe S. on November 13, 2016, 03:51:28 PM

Quote from: OldMtnMan on November 11, 2016, 11:52:00 PM
Gravy.
I often wondered what affect eating paint chips off window sills as a kid would have

Hasn't bothered me, except for a twitch I have. Sometimes I walk into walls too, but no big deal.

Joe S. · « **Reply #22 on:** November 13, 2016, 06:41:45 PM »

Daryl · « **Reply #23 on:** November 15, 2016, 02:41:10 AM »

Here are some Civil War Lead pictures I forgot were in my photobucket account. These most likely, were meant for the .69 calibre muskets. If the balls are .70 cal., then they are from the Revolutionary war - and meant for the Brown Bess muskets.

The second one is still in paper, however the bottom section with the powder is torn off.

crankshaft · « **Reply #24 on:** November 16, 2016, 08:37:16 PM »

Curious if your examination would reveal what the lead hit to deform it.
Bone, or ?

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Author Topic: Civil War Lead (Read 8401 times)

oldfireguy