White Patina on lead bullets

[Davers]

What causes this to happen?
I'm pretty sure the Lead interacts with the Ground & it's Minerals .
Just wondering what the chemical process is.
Thx
Davers

 

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[bigfoot1]

its oxidation.would happen in a drawer eventually..takes nearly a hundred years on lead to get a good patina..

 

[pepperj]

I can turn an off white with age, I'm wondering now if certain ground conditions have an effect on the process, like if the soils have a lime base.

 

[Duckshot]

I'm no chemist, but I know that white discoloration on old lead might be lead oxide. Interestingly enough, while metallic lead does not dissolve in water, lead oxide will dissolve in water and you are like sixty percent water. I would probably wash my hands after handling white colored lead.

 

[releventchair]

I've had rounds in a leather bag get funky/frosty looking after a winters un use.
A light oiling helps avoid it suggesting an oxidation is the cause.
Different than those in soil, with less oxygen, but that patina from bullets in the earth over time is smoother and more uniform it seems.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I shoot muzzleloaders and I get white and brown patina in just a few years. I periodically "hunt" my shooting backstop and the gully behind it to recover lead to recast into new round balls. Been at the house since 2005 and I find completely white oxidized balls in the dirt.

Without a doubt different soils cause different results. In one section of the hill there is clay soil and the balls turn light brown (rust colored) instead of white - though there is a thin white layer closest the lead.