I picked up a large assortment of various calibers a month or so ago and some of the older X bullets from Barnes had turned black. At first I thought perhaps they were made this way as I'm fairly new to reloading. Then I saw some other X bullets that were not black, so I took out some steel wool and the black stuff came off.
Are these bullets shootable with this black coating? Or should I take the steel wool to yhe rest of them?
Thanks Greg

Greg,

It's just oxidation of the copper jackets. As long as it is not too deep or heavily pitted you can just clean them and use them. I purchased some of the same type of old style bullets a while ago and simply tossed them in the case tumbler for an hour or so...worked great.

Goos luck,
Paul