Lead melting pot

[rabjr]

Ok, I know Roy will be shocked at this lol. But I've decided the way things are going that I should mould my own .62 balls. The thought of harvesting a deer with a ball I made also appeals to me. I've just tried real hard to stay away from heat of any kind if possble because I really can't move out of the way to fast if theres a mishap. So casting lead I've left to others until now. I figure I'll snap up a Rapine .600 mould at Track while they still have them. I'm not sure on a melting pot. Don't really want to put to much money into one. I've been looking at this one at Cabelas but not sure how its used. It looks to me you can pick it up and use it like a ladle when the lead is melted, is that correct?
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Hot...+melting+pot&WTz_l=Header;Search-All+Products

 

[paulvallandigham]

Swampy: Unless you expect to need several hundred .62 caliber RBs a year, I think you can get started with a simply lead melting pot, and a ladle, and a small electric furnace( or coleman camp stove) to heat the pot of lead. I would be leery of any kind of pot like this where you have to turn the entire pot to pour the lead out into your mold. And, I don't really want all that weight of the electric heating elements attached to my ladle!

Lyman has a basic plain casting pot, and dippers for sale. You might find these kinds of things cheaper, particularly if they are "used" , but you can see what I am referring to here:
http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/bullet-casting/lead-melting-accessories.php

 

[rabjr]

Yeah that was a concern, thats why I asked if it is ment to be used like a ladle.

I thought about a cast Iron pot but I'm not sure on a heat source. So I would rather try to get an electric melting pot if possble, it just eliminates worrying about having a heat source.

 

[twobarrel]

I use one of those and pour from it in my .527 and .600 molds. Use a small copper ladle and dip out of it to pour .310. It's real handy.

 

[paulvallandigham]

My father, brother, and I "drafted" the electric Heater for an old corn popper that broke its glass top, to heat the cast iron pot. We did have to make a sheet metal skirt to reduce the diameter of the heating element to the outside diameter of our pot, but that involved bending some thin steel plate into a collar, and then bending the top edges inward to the right fit. If you can mold pie dough into a pie pan, you can do that.

Our heat source worked just fine, until Dad decided he wanted to get serious about shooting his .38 revolver, and needed lots more bullets cast and sized and lubed for that purpose. He invested in a Lyman electric Pot, which he used for about 15 years, and then bought a Saeco 20 lb. pot with a bottom spout to do really serious casting. Dad always shopped for "bargains" on this kind of equipment, and never paid full retail for anything, save a couple of guns he just had to have!

 

[larry wv]

I melted for several years with an old pot and big spoon with a home made wooden handle and a coleman stove. Went to a production pot 4 its nicer because of the temp control. Something with a temperature control would be better to keep things constant and not have to fiddle with it thus staying out of trouble more. Larry Wv

 

[jethro224]

Lee pots work well for me. http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=0000690021
I have one with the bottom pour and one without. I wish I had both without.

 

[rabjr]

You much prefer the ladle over the spout Jethro?

 

[BrownBear]

Ain't Jethro, but I had an old Saeco bottom pour that worked so well that I got a LEE bottom pour when it died. Wish I had gone with the ladle variety, because the LEE is a surenuff leaker. Sometimes less, sometimes more, but there's always a little. And I have to clean the spout each time I heat it up, which isn't always an easy chore. I know guys with bottom pour LEEs that simply welded over the hole and took out the mechanism, they disliked them so much.

Any changes to that or further insights, Jethro?

 

[rabjr]

Well, hell for 35 bucks that pot and ladle will do just fine then.

 

[BrownBear]

Long as we're on pouring 62 cal balls, I'll toss this in. Assuming your lead and mold are hot enough, you still might get wrinkles. Easy fix is to make your pour a little off center into the hole in the sprue cutter so the lead "swirls" as it fills.

Once it fills keep pouring a little more until there's a little puddle on top of the sprue plate, then let it cool till you see a dimple form in the puddle. Then swing the sprue plate. If you don't form the puddle and wait for the dimple, you're likely to get voids, whether you can see them or not.

Other than that, you'll be happy you started pouring. And yeah, it's really satisfying to take a deer with homemade.

 

[tg]

I bought Dad a bottom pour lee put ten years or more ago and we find it to work wite well and also still dip from an iron pot that is heated on a propane camp stove all work well, if safety is a concern make sure to wear gloves and gogles or full face shield which is what I prefer and take your time just never become "over confident" and complacent with the process and you will do fine and enjoy the task and make fine balls for all your guns, have fun and enjoy the new adventure.there are lots of little "tricks" that are probaby still on former posts in the archives on this forum and they will probably shave some time off the learning curve I would think.

 

[ohio ramrod]

I have two of the lee bottom pour pots one works well. The other I inherited and it never stoped drippin until I tapped and pluged the hole! :surrender: :surrender:

 

[jethro224]

My bottom pour Lee drips sometimes, ran half a pot out one time, doesn't pour fast enough most times, but worked well once (not the first time). One of these days I'm going to weld it shut and just dip out of it. Until them I always sit my ingot mold under the spout while I use it, just in case.

Yep, I much prefer the ladle. IMHO it's the way to go. Cheaper and less trouble.

 

[rabjr]

The whole thing scares me so I certainly don't want molten lead dripping out all over the place.

 

[jethro224]

Dress proper for the job.
Don't let anything fall in the melted lead and splash it.
Don't let any bugs land in the molten lead.
Definitely don't let any liquids get in the molten lead!
You'll be fine. :thumbsup:

 

[jethro224]

I figure I'll snap up a Rapine .600 mould at Track while they still have them.

Swampy, that .600 "Primitive" mold ain't a Rapine. You won't like the quality. Made in Pakistan! :shake:

 

[rabjr]

Got a cousin that works in the foundry at Ruger. He set me up with nice leather apron and gloves they use up there so I should be well protected, hopefully. I'm still very nervous about working with anything hot like this.

 

[tg]

I leaded in a new cast iron closet flange 30 years
ago and THOUGHT I had all the moisture off of everything. I am very fortunate that I had the full face shield on or would have likley lost an eye maybe both, the shield was completely covered with 1/4" burnt spots. I decided that plumbing was not my calling that day.

 

[Idaho Ron]

Swampy, That pot from Cabalas I think is too small. You will need to get the lead up to temp and the mould needs to be up to temp. I put a corner of the mould in the lead when it gets hot. The first several bullets will be wrinkled because the mould or lead won't be hot enough. it will take a few to get it just right and you will be out of lead quick. To keep things cheep you might look for a cast iron sauce pan and invest in a good ladle. Heat it with a propane stove. Ron