I use an old cast iron dutch oven for smelting old lead and revovering range diggings. Once clean and fluxed, it gets dipped into 1# Lee and Lyman molds. There it sits until I cast bullets or sinkers. I use a 10# Lee bottom dumper for that. Since I usually cast at a steady rate, every time I see the level drop a bit, I add another 1# ingot. The Lee pot almost instantly melts it. I do not pause or slow down on my rate of casting. It is in all aspects, a bottomless pot. I have a 2 burner GE hot plate sitting on the table. It has flat burner tops with a smooth surface, I sit my molds on the burners when I set up to cast, and the molds reach the perfect temp by the time the pot is ready. It is rare that I have rejects on first cast. As I cut sprues and drop the casts, I use a pair of needlenose to pick up the sprue and drop back in the pot before filling the next cast. Once you work out a tempo, this can be kept up as long as you want to keep casting. At least for me, casting is very enjoyable and relaxing. It quiets the mind.