10 pound lee pot

[lead chucker]

how far down should a guy let his pot get while casting before adding more lead? I think i let mine get too low. Im trying to get consistent bullet weights. I notice the ferther it gets down i have to keep turning the temp down. Any insight would be great.

[runfiverun]

as you go down the temp will go up.
adding metal will cool a pot some also.
i like to keep my pots at a pretty consistent depth [nearly full] and use a piece of metal.
[3/8ths" steel cut to fit with an open space right at the front] on top to keep the ingots on, which pre-heats them to nearly melting at times.
i also use it to hold the mold while warming the pot.
it takes a bit longer to get things up to temp but the lid and such don't seem to have any effect on the operation, the lid also helps avoid spills or splashes.
i also return the sprues directly back to the pot as soon as they are cut to help keep the level up.

[ku4hx]

I cast until the [20 lb.] pot runs dry or the boolits no longer meet my quality criteria or my back and other joints tell me it's time to quit for the day. In practice, I usually cast for 2-2.5 hours regardless of pot level and pick it up tomorrow or whenever I decide the next session will be.

It used to be a sprint for me, but being retired I'm in it more as a marathon now.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Ku4hx. That`s the same way I do a casting session. One pot (RCBS) is enough for my old retired bones to do.Robert

[sig2009]

Funny. My Lee 20lb pot temp goes down as the pot empties.

[OnHoPr]

IMO it has to do with the particular pot, particular mold, particular alloy, particular stringent + or -'s of weight, particular usage, and the particular load and gun combination. Pot's heat regulators are probably at least slightly different. One mold might like the temp medium and the other mold might like the temp hot along with the capacity of the pour. In the usage department why even weigh plinkers, to + or - 1gr for hunting, to + or - .2 of a gr for BR. Alloys will have their different idiosyncrasies. You may have gun/load purpose or finicky gun/load that may require stringent oversights. Then again you may have a gun/load combination that all is required is + or - 2grs of the boolit and a Lee dipper powder charge to acquire 1MOA.

[prs]

I think the 10# pots would cramp my style, even a 20# has trouble "keeping-up" with a 6 cavity 250gr boolit mould. I use a layer of clay granules (oil dry) on top of the fluxed melt and that helps stabilize the temp some. It also allow spru waste to be dumped directly onto the clay topping. I usually cast for about the duration of a college football game and that yields a 3 pound coffee can full of boolits plus another 1# can full; or at least it did last Saturday. I gotta walk about every once in a while though to keep the back from cramping.

prs

[fredj338]

I inly use my 10# pot for casting LHP & add a 1# ingot when it gets 1/3 low. That way I can keep casting w/o waiting for the alloy to come back to temp. It's why I prefer the 20# for general purpose casting. You can wait until it's down 1/2 then add 3-6# of ingots & still keep going. Lettting the Lee pots go dry is the best way to get clogs. NEVER let the pot empty, never. I go as low as 1/4 at times, but then you have to wait for the alloy to melt & come back to temp. So keeping the alloy level close to the same seems to give more uniform results.

[mpmarty]

I run my Lee pro 20 wide open and regulate temps by adding cold ingots. It never gets more than a couple of inches below the top.