Magna master pot - Is is worth it?

[GARD72977]

Im getting started casting again and want to do it right this time. I want a good equipment. I was thinking of the RCBS unit. It has a rebate that would bring the investment to 300 plus shipping. Master pot is twice the capacity and double spouts. I really think that would increase productiion and help with quality. I really like the idea of filling both cavities at the same time (same mould heat). The Master pot is at the top side of my budget (ballisti-cast is 825.00 is there any real difference besides being out of my budget) Later I could use the Master pot on a master caster if I decded to go that route. Kind of thinking that I may stick with hand casting. Any suggestions

[cbrick]

I used the RCBS pot for 25 years or so, still use it for soft alloys & such. Several years back I bought the Master pot for the 40 pound capacity, the double spout was an added joy.

The master Pot will heat to casting temp 40 pounds in about 10 minutes longer than the RCBS heats up 20 plus I added the PID for a very consistent pot temp. I haven't found anything else to compare with 40 pounds of exactly the same alloy. Yep, it was expensive but what a joy to use it is. Built like a tank it will no doubt outlast me. If it's within your budget I highly recommend it, if not the RCBS is an excellent pot, just half the capacity.

Rick

[ReloaderFred]

I started casting about 1968 or so with a propane torch and cast iron pot suspended over the torch, using a single cavity 38 mold. Then about 1971 I bought a new RCBS 10 pound pot and used that for many years. I eventually traded for a 20 pound RCBS pot about 10 years ago and used both pots for different things. About 4 years ago, my shooting buddy bought a new Master Caster, and we both shared it for awhile. It's a joy to use, so I started looking for a Master Caster of my own, and found one listed on this forum for half the price of a new one, so I jumped on it. I've cast about 25,000-30,000 bullets with my Master Caster, and since owning it, I've only cast about 200 bullets with either of my RCBS pots.

I wish I could have afforded a Master Caster years ago. It would have saved a lot of money and time. The biggest benefit is I can now cast in long sessions of 6 to 8 hours and not feel like I've been beat up by a wild bear. It's a joy to use and I actually enjoy casting again.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[HATCH]

You need to do the math.
If you don't shoot a lot or don't shoot that often then your return on investment (by buying a expensive item) will not be worth it.

I have a pro4-20 that i used for a few years. A few months back i bought a master caster. I got it direct from magma new. I didn't cast anything with it for 6 weeks.
It took me 6 weeks to gather parts and automate it.
Now it can cast by itself at a rate of 2 boolits every 10.5 seconds.
It can run all day if i keep feeding it lead and i never get tired.

I am working on automating the Star size but it will be expensive and take a long time to complete.

sent from my mobile.

[cbrick]

From the OP.


Im getting started casting again and want to do it right this time. I want a good equipment.


You need to do the math.
If you don't shoot a lot or don't shoot that often then your return on investment (by buying a expensive item) will not be worth it.


Will not be worth it to whom? Somebody else?

I don't really shoot enough any more to warrant a Magma pot with PID either but I sure do get a lot of enjoyment from it when I do use it even though I had to save for the better part of a year to get it. I sure don't shoot enough to warrant two Star Lubrisizers, both with air pressure & heaters but there they are with a different lube in each.

Truth is that some people simply like nice stuff & get a good deal of pleasure from using it. If you can afford it and it will give you pleasure . . . Why not?

For some the single reason for casting is to save money, NOTHING else matters and for others that isn't even a reason. So I ask again, will not be worth it to whom?

Rick

[mktacop]

Im getting started casting again and want to do it right this time. I want a good equipment. I was thinking of the RCBS unit. It has a rebate that would bring the investment to 300 plus shipping. Master pot is twice the capacity and double spouts. I really think that would increase productiion and help with quality. I really like the idea of filling both cavities at the same time (same mould heat). The Master pot is at the top side of my budget (ballisti-cast is 825.00 is there any real difference besides being out of my budget) Later I could use the Master pot on a master caster if I decded to go that route. Kind of thinking that I may stick with hand casting. Any suggestions

FWIW, I have both the RCBS Pro Melt and a Master Caster. Both are very nice and perform well. I don't think you could go wrong with either choice, it just depends on how much you want to spend, and how much casting you plan on doing. Either way, have fun!

[fredj338]

They make good gear, I have a Master Caster, same pot w/o the mechanism. If you want a 40# pot, this is the way to go IMO, but the 20# Lee BP does work fine, I use one when not casting on the Magma. If I was considering a RCBS, I would probably pony up another $200 & get the Magma.

[HATCH]

Example... My dad shoots about 200 0.457 round balls a year.
It is not worth it to spend $85 on a mold and buy pure lead to cast them when they are just like $15 per 100.

that's what i meant by worth it.

sent from my mobile.

[GARD72977]

I have decided on the Magna. I want economy and will pay anything to get it!!!! I shoot enough to justify the pot. I like that it holds 40 lbs and The dual spout. It should hold a more consistant temp. Cant wait to get it.

[HATCH]

Get a PID controller for it too.
Its $50 worth of parts from ebay.

sent from my mobile.

[GARD72977]

I will need some help on that.

[cbrick]

I also highly recommend the PID.

And if your anything like me and hate ebay there are several threads on building a PID with parts from a supply house. Just do a search on this site for PID.

Of course there is Magma's PID but it's pricey, about 4 times what you could build one for but the pot would come with it already installed and ready to go.

Rick

[GARD72977]

just deciding now if I want the complete master caster. I am a amature machinist so the stand mold guide is not a big deal. Its not that much more and a lot cheaper if you buy complete.

[ReloaderFred]

I know a lot of people swear by the PID, and if I was buying a new machine I might order one already on it. I've been loading since 1963, and casting since about 1968 without one. I have no idea how many bullets I've cast over the years, but I've reloaded over 750,000 rounds of ammunition, and a good majority of those were with my own cast bullets, but not all. I've gotten by without a PID so far, and will probably not get one for my own use. That by no means others shouldn't get one, or build their own, but for me I'm doing ok without one.

Hope this helps

[GARD72977]

Replies like yours are very helpful. I may start without a PID but I plan to do one soon. To me it is like years of knoledge. I hope it makes me cast better boolits sooner than later. Thats a big reason I want a 40 lb pot. I think the pot will maintain a better temp than a 20lb pot. I want to take advantage of any technology I can afford.

If i had my choice of a PID or your 30+ years of casting knoledge. I would choose you 30+years of knoledge any day!

[cbrick]

Gard,

Keep in mind that all electric thermostat controlled pots will increase in temp as the level of alloy decreases. Doesn't matter if you get the Magma or the least expensive LEE. It's the nature of the beast. This is the purpose of the PID, electronically controlled temp.

Rick

[bwgdog]

Gard-I was on the fence also about buying the Master pot. Did a lot of reading and asking questions. Made the decision-called and ordered with the PID installed by Magma. It is a great tool-well built-I-myself-could not build one of this quality. Maybe twenty years ago when I had access to a full machine shop-that was then-this is now! The only down side to the Magma is realizing all the time you spent fiddling with other pots-but then a lot of us like to make music! Good Luck bwgdog

[Beau Cassidy]

You won't regret your purchase. They are great pots.

[6bg6ga]

Reading the post here it started me thinking a little. I own a few bullet sizer/lubricators both Magma and Ballisti-cast and I asked myself after reading the posts here if I really needed them or if I would have been better off keeping the anequated sizer I had and it boils down to this. Sure it cost me money to I'll call it take a jump to the present. The new sizers save me time and allow me to do other things that I enjoy instead of spending all day trying to size a coffee can full of bullets. The same holds true of casting and that is why I am currently waiting for a MarkIV from Ballisti-cast to be done. Do I cast enought bullets to really warrent the purchase of the expensive caster? No, but then again I never enjoyed putting on a pair of leather gloves and firing up my drip-o-matic 10 lb furnace and casting with my 4 cavity Lyman molds all day or for several days. My shoulders hurt, I'm getting old and tired and my attention span is probably less than it should be. In short I don't like to cast or size or load but I sure as hell enjoy shooting. So I am justifying my Dillon XL650, my two Magma sizers, my Ballisti-cast Mark VI and my soon to be Mark IV caster.

My advice is this.... when I was young I watched my father purchase something less than he wanted a number of times. I saw him use it for a few years and then purchase the next best model and then finally purchase what he originally had wanted in the first place. He is no longer on this world but I think I learned from his example to purchase once and purchase what you really want. So, put a few bucks with the money you were thinking of spending and just purchase the Master caster and be done with it. You will then have something that will give you good service and retain its value.

[Lloyd Smale]

there nice pots no doubt. I debated a while back about getting one but bought two rcbs pots instead. That way i can keep two alloys ready to go or use both pots with the same alloy and feed hot lead from the standby one into the one im using and add my cold lead to that pot and not have the temp fluxuations you get when adding cold lead to the pot your using. That and when im done casting both pots are still full and ready to go the next time. If you leave your pots empty after casting this isnt as big of a consern but i like to leave mine full to prevent corrosion and because they will heat up a batch of lead a bit faster like that the next time i want to cast. One more advantage at least to me is warantee. Rcbs will fix about anything for free and magma in my experience charges for most repairs and keep anything long enough and it will need a repair.

[ReloaderFred]

I cast my bullet alloy into either 8 or 10 pound ingots for use in the Master Caster. I put an ingot on the back edge of the pot to let it heat up until I need to add it to the pot. By the time I have to add it, it's heated up to a couple hundred degrees and the temperature in the pot doesn't drop that much at all. Just don't go to lunch and leave an ingot on top of the pot, or you'll end up with a mess when you get done eating............ I won't do that again!

Hope this helps.

Fred

[1bluehorse]

I think it would depend on how much casting you intend on doing...I've read some posts on here where guys are doing marathon sessions and casting a couple thousand (or more)bullets at one sitting. Now there would be a reason for a 40lber with two spouts for sure. I use a Pro melt and it suits me just fine, but I rarely even run a full 20lbs at a time when I cast..a couple hundred bullets at a sitting is about all I want to do..so a 40lb (or bigger) pot would be overkill for me. I enjoy casting to a point, but I still only rate it slightly higher than lubing bullets, annealing and trimming rifle brass...about in that order.

[warf73]

One more advantage at least to me is warantee. Rcbs will fix about anything for free and magma in my experience charges for most repairs and keep anything long enough and it will need a repair.

I learned something today I've always thought that RCBS only put a 1 year warantee on there electric stuff aka tumblers, scales, casting pots.

[cbrick]

I learned something today I've always thought that RCBS only put a 1 year warantee on there electric stuff aka tumblers, scales, casting pots.

Unless they changed their policy RCBS has a 1 year warranty on electric stuff, not lifetime as on other stuff. At least according to a conversation with RCBS a few years ago.

Rick

[GARD72977]

I got side tracked on this purchase. I spent a little money on uppers, lowers and mags. I did go cast friendly with 9mm and 300 blackout. Just trying to protect myself aganist the Obama gun campaign. Still going to make the purchase just need a little time to recover. All the post have help make me more comfortable with the decision.

[Lloyd Smale]

they sent me a reostat for mine after 3 years free of charge. Offered to fix it for me i i paid the shipping to get it there. Even said theyd pay the return shipping on it. I even told the customer service gal that that pot had been used about daily for those 3 years. I honestly dont know how they would have delt with a major repair on it though. Im surely not here slamming a magma pot. There known to be the cadilacs of the casting pots and like anything you get what you pay for but I about need two pots and my buget wouldnt allow two magmas or theyd have been sitting here.

[Springfield]

One thing that doesn't get mentioned often enough is not only is the Magma pot larger, it is also 1500 watts instead of the LEE/RCBS 700 watts. So if you cast in volume it will allow you to just keep throwing in ingots without freezing up the spout. I could probably get by with my RCBS if it was 1500, but it isn't. This is especially handy if you cast larger bullets and really go through lead. I still use my RCBS for casting balls from pure lead, works fine, even with the new 6 cavity ball moulds. I do kinda miss the 2 pour spouts of the Magma but it isn't that much slower, and I usually just do a big 500 batch of balls that last me for a year or more. And I used my Magma for 7 years without the PID, but I sure wouldn't want to go back to the stock thermostat . Like a lot of things, you don't notice the difference too much when you go forward in quality/convenience, but you sure do when you have to go back! My PID broke and I found this out, now I have built a back-up. Sometimes you just have to justify a purchase by how much nicer it will be to use, and how much you will enjoy it. If we all just bought what we really NEEDED, we would only have a couple of guns and moulds, but that doesn't usually hold true here.

[Lloyd Smale]

Good point and like i said id love to have two magmas on the bench. I dont EVER recall buying something that was a bit better then i needed and regretting it. I sure can name numerous things i bought for this hobby that where bargin priced and i regretted it later. Im not wealthy by a long shot and have to justify everything i buy anymore but i still buy the absolute best i can and will go without other things in my life to by good loading and casting gear.
One thing that doesn't get mentioned often enough is not only is the Magma pot larger, it is also 1500 watts instead of the LEE/RCBS 700 watts. So if you cast in volume it will allow you to just keep throwing in ingots without freezing up the spout. I could probably get by with my RCBS if it was 1500, but it isn't. This is especially handy if you cast larger bullets and really go through lead. I still use my RCBS for casting balls from pure lead, works fine, even with the new 6 cavity ball moulds. I do kinda miss the 2 pour spouts of the Magma but it isn't that much slower, and I usually just do a big 500 batch of balls that last me for a year or more. And I used my Magma for 7 years without the PID, but I sure wouldn't want to go back to the stock thermostat . Like a lot of things, you don't notice the difference too much when you go forward in quality/convenience, but you sure do when you have to go back! My PID broke and I found this out, now I have built a back-up. Sometimes you just have to justify a purchase by how much nicer it will be to use, and how much you will enjoy it. If we all just bought what we really NEEDED, we would only have a couple of guns and moulds, but that doesn't usually hold true here.

[casterofboolits]

I have three Master Casters and three RCBS 10 kilo Pots and a Magma Lube Master, but I had a casting business for twenty three years. All this was paid for by selling boolits to IPSC shooters.

[GARD72977]

I bought the used master caster. Need some new molds now. Cant wait for it to come in!

[GARD72977]

Master Caster came in today. I really need a Mold try this thing out!! Looks better in person that it did in the pics. I need to start looking into the PID for it.

[ReloaderFred]

You're going to like it. In the last two days I've cast 5,000 .38 bullets on mine. Now I'm in the middle of sizing and lubing them. It sure beats handcasting!

Fred

[257]

i bought a master caster the best money i ever spent i love iy