I couldn't resist temtation

[quickshot]

After cleaning out my garage a little I stumbled across my old coleman stove and a 1qt SS pot that I used to use to render WW before I got the turkey fryer. I got to thinking (danger danger will robinson!) I wonder how hard it would be to ladle cast. Now I have been a tried and true bottom pour man from the git go so I jumped into this deal with no idea of what I was doing. So I grabbed the metal coffee measure spoon thingie (holds about 2 TBS of grounds) put a crease in it for a spout, fired up the stove and melted some ingots. I grabbed my c312-185-2r mold and had at it. I think that I am hooked. Boolits came out looking WAY better than anything that I could do with the bottom pour and the reject rate was way lower. I cast up 100 or so boolits and I think I culled maybe 10. That was from a cold mold!! I could never get a rejection rate that low with my bottom pour. Now I did notice that on some of the boolits there was a small wrinkle/spot on the nose like the mold was cold at that particular spot or something. It didn't bother me to the point of throwing them back in as I care more about sharp bands and filled out bases more than anything but it struck me as odd. Any thoughts? the rest of the boolit was perfect except for that one spot. Maybe my technique was off? So here is my question for the ladle gurus among us....do you all have any tips/ladle recommendations for a potential dipper convert? Whatcha all using for dipping? I think that I like dipping a little better than the bottom pour but I ain't quite ready to retire the old drip o matic yet. I will probably need to replace the stove before long as it seems to have 2 settings, off and full afterburner! Great for the inital melt but gets things way to hot. (lead is suppose to be silver and not gold color right?)

[Larry Gibson]

Your bullets are better because the hot alloy is entering the mould faster and with more pressure from the ladle than from your bottom pour furnace. Also the alloy temp with the Coleman may be hotter than with your furnace. Question is; what furnace do you have and did you measure the temps of the alloys?

The Lyman and RCBS furnaces have an adjustable stop for the pour handle (Lee's do not). It may be adjusted to allow a larger, quicker flow of the alloy. Some even drill the spout hole out to a larger size to enhance this flow, especially when casting larger bullets of 300+ gr. Keeping the temperature a little hotter (thermometer is very useful to have) in the furnace helps. Also keeping the furnace 1/2 or more full of alloy (some keep it 2/3+) gives more pressure to the flow out of the spout.

A properly adjusted and used furnace will give the same quality of cast bullets and the same rejection rate as when casting with a ladle. I'm not wanting to get into a "ladle vs furnace" debate here. I just hear lots of similar complaints about furnace use and most often find they are just not adjusted correctly. Just trying to help is all.

Larry Gibson

[UweJ]

Hello
I use the ladle for BP Roundballs because they come out better than out of my bottom pours. I have two of them but only use them for my nitro´s. Larry´s point with pressure and flow is what I noticed also. He´s quite right about the spout hole playing a key role in the process.
Uwe

[mooman76]

I use the Lee ladle and have been for years and it works great for me. When you pour the lead allow extra on top of the spue plate, it helps fill out. I tried cutting back to put just enough lead in to fill the mould with hardly any extra and my reject rate went up. I also pour extra and let run down the side of the mould back into the pot on the first couple pours to help heat up the spue plate as well as the mould and often get good bullets first cast. To pre heat the mould on the lees I usually stick the corn of the mould in the melted lead as well as the edge of the spue 20 count for double moulds and about 15 for single.

Yes your lead is suppose to be silver but you sometimes get some different color hues depending on alloy. I have had the gold hue before and a purple hue too that you get from pure lead. Nothing to wory about though just keep dipping!

[Bret4207]

I know guys who love BP's, but a ladle just seems natural for me. Be careful- you might like that ladle to the point of getting rid of the BP!

[Ricochet]

Not me. I find ladleing awkward.

[Freightman]

Actually it makes good boolits faster but, I have to stand to do it and that tends to be a problem with this tore up back, so I sit and use the BP.

[chevyiron420]

i have been doing alot of ladleing lately. i dont like having to stand because i have a bad back too, but almost every boolit is a keeper. you may find that the little spot your seeing is a splash. i find that if i get a little smoother at rolling the mold and dipper upright, it goes away. also how much aloy you have in the dipper may have something to do with it? im not a die hard dipper guy, but i just got sick of making large quantities of bad boolits. i just loaded 50 rounds of 32 H&R with some of the best bottom pour boolits i have cast so far, and my poorest dipper ones look better. i also believe that this is a mold sensitive deal. my lyman molds cast much better boolits from my bottom pour then my lee molds do.-phil:castmine:

[HeavyMetal]

Ladle casting has it's place as does bottom pour.

The trick is to know when for which!

I do hollow points once in awhile and, since this is a single cavity mold, I ladle. It's just as fast and The reject rate is lower. It's also easier to keep the pin hot.

I'll cast the 45 and the 9mm devastator at the same time that way I can use two molds and rotate them in a cycle of sorts. This way one mold doesn't over heat!

When I need a butt load of 9mm round nose I get out the pair of Lee six bangers and go to it with the bottom pour pots.

A different system for a different need!

[Bret4207]

When I want a lot of boolits fast I stoke up the dutch oven, gasoline plumbers furnace and get the 1 lb Rowell ladle out. I turned out over 350 keeper 358-260 Bators in 45 minutes once. I'm still shooting those boolits. With the 10 cavity H+G 38WC it's even faster!

[Wayne Smith]

Get yourself a real ladle, one that has a spout that fits the sprue plate. Then you can put the ladle on the mold and turn 90 degrees. Either Lyman or RCBS, I'd get the RCBS when I get another one. I've never used a bottom pour, rather put my money into molds and use the Coleman and pots.