First Smelt. Need New Equipment For Pouring Bullets

[ArrowJ]

I did my first smelt last night. It was a blast. Of course I realized my five quart pot and huge ladle are too much for casting 9mm bullets a few hundred at a time out of a two hole mould. Now I have to either get a smaller pot and ladle or a Lee melting pot and ladle or a Lee bottom pour. More delays. I am sure an experienced caster could pull it off, but I am reluctant to wield that huge Rotto Metals #2 ladle for pouring bullets.

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[dikman]

Get a cheap soup ladle from a thrift shop, should be a bit easier to handle, and will let you cast while making up your mind which way to go. I started that way, then went to a Pro-Melt and a Lee Pro-4.

Nothing wrong with ladle casting, but if you're going to be casting a lot then a good bottom-pour makes life much easier.

[ArrowJ]

I would have to melt so much lead to get it deep enough for a dipper of any kind that it would be silly given the amount of bullets I will be making. Also, I do not want to add that much foundry type and tin into big batch until I figure out the right mix.

There is a Lee 10lb bottom pour nearby, but it is $70 vs $55 online. I may buy it anyway. There is about a 50/50 chance I will overthink it for a few days, order something online a few days after that, and pour bullets when it gets to be good and hot outside :)

The same store does have a tiny little ladle (Lee maybe) that is cheap and would probably dip into a fairly shallow melt, but I still think the pot it is too big. Nobody seems to carry the Lyman or RCBS casting pots around here, and all the Lodge stuff is fairly large.

[runfiverun]

I'd wait for a 20 or 25 lb pot to bottom pour with, 10 lbs is okay for single cavity's and such.
as far as the ladles go rcbs and lyman both make one that is about an inch and a half tall and round so you can scoop them full and they are perfect for 2 cavity molds.


ohh your work area is too organized, move some of that stuff away from the casting area.
cause once you do get going your gonna need more space to find everything you set down or spill lead on.

[dudel]

For 9mm Boolits (say 115-130gr), I bet you could get buy with a large serving spoon. Put a bend in the spoon to form a pour spout. Wouldn't recommend this for 400-500 grain Boolits though!

[Wayne Smith]

Go to the thrift store. Get a 1 or 2qt sauce pan, stainless steel construction. Melt your lead in this over a camp stove (I use a Coleman one burner) and whatever ladle you want. I've been doing it this way for about 15 years. The handle of the pot won't survive the temperatures that will melt lead, but you don't want to move a hot pot of melted lead anyway!

[ArrowJ]

I'd wait for a 20 or 25 lb pot to bottom pour with, 10 lbs is okay for single cavity's and such.
as far as the ladles go rcbs and lyman both make one that is about an inch and a half tall and round so you can scoop them full and they are perfect for 2 cavity molds.


ohh your work area is too organized, move some of that stuff away from the casting area.
cause once you do get going your gonna need more space to find everything you set down or spill lead on.

I did not actually smelt there. I moved everything back when I was done :)

[dondiego]

I was thinking of my first smelt. They were dipped in corn meal and fried in hot oil. Delicious! Brought back memories of when the runs were massive. Sorry.

[trixter]

If you are interested Optics Planet has the Lyman 25 melter in stock, mine is on the way, should be here on Tuesday.

[mdi]

I started casting with a 2 qt. SS pot on my Coleman single burner stove I guess if you could find a 1 qt. it would be OK for small amounts of lead and still be deep enough to ladle. I had a tablespoon measure (an aluminum cup that held 1 table spoon) that I bent a small spout on and attached it to a dowel. I had access to wheel weights (I was working in a Heavy Equipment repair shop so some of the wheel weights went 6 to 8 ounces). I had a Lee mold and fluxed with wax (candles and paraffin) and later used sawdust. Worked OK for a while then I bought a Lee ladle (I know, everybody says they are junk, but I poured a lot of bullets with mine). I had a .44 cal. 230 SWC T/L mold and used alox for lube. A few months after I started I saw an old Lee Lube and Size Kit on ebay (it had a small pan for lube, a "cookie cutter" a size die with a rod to drive the bullet through). This set up kept me in bullets for my .44 Magnums for over a year before I bought a bottom pour pot... I think my total initial outlay was less than $20 including the mold and ladle, and I made some good bullets

[paul edward]

There are good reasons to separate smelting and casting. Smelting can generate junk and trash which need to be removed from your alloy. Fluxing the alloy will make sure all of the metals blend into the melt. Smelting in a larger container has the advantage of consolidating your alloy so you can cast bullets of the same weight from the resulting batch of ingots.

I have used electric bottom pour pots and ladles from a pan on a camp stove. Some molds work better one way and some the other way. The electric bottom pour pots are the most convenient.

Keep a small notebook to record those things which work or not. Different molds will eventually tell you how they like to be used.

[bangerjim]

A Lee 4-20 bottom pour pot is the way to go. Holds 18 or so pounds of lead easily and safely. A very good inexpensive investment to get lots of quality boolits!

With my 4-20's I can literally rain boolits out of the molds. I never ladle cast...waaaaaay too slow for my needs. With preheated to casting temp molds (on a hotplate...buy one!) I get perfect drops from #1....Al, brass, or ferrous molds.

Use that ladle you have for pouring ingots from your lead re-melting pot, not casting boolits.

[ArrowJ]

I'd wait for a 20 or 25 lb pot to bottom pour with, 10 lbs is okay for single cavity's and such.
as far as the ladles go rcbs and lyman both make one that is about an inch and a half tall and round so you can scoop them full and they are perfect for 2 cavity molds.


ohh your work area is too organized, move some of that stuff away from the casting area.
cause once you do get going your gonna need more space to find everything you set down or spill lead on.

I ordered the 20 lb Lee bottom pour on Amazon for less than the 20 lb at Scheels.

[ArrowJ]

A Lee 4-20 bottom pour pot is the way to go. Holds 18 or so pounds of lead easily and safely. A very good inexpensive investment to get lots of quality boolits!

With my 4-20's I can literally rain boolits out of the molds. I never ladle cast...waaaaaay too slow for my needs. With preheated to casting temp molds (on a hotplate...buy one!) I get perfect drops from #1....Al, brass, or ferrous molds.

Use that ladle you have for pouring ingots from your lead re-melting pot, not casting boolits.

I have a hotplate, but it cycles on and off and will not get that hot. I will have to warm the mold on the top of the pot and dip the corner in (Lee mold). I would say a different hotplate, a Coleman type stove, a small cast iron pot or ss pan, and a small ladle will be added in the future as alternatives.

[ArrowJ]

Smelting in a larger container has the advantage of consolidating your alloy so you can cast bullets of the same weight from the resulting batch of ingots.

I wish I had thought of that. I did not mark them and they are mixed. All are made from very soft lead i.e. plumbers lead etc, but they were not all the exact same source. Do you suggest I remelt and separate them based on what I can fit in the pot at one time?

[robg]

I use a Lee 10lb pot I usually cast for about an hour and a half at a time ,cast about 200 boolit's an hour so that little pot has plenty of capasity for my needs.

[ArrowJ]

I use a Lee 10lb pot I usually cast for about an hour and a half at a time ,cast about 200 boolit's an hour so that little pot has plenty of capasity for my needs.

I do not think capacity would have been a problem as I will be doing the same as you, but the 20 was cheaper, and I was concerned about getting my ingots into the 10 as they are cast from a scone pan and are quite wide at the top.they may have just fit, but I thought the 20 might have a little more room...maybe it is just deeper for all I know.

[dondiego]

It is much wider than the 10 pound LEE.

[country gent]

I ladle cast from a large pot but thats me I cast almost all 400 - 550 grn bullets so I can empty a 10 or 20 lb pot pretty quickly. I also perfer to ladle cast. I use the rcbs ladle with the spout opened up to .205 dia. A small stainless steel or cast iron pot can be used over a propane camp stove with decent results. An electric pot either dipper or bottom pour is nice and will serve well. Buffalo arms trac of the wolf and some others have an assortment of cast iron pots for casting in various sizes. Bullets can be cast from many systems set-ups. For comfort reasons and ease you want to be upright as much as possible when casting. Trying to work stooped over, bent, or stretching gets old quick.

[ArrowJ]

I wanted to do everything from a ladle originally, but obviously went another direction. Rik also mentioned to me that he ladle casts but shoots lots of large bullets. I want to shoot 45-70 eventually and I will use that a reason to buy another pot and ladle down the road :) I guess I could dip from the bottom pour if the mouth is wide enough, and I really wanted to try it. So many fun things to try. I would be smelting today if it were not for the stinkin' rain!

[Wolfer]

I cast for years with a small thrift store pot and a Lee ladle on a Coleman stove. Still do sometimes

[Oklahoma Rebel]

what r u using for an ingot mold? they look like shiny pizza slices, but I can see that they would stack/ store easily

[ArrowJ]

It is a cast iron Lodge scone pan. They store nicely, but the pan is new and they are a bugger to get out. That will change when the pan rusts a bit I suspect. It is cumbersome, and I may replace it down the road, but if they start falling out I do like the way they store.

[country gent]

ArrowJ, Try rubbing the cavities down with a little powdered graphite or molybedum. This may help them to release better while the right patins builds up and forms. I do this with a couple cleaning patches. rub spread a small amount in the cavities with one patch then with a clean patch rub in and remove excess. Cavities shouldnt show the grapite or moly but just a shinnier look to them. Another trick is to work the cavities over with metal polish ( flitz or simichrome) or tooth paste and a toothbrush to polish the sharp edges and break them. the newer electrics really do a nice job polishing and scrubbing in this use.

[paul edward]

I wish I had thought of that. I did not mark them and they are mixed. All are made from very soft lead i.e. plumbers lead etc, but they were not all the exact same source. Do you suggest I remelt and separate them based on what I can fit in the pot at one time?

Basically, yes. It depends on what use you have for the boolits you will cast. If slow revolver or .45 ACP target loads, soft is OK. If you plan to cast pig hunting .30/06 loads (or 9x19mm) then you will want a harder alloy.

You might want to first sort your ingots by hardness then resmelt them into soft and harder batches (and then mark them). A quick and rough estimate of ingot hardness can be made using the claw of a claw hammer (or rock hammer) making consistent strikes on the ingots and noting penetration depth. Lee hardness testers work reasonably well, see the article at: http://www.lasc.us/Shay-BHN-Tester-Experiment.htm#Lee

If you have been smelting a lot of plumber's lead you might want to add some tin to your alloy. Two percent tin will help your alloy cast well and has other benefits. Scrap solder from electronics recycling is good.

I use an old 6 quart cast iron dutch oven (thrift store) for my smelting, heating it on a camp stove and using a propane torch to help melt stubborn bits until almost full. After fluxing with sawdust, stirring with a wooden stick and removing junk, I cast ingots with a big ladle till the pot is empty. When cool the ingots are then marked with steel number stamps ($10 on sale at HF). This provides a useful size batch of the same alloy.

[paul edward]

It is a cast iron Lodge scone pan.

I use an iron Lyman ingot mold that I bought when first started casting (dawn of time) and a more recent aluminum Lee ingot mold. It helps to have a couple of ingot molds when you are casting 40 or 50 pounds of ingots.