Casting with a ladle

[Johnw...ski]

Included in my order from Midsouth yesterday was a Lee 20 lb. casting pot with out the bottom pour feature and a RCBS ladle that cost almost as much as the pot.

I made a bracket to accept my thermometer just like the one I made for my Lee 10 lb. bottom pour pot and proceded to melt some alloy that is approximately 30 to 1. This was my first attempt at casting with a ladle, the first 5 or 6 boolits had slightly rounded edges and then it all came together, nice shiny well filled out boolits. The production is about the same as the bottom pour maybe a little faster
when you consider all the boolits that go back into the pot when bottom pouring.
The rare boolits I threw back today were mostly because I didn't wait long enough while filling the mold causing a small void in the base.

I took 10 boolits into the house and weighed them, 9 were with in + or - 2/10 gr.
and one was 1 gr. less than the rest. This will certainly help the quality of my boolits.

You guys have been preaching the benefits of using a ladle, and I am a believer.

Thanks,

John

[9.3X62AL]

Ladle-casting gives me superior results with BIG/long rifle boolits, but I can't discern an advantage with the shorter pistol boolits. Lyman #'s 311291 and 311041 both produce fewer rejects when ladle-poured for me, as does the Lee 405 for the 45-70. The NEI mould for the 270 grain 9.3mm boolit does fine when bottom-poured, though. Go figure. I chalk it up to every mould having its own "personality", which must be accounted for at the casting bench.

[pdawg_shooter]

I have plugged the spout on my Lee drip-o-matic and use a ladle an all my bullets. I get much better bullets with way fewer rejects that way.

[chewie]

when you said you did not wait long enough after you poured into the mold? i have done any yet but is there amount of time you need to wait? how long is that? or how when will you know they are ready?

[Johnw...ski]

I just start with the nipple of the ladle horizontal and in the sprue plate and tip both so the lead pours in and wait 3 or 4 seconds then turn both the mold and ladle then seperate. This gives the boolit plenty of lead while it starts to cool.

John


when you said you did not wait long enough after you poured into the mold? i have done any yet but is there amount of time you need to wait? how long is that? or how when will you know they are ready?

[dwtim]

That's my pot/ladle combo, and I love it.