Has anyone tried this

[old sparky]

Hello, I joined this fourm yesterday and this is my first post here. I have been reading posts on this board for a year I cast a bunch and love reading other methods. More than one way to skin a cat I use to hear. Seems that their is alot of versatillity here. So here is my question.

I pour my pistol bullets with a master caster, size with a star sizer, and pour my 45-70 bullets with a laddel, pan lube as cast looking for consistancy. I had a idea but dont want to re invent the wheel. Has anyone tried making a spout for a bottem pour pot with a nipple shaped the same as a laddel so you could use a force pour method for better consistancy and bullet fill out. But have the ease of using a bottem pore pot. What ya all think.
thanks, Sparky

[Nrut]

Old Sparky.......I have some Lee bottom pour pots and I cast with the mould tight against the nipple as you are doing with your ladle with some moulds that are difficult to cast with....most of the time I just run a large puddle on top of the spure plate and don't pressure cast.....take a look at the Lee pots in their catalog...I think you'll find they will do what you want if I understand your question correctly.....mic

[MTWeatherman]

Welcome aboard Sparky!

I'll second what Nrut said. I have used a Lee 20lb bottom pour to pressure fill a mould. The nipple is designed so as to mate with the spue.

However, in my case, results were mixed. Unless the pot was nearly empty, the pressure was so high that I had difficulty getting the desired puddle on the spue...if I held the mould somewhat loosely against the nipple, there frequently was so much overflow that I ran lead off the top of the spue plate...too tight and there was no puddle and the bases didn't always fill out well (in spite of the high pressure so guess poor venting had a role). With practice, I likely could have done a better job with the mould pressure against the nipple but since I only have one mould that prefers the pressure filling...just decided to use the ladle for it since I had already mastered the technique there.

I would add that if you have problems with a mould filling out, and want to try pressure filling...pressure filling from a full 20lb pot will provide all you want and then some.

[The Nyack Kid]

i have a mold , that no matter what i did , i had very high rejection rates from the bases not filling out all the way . i found that by running the pot hot and drawing the mold away from the nipple before stopping the flow leaves enough alloy in the sprue for the boolit to draw from . it takes alittle practice but now my rejection rate in almost nill .

[crazy mark]

Sometimes when the base just won't fill out and I tried different tightness on the sprue plate I will lightly and I do mean lightly run a fine file at a 45deg angle or so across the top parting line on each 1/2 of the mould blocks. Doing that will help vent the air better. It usually makes all the difference in the world. I have moulds that had rounded base bands at the bottom and this took care of the problem. Mark

[guninhand]

When I put a mold tight to the nipple on a Lee bottom pour, I open and close the flow control. If that was all I did, I would not have a sprue, as already described above. Then the sprue hole would have a little disc of lead in it that's a pain to remove.

I just pull the mold away a bit and restart the flow and get a small puddle on the sprue plate, neat and no running down the sides. This solidifies as per normal and takes away with it the blockage in the sprue hole when removed as per normal.

[Blacktail 8541]

I've tried different methods of pressure filling with varied results, but the only way that seems to work for me is to hold the mould up close to the spout and fill, then drop it down a little and finish off the sprue plate.

[felix]

Blacktail, that is a good way, and I use it quite often on molds that require a lot of pressure to fill with the some lead compos and temps. Not only that, I use this technique to warm a mold fast that was not warmed enough before starting a session. In fact, I just pour hot lead over the whole mold, sides and all sometimes. This latter scheme requires an immediate sprue cut, though. ... felix