finally bought my own rig

[drklynoon]

I've been using my fathers pot for years and have finally bought my own rig. I bought the master casting kit from Lyman. With my old man it was a fair trade I bought the molds and he supplied the equipment but I wasn't able to be over there enough to keep up so I got my own. The only mold I took home was a Lyman 452424 for my .45 colt Ruger. I'm really excited for the ups guy to show up on tuesday. The only thing I need is some tin to alloy with. I got a big coffee can full of wheel weights and am chomping at the bit.

[drklynoon]

Stuff got here today. Yeehaa all kinds of fun. I mounted my lubrisizer and am looking over the manual for any aditional info. This manual is alot bigger than the old one I read from my father. the pot is a different design then I expected but it'll work I'm sure.

[drklynoon]

Pics are worth a thousand WW's

[gray wolf]

That looks like a great start, and lots of fun.
Did you get dies for the sizer ?

[Doby45]

Don't melt down your WWs in your casting pot.

[drklynoon]

Yeah I got a .452 sizer for my ACP and Colt rounds. I'll build from there. I bought a bunch of stuff a while back for other rounds but my dads kinda layed claim to it now so I'll just get more when the budget allows. I know not to smelt WW's in my pot but I did it anyway. I took the rig outside and smelted about twenty pounds. It didn't hurt anything but once I get a bigger score of lead I'll get a propane tank and do it right.

[Casting Timmy]

Have fun casting, you're off to a good start.

[drklynoon]

I am having fun. No doubt about it. I got rained out this weekend so no testing but thats life.

[Jarel]

The biggest reason you don't want to melt WW in the electric pot is not the fumes. But any time that heating element is not covered with lead it is over heating and it won't take very long at all to burn it out. Go find a old hot water heater and take the burner out of it. I mounted mine in a small car rim. Then found a piece of heavy expanded metal to lay on top. Next head to Good Will and but a 12" cast iron skillet. Don't get a 10" because the fire from the burner is big in diameter and a 10" is a little small. Now i will be freaking out all the safety people. LP can get in your pocket fast. So I have natural gas out in my garage so I put on a shut off vale. Then I put on a brass female air hose coupling. When I want to melt lead out side I hook up my air hose to the gas and to the burner just like it was a air tool. Turn on the gas and melt away. I have done this for years so deem it safe. Have fun.

[drklynoon]

Jarel thats sounds like a durn good setup. I'm familiar with the element not wanting to be uncovered and with my little pot the element is hangin out in the open with WW's jammed in the pot. I'll probably use my fathers rig for smelting when I get a decent score. He's got a fryer, propane, dutchoven setup. The fumes didn't really worry me but the stink was impresive about half of those weights were painted and boy they stunk. Hopefully I'll have time on friday to go WW hunting. I'm also considering trying some brass for lead trades if I can't setup a connection fo WW's. Thanks for the input when I build my own I'll look into your style rig.