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Thread: Mishap with my LEE 20lb pot today

  1. #21
    Boolit Grand Master
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    My RCBS is pretty trouble free. My Lee 20 pounder dripped but I can live with that. I did learn not to leave my Lee full when done. It liked to get half melted then drain the bottom half of the pot onto my bench then finish melting. I just added ingots to the cold pot, turned it on, no more problems.

    I do always keep a cast iron fry pan under the spout just for this type of mishap. Call it the voice of experience.

  2. #22
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    I have been using Lee pots (have two 20s now) for over thirty years. Back when I melted my wheel weights in the pot I had a problems with dripping, freeze up, and the like. Since I have been melting the weights into ingots first these occurances became rare.

  3. #23
    Boolit Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by Keith Sacane View Post
    I usually set my pot in an old cookie sheet to catch any spills...just as a precaution.
    x2 on this - I learned it from a newbie caster who also kept several muffin tins nearby to take up any major leaks.

    He learned that the hard way by not checking to see if every screw was snug prior to casting with a new (to him) pot.

    BTW: the muffin tins serve as sprue containers - and I sometimes use a 4 lb lee pot to drop the sprue and malformed bullets into - this pot just gets poured into the big pot with flux from time to time.

    Cookie sheets, large cake pans, and muffin tins can be had for cheap at yard sales and discount china **** stores (walmart).

  4. #24
    Boolit Buddy Judan_454's Avatar
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    I have a Lee pot 10 lb pot sence 1990 an it still works great. I dont know how many of you guys using a I Mac or a Mac Book Pro, but they a the most expensive computers you can buy. They are about 50% more than a comparable Dell or Hp some people they think worth extra money and thats fine. Thats why choice is good when it comes to buying Lee products or RCBS or Lyman if they are a bad product you as a customer and can buy the other product if it does work to your expiations. The market place will sort which companys stays which companys will fails. But im sure glad that was Lee there when I started reloading I couldnt afford I Macs of the reloading and bullet casting world.
    Judan

  5. #25
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    I believe that a LEE 20 lb pot is multiple times better than their 10 lb one. I find both better than the 4 lb Lyman.
    [The Montana Gianni] Front sight and squeeze

  6. #26
    Boolit Master
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    Thanks for the heads-up. Good reminder to have a catcher of some sort around in the event of such mishaps.

  7. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by Judan_454 View Post
    I have a Lee pot 10 lb pot sence 1990 an it still works great. I dont know how many of you guys using a I Mac or a Mac Book Pro, but they a the most expensive computers you can buy.
    Have and use both.

    Actually, they end up costing me less than a comparable PC because I never have to send them to the repair shop as things don't break or wear out the way today's PCs do. My wife used to have PCs at the house and she had to buy a new one every twelve to eighteen months because her Dells and HPs would just flat wear out due to cheap parts and components. I've got a Mac that has outlasted the last FIVE Dell/HPs she had.

    She now has a brand new iMac, has had it for over a year as wishes she'd spent the money years ago. You'll never get her to go PC again.

    I'm the same way with Lee bottom pour furnaces.

    My Lee pot lasted about a year/year-and-a-half before it started having parts/screws fall out and fall off. Out of stubborness, I've kept it and replaced screws, repaired it, etc.

    My old RCBS pot, which was already over ten years old when I sold/traded it, is still going strong with zero problems and the guy casts with it at least three to four times a week (disabled veteran).

    I would have to buy a new Lee pot every ten to twelve months to get the same results, and that would end up costing me WAY more than the $300/$400 investment in a good lead furnace in the long run.


  8. #28
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I've not had an OOPS! of the magnatude of yours (sounds like a bit of panic set in), but my Lee pot has had a couple minor mishaps. One prob. was the adjusting screw on the lifting handle slipping out of the groove in the valve rod. I used a small file, cleaned up the groove and used a small piece of safety SS wire to keep the two pieces together. Also, I never cast without a loaf pan nearby to catch 20 or so lbs. of lead should the valve fail (hasn't yet). My Lee pot has been trouble free for nearly 8 years now...
    My Anchor is holding fast!

  9. #29
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    Over the years, I have cast using a number of heat and pot options. The 20lb Lee bottom pour I got a few decades ago was OK but got tired of not being able to cast great BPCR bullets with it. So I plugged the bottom pour hole and removed the assoc. stuff and use the pot for a dip pot. Any pistol bullets I need can be poured with my 10lb Lee but for the larger BPCR bullets which I cast all the time, the (now) dipper only Lee 20lb’er is tops!

    And, 10-4 who ever said above on The Old COOKIE SHEET under the pot and casting area! I use that too and just for general casting it helps with all the splats -and then there is the safety roll a plays in the event of catastrophic empty syndrome
    Chill Wills

  10. #30
    Boolit Bub
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    Mine arrived new with stripped screws. The thing is held together with sheet metal screws. I guess for 50 bucks I shouldn't be surprised.

  11. #31
    Boolit Grand Master
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    I never had any major problems with my Lee 4-20; it does drip a little when I am ladle casting, but is self limiting. It eventually builds up into "drip art" and plugs the outlet nozzle.

    After reading of several deluge situations here, I thought about drilling a 1/2" hole in the bottom plate and aligning it with a hole in my casting table with a .30 cal ammo can mounted underneath to catch the errant lead. I did use drywall screws to attach it to the table to prevent knocking it over.

    Now that I have an RCBS Promelt, ($80 at an auction) I am thinking seriously about welding the spout closed on the Lee and using it stictly as a ladle pot.

    Robert

  12. #32
    Boolit Master gandydancer's Avatar
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    well now I don't feel so bad. thanks u all. G.D.
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  13. #33
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    I started out with a Lee ten pound pot and used it for a couple years.Then bought a Lyman twenty pounder. I started a small boolit casting business for IPSC shooters and traded a buddy for an Ohio Thermal 22 pounder (RCBS bought Ohio Thermal). The Lyman burnt out and I bought an RCBS ten kilo pot to replace it.

    I ended up with three RCBS pots and three Master Casters. The Ohio Thermal burnt out after 16 years of heavy casting. All paid for by selling boolits.

    If you use them enough, the RCBS pots will start to drip too. Easily solved by cleaning. The advantage to the RCBS pots is that they will refurbish them for free. One of mine has been returned to RCBS three times.

    Lee pots have thier niche allowing would be new casters to to start up with a minimal cash outlay.

    I don't have the boollit business any more, getting old is a bear.
    How's that hope and change working for you?

  14. #34
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    As a fix, I have wired my rod to the screw with tie-wire and use a pair of small china-Mart vise grips clamped to the top to add weight to the rod. Thanks for that info Buckshot.
    [The Montana Gianni] Front sight and squeeze

  15. #35
    Boolit Buddy
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    Lee pot fixes:

    Lap the end of the valve rod into the seat, best if done when you buy the pot.
    Drill a hole in the wooden handle and glue a lead round ball in there. Then stack a bunch of washers under the handle because the screw is way longer than it needs to be. Adding weight to the handle helps hold the valve rod down.
    Always keep a Lee on a cookie sheet with some kind of drip cup under the spout.
    When done casting adjust the screw to hold the valve shut, top off with lead and after that's melted in shut it down and let cool. When you fire up the next time the valve is held tightly shut and it won't drip during heat up.
    63/37 Sn/Pb is a terrible boolit alloy but its other use pays the bills.

  16. #36
    Boolit Buddy
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    Got a envelope from LEE today, They sent me a new valve rod and screw. I dug up an old steel low wall turkey pan and I am going to wire the rod to the screw. Thanks for all the suggestiond and help. Thats what makes this forum great, Tommy

  17. #37
    Boolit Buddy Capn Jack's Avatar
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    Cool LEE bottom pour pot

    I've had a LEE 10lb bottom pour for about 500 pours and aside from a few drips
    (stoped after I rotated the valve) it has worked perfectly. I cast .357 and .458,
    148grs. to 320grs. I never use it for mixing lead and I never allow it to get empty.

    IMHO it sure beats a pot and a ladle.

    Jack...

  18. #38
    Boolit Buddy Hurricane's Avatar
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    There is a permanent fix to a leaking lead pot. Get the Lee 20 lb. melter made for dipper casting. I abandoned bottom pore pots and bought the dipper only pot. Problem fixed.

  19. #39
    Boolit Buddy sabrecross03's Avatar
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    I had a similar incident as the OP described. Somehow I adjusted the set screw and in the process I made it too loose and all of the lead gushed out. I caught most of it but I still had a pretty good mess to clean-up.

    Overall, I'm happy with it. The temperature does fluctuate a bit and I usually have a fair amount of rejects. With a six-cavity mold, I can make-up for the rejects. Costs a little extra time and I can afford that.
    -Roger
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  20. #40
    Boolit Master
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    My first electric pot was a Lyman 10 #r, I think I gave around $75 for it back in 1975. It lasted 10 years, but a rebuild kit was twice as much as a new 10# Lee. I still have that 10# Lee and it still works great. I bought a second one about 5 years later and used them in tandum. I have never had to repair either one. I also have a 4-20# Lee pot, it is now 15 years old and have had to repair it one time, six months ago. Lee provided a kit to replace the old bottom pour stem and other parts free of charge. I put a 12"X18" cookie sheet pan under the pot when casting and a lyman 4 ingot mold under the spigot.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check