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Thread: Bottom Pour vs Ladle (Cost)

  1. #21
    Boolit Master



    NavyVet1959's Avatar
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    One problem that I saw with Lee 20 lb pot and the commercial ladles was that it seemed that it would get more difficult to fill the ladle as the level of the lead dropped due to the commercial ladles having a straight handle and the Lee pot being not particularly wide. Plus, I was concerned with most ladles pouring from the top surface f the lead, so they would also be pouring whatever was on the top of the pot. The Rowell ladle poured from the bottom, so I was considering them, but they still had the straight handle issue. Considering the fact that you need to tilt their ladle to pour, if you curved the handle more upwards, it might make for awkward pouring though. So, I thought that a bottom pour ladle with a more vertical handle might be better. I thought about a design where there was a spring loaded pin to plug the bottom pour orifice which you operated with your thumb while holding the ladle, but that seemed a bit complicated and I wasn't sure that I would even *like* ladle pouring, so I decided to just test it out with a hole drilled in a stainless steel condiment ladle. Originally, I went with a 1/16" hole and the speed of the lead stream was too slow, so I upped it to the next size (3/32", I believe) and I flowed a lot better. You end up with a bit larger sprue than with a bottom pour pot, but that extra sprue just helps keep the mold up to temperature. As it turned out, I liked it well enough that I didn't bother continuing on with the design with a spring loaded pin plugging the orifice. The cost of these types of ladles are around $1.00-1.50 at a local restaurant supply store. Just choose a size that fits in your pot and is large enough for all the bullets in your multi-cavity mold plus a bit extra for the lead that flows before you get it to the mold, on the sprue, plus you want some lead leftover since you don't want whatever might be on the surface to go into the mold. It sounds more complex that it is in practice though.

    One thing that might be an issue for some people is that the height of the melting pot related to your body needs to be different with the ladle vs bottom pour pot. With a bottom pour pot, I find it more useful if the pot is higher up towards my head since I want to see the lead going into the mold cavity. With a ladle, I am working at the top of the pot, so I need the pot to be lower relative to me. In practice, what this means is that I sit while casting from the bottom pour pot and I stand while casting from the bottom pour ladle. Since my old joints hurt from doing anything for too long, it's nice to be able to switch up from being seated to being standing. If you want to use the bottom pour ladle while seated, from an ergonomic perspective, you're probably going to need to lower your casting pot to the point where the top of the pot is about the height of your elbows. Maybe making a platform out of a couple of cinder blocks would be the right size. You could put it in front of your chair and basically have one leg on each side of the pot. Either that just sit on something taller like a bar stool.

    All operations with the bottom pour ladle are done over the pot, so there tends to not be any mess of molten lead ending up on other things.

    Also, if *somehow* this type of bottom pour ladle ever gets so clogged up that just dunking it in the molten lead doesn't fix it, it would be extremely easy to clean out.

  2. #22
    Boolit Master

    376Steyr's Avatar
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    A Rowell ladle is a very good thing to have.

  3. #23
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    RogerDat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 376Steyr View Post
    A Rowell ladle is a very good thing to have.
    I would like one of those for casting ingots, I like my Lyman little dipper for casting boolits. Have a couple or three thousand at the bench all from a dipper. I lay some 1/2 inch angle iron pieces across the same propane fish fryer I use for smelting so I could put a smaller pot on it. By smaller I'm guessing around 30# of lead. Does not leak rarely runs out of lead. Plenty of space on the fyer to preheat some ingots.

    I would like to get the Lee Magnum Melter as I think I could possibly use indoors or at least benefit from the compact size when I just want to knock out a few, or to try a new mold. I'll think about the 4-20 bottom pour someday but am in no hurry. With a ladle I can pour from anything that will get the lead up to melted temps. From camp fire to hot plate, anything that melts a pot. I'm developing a hand eye coordination and a process. Once I feel I have that developed to where I want. then it will be getting to where I might want to learn to use a bottom pour. Or if I find myself needing the speed - say for a 6 gang .223 mold. Now that might motivate me to spend money on a bottom pour.

    I'm using dual or single cavity molds, which are plenty productive for revolver and bolt action. I may purchase some 4 or 6 cavity for auto loaders one of these days.
    Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.

    Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.

    Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat

  4. #24
    Boolit Grand Master

    gwpercle's Avatar
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    For $60.00 the Lee is worth it. I ladle cast, have the magnum melter and love it.
    I also have a decades old (1973 ) small 5 pound melter. Tried the bottom pour pot (1989) and have gone back to open top and ladle casting (2010) with the Magnum Melter.
    If you're not a high volume caster, I cast 500 to 1000 or so a month, the Lee pot will work fine. Each of mine have all held up, no repairs needed and even the old one gets used. I only wish I had bought the Magnum Melter in 1989. It heats fast, holds a good supply of metal, has a nice big opening and doesn't cost a lot.
    I usually cast with double cavity moulds and the Lyman dipper with side spout.
    Gary

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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