Bottom Pour -- Why?

[rbuck351]

I have been casting for 50 years now and I have tried dipper pour several times and so far haven't been able to pour good boolits with a dipper. With the bottom pour it's easy and much faster even with having to twist the flow rod to stop the drip every so often. (Lee 10lb pot) I keep reading how much better boolits are from a dipper, but have never been able to make that happen.

[longbow]

Well, count me in with Josh, I am a ladle man. I learned to cast using an open 25lb. pot and large ladle that holds about a lb. of lead. After a few years I decided to buy a bottom pour pot but just didn't like it so went back to the open pot and ladle. I have since tried a bottom pour pot a friend has and didn't like it. I'll stick with the open pot and ladle I have been casting with now for about 45 years.

Now having said that, much of my casting is large balls and slugs for 12 ga. However, I use the ladle for casting everything I have down to 130 gr. .30 cal. boolits.

Different strokes.

Longbow

[mold maker]

My observation is that those who learned/started with a ladle are still using it. Those that began with bottom pours are still of that persuasion. It soon becomes a habit with the method you learned first. Like many others I have purchased the newest and better ladles and have given them a serious try, but inverably when a problem is encountered, I return to my bottom pour to work it out.
I have bottom pour confidence from over 50 years of casting, and have never gained that with a ladle. I do however use a ladle for some .457 and bigger, simply because it works and I can deliver the needed melt to the mold faster.
At my age I'm not looking to reinvent the wheel or create a new habit, just provide, at the least aggravation, for my needs.