Contemplating Casting, part II.

[brewer12345]

I would suggest a Lee 20# pot, welder's gloves, leather apron, face shield, thermometer, and a hot plate. Add the mold of your choice (Lee makes decent molds for relatively little money, you can go wild with molds later if you like this hobby). That is about all you need to actually cast. After that, you will need a way to lube or powder coat, and then size. I am a lazy, cheap bugger, so I either tumble lube or shake and bake with Smoke's powder coating, then size with Lee push through dies.

If you are doing much 45, you will appreciate a 20 pound pot. With a 6 cavity Lee 452-200-SWC mold that pot empties fast.

[kmw1954]

brewer thanks for the PM lead for lead! I'm thinking the Lee push thru dies as I have a JR3 press not being used along with some type of coating. I was thinking of watching for a used pot but I doubt that will lead to much savings because of shipping and Titan Reloading is only about an hour drive and they have pretty good pricing.

[brewer12345]

brewer thanks for the PM lead for lead! I'm thinking the Lee push thru dies as I have a JR3 press not being used along with some type of coating. I was thinking of watching for a used pot but I doubt that will lead to much savings because of shipping and Titan Reloading is only about an hour drive and they have pretty good pricing.

Vendor Smoke here sells powder for coating that I have fond to be very good and easy to use. I found a convection toaster oven at goodwill to bake the boolits in.

The Lee does drip at times, but put a little catchpan underneath the spout and it isn't a big deal. A thermometer makes a big difference.

[RegCom7]

I have the Lee Pro 4-20 pot and I'm glad I got it. The occasional drip is not an issue. A ladle pot would be an extra hassle, in my opinion. And I wouldn't want anything smaller than the Lee 4-20.

[kmw1954]

Rusty in Ohio I received your package today. Very nice, a big thank you Sir. Will give you a shout with results.

[David2011]

Agreeing with what Brewer12345said in #21.

No, you will not have to sell an RCBS Pro Melt for half of what you paid. They’re in high demand and we don’t know how long they last yet. Mine is 35-40 years old and has only had the valve and pot replaced once. Parts were sent at no charge and I replaced them myself.

It may be very hard to keep a mold hot enough if you dip and use molds larger than two cavities. I have a ladle furnace and a bottom pour; wouldn’t begin to try to use the ladle furnace for production handgun boolits. There are many casters that dip with a ladle here. I’ve only done a little ladle casting so listen to the experts when they offer their opinions. Personally I would rather cast with a Lee bottom pour than a high end ladle pot.