po' boy casting....

[sonoransixgun]

This is my primitive backyard casting setup…A propane camp stove, a cast iron pot, and a dollar store ladle…It keeps me shooting anyway…

[dimaprok]

Save your pennies get electric lead pot and don't bother with 10lb, it will be best upgrade you'll ever make.

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[poppy42]

Hay man has been casting boolets since firearms were invented ( how many hundreds of years ago?) They certainly didn’t have Lee 4/20 pots or Lyman mag 20’s or RCBS pro melts back then! Your setup works! Nice looking boolets! What’s not to like! great job keep up the good work! I often chuckle to myself and wonder what some people would do if the do do hits the fan. You know out in the woods somewhere. No ammo. Holding there electric melter while trying ya figure out what to plug it in t! Don’t get me wrong I love my 4/20 but it certainly ain’t what I started out with. And I if I didn’t have it I’d still cast me some boolets!

[Hossfly]

Git ER done. Where there is a will there is a way. Way to Geaux, been there, my first time was ladle and some lead and propane torch, melted and poured in cold Lyman .303 mold. Made very ugly boolits, but got me started. Now have 2000+ # ingots and pouring 9mm and 38 spl and 45 cail. Also .308 and .224. Also pc all boolits, more fun than should be allowed. So blessed to have found this forum.

[Tazlaw]

How big of a pot do you use? What is a practical size and how many pounds would that hold? Never cast a boolit yet but want to pretty soon. Gathering knowledge and soon gathering practical equipment. I did get a Lee? Melting pot from one of George’s elves today!!!

[sureYnot]

My dad used to melt his lead in a small cast iron skillet on the kitchen stove and make boolits at the kitchen table. He didn't make em by the 1,000, but there was always ammo to hunt with. As long as you're safe, there's no wrong way to do it.
I get a special kick out of this sort of improvisation. Thanks for sharing.
Making it work somehow is the basis of this hobby.

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[onelight]

I started the same way a cast iron pot on the kitchen stove and a Colman when I got shooed out of the house.

[sonoransixgun]

Thanks guys....appreciate the encouragement....Scavenging, recycling, and making-do is half the fun for me....I got the cast iron pot I use from an old abandoned trailer in the woods behind the grandparents' place...

Congrats on the pot, Tazlaw....you'll get all the advice and info you need right here. These guys know it all....This pot I use is 7.5 inches across by 4 inches tall. It's a third full of lead right now and weighs about 12 lbs. Get started, be safe, have fun....

[kevin c]

It works for you, right? That's what matters.

The time may come when you want to cast or process alloy more precisely or in greater volume. Then you'll find plenty of good advice here on alloy choices and mixing, and on home made and commercial rigs with more heat, more capacity, more temperature control or more efficiency. But if you're getting good boolits in sufficient quantity now, then that's great.

The only other observation I might add is that, if you're using the one pot to process raw lead and are also casting that same lead right away, you may end up with unwanted stuff in the casts. Be very thorough in removing dirt and dross, at the least scraping down the sides and bottom of the pot multiple times during and after melting, fluxing and skimming the raw metals. Many might suggest a second pot for casting that only sees ingots of cleaned alloy.

Welcome to the addiction!

[longbow]

Nothing wrong with what you are doing... same set up I have except my pot is my grandfather's plumber's pot and the ladle was his too. The ladle holds about a pound of lead so lots of volume.

I started casting about 50 years ago on a natural gas hot plate in the basement of my parent's house when I was 14. Once I really got into the cast boolit shooting I decided to buy an electric bottom pour pot. Didn't much like it so got rid of it and carried on with the cast iron pot which I still use today except now it sits on a two burner propane stove.

I find that ladle casting works better for me for large boolits and shotgun slugs of which I cast quite a bit. I have tried bottom pour pots again recently but still prefer the cast iron pot and ladle.

Whatever works for you and is comfortable. This works for me.

Yeah, I like the scavenging, recycling/repurposing and other activities around boolit casting and loading... and of course shooting.

Longbow

[sonoransixgun]

Thanks, Kevin C., I hear you....I do a lot of cleaning, and it's always nicer to start with the cleaned lead pot. I need to figure out a way to pour some ingots and keep the cleaning and casting parts separate like you say.

Cool, Longbow! Nice to hear your experience...

[onelight]

Thanks, Kevin C., I hear you....I do a lot of cleaning, and it's always nicer to start with the cleaned lead pot. I need to figure out a way to pour some ingots and keep the cleaning and casting parts separate like you say.

Cool, Longbow! Nice to hear your experience...

Looks like you tilt it up from the handle end over a cornbread or muffin pan to get most of the weight out to where you can pick it up to pour . Be carful that will be a dangerous beast to handle with much lead in it.

[sonoransixgun]

Muffin pan...next stop at the thrift store....Yeah it does get beastly heavy....Thanks for the warning....

[MostlyLeverGuns]

I would suggest a Lyman or RCBS lead dipper to make your bullet mold pour much easier. Muffin tin ingots do work well. I cast over a camp stove for many years, also used a gas kitchen stove quite a bit, but not in the kitchen. Enjoy.

[sonoransixgun]

Thanks, MostlyLeverGuns....I do want to get a dipper....

[lightman]

I love my bottom pour ProMelt pot and consider it to be an upgrade. But I still have a 10# cast iron Lyman pot and a Lyman ladle and the same Coleman stove. If push comes to shove, I can still cast useable bullets.

[wv109323]

If the wagon is not broke don't fix it. There is always a trade off berween time and quanity. I need to cast large quanities of bullets for competition. Your set up would be too slow for me but that is not critism but a respect for the demands of different shooters. You can produce a quanity and quality of bullets that meet your demand that is fine.
Your investment is a fraction of mine but it perfectly suits your demands and that is what it is all about.

[sonoransixgun]

Well said, wv109323....no doubt if I had the means I'd get better equipment, but what I have enables me to shoot....In a way it helps my shooting too cause I try to make every shot count....Hate wasting them....

[barrabruce]

Still use a pot and ladle over a kero stove mostly for my casting.
I started with a spoon for a few years but have gone fancy with a RCBS ladle.
A camp oven and a muffin tin for ingots.
Smaller cast pot for casting.
I cast for good bullets and not volume.
I cast outside under an eve
The pile forms after a while. I’m in no rush to make good ammo either.
The target will tell you if you are doing well.

[DanishM1Garand]

Hay man has been casting boolets since firearms were invented ( how many hundreds of years ago?) They certainly didn’t have Lee 4/20 pots or Lyman mag 20’s or RCBS pro melts back then! Your setup works! Nice looking boolets! What’s not to like! great job keep up the good work! I often chuckle to myself and wonder what some people would do if the do do hits the fan. You know out in the woods somewhere. No ammo. Holding there electric melter while trying ya figure out what to plug it in t! Don’t get me wrong I love my 4/20 but it certainly ain’t what I started out with. And I if I didn’t have it I’d still cast me some boolets!

The Roman Legions even cast Shot got sling ammunition.