po' boy casting....

[kmw1954]

My original set-up wasn't much prettier. Outside on a picnic table with a 2 burner electric hot plate with a 6" sauce pan with a cardboard windbreak set up around the plate and pot. Worked well enough to render down 90+ lbs. of finished coww's into ingots and then to start casting about 500 finished Lee 356-102-R1. Have since added a Lee Pro IV pot and still getting use to the bottom pour.

[dpoe001]

i started with a turkey fryer and a stainless pot from the salvation army store,and a homemade ladle. The ladle was a piece of square tubing with a plate welded on the bottom.still use the ladle to do ingots

[kevin c]

I can't see from your pictures if you're already doing this, but that ladle you're using might be easier to handle if you choke up on it a bit, especially if you put a bend into the shaft to improve the filling and pouring angle. You'll probably need a good heat resistant glove on that hand, though.

I second the idea of eventually getting a casting ladle. The spout shape is generally a lot better for pouring into a mold cavity only fractions of an inch across, versus a soup ladle designed to dump a whole serving of goulash into wide mouthed bowl. And if if you ever want to pressure pour with a ladle, it'll need one designed with that in mind.

[dverna]

Agree with the others that if it works for you, it is good to go!!!

I cast out of necessity....I have more time than money to shoot as much as I like to. There is no joy for me in scrounging up lead and little for casting. Just a means to an end.

As a prepper, I have the means to cast somewhat as you do, but hope never to use the stuff...LOL. It can be done and over a wood fire if necessary. If the SHTF, I hope I won't need to shoot much anyway.

100% of my bullets are used for plinking/target shooting. I built a bullet trap to recycle bullets. The 3000 lbs of alloy I have will last a lifetime.

Once you get a ladle, invest in a thermometer.

[sonoransixgun]

Barrabruce, we on the same page….

Kmw1954, you must have had a serious electric hot plate….Bet you’re enjoying your Lee Pro IV in comparison…

Dpoe001, yep, when you’re desperate, you make things work, no matter how little money you have to invest….

Kevin c, I do need to work on the ladle situation, I know it can be improved. Thanks for the suggestions…Will try them. I agree that the genuine article would help. It’s on my list…I know nothing about pressure pouring, so gotta do some research on that….

Don, you’re set for lead….nice…Thermometer, yes, would be a great addition…

[Winger Ed.]

That ain't primitive. You're pretty close to 'state of the art'.

[kmw1954]

Kmw1954, you must have had a serious electric hot plate….Bet you’re enjoying your Lee Pro IV in comparison……

Trust me that was not all done in one session! As I recall it was 4 session just to render down those weights.

[Wayne Smith]

I started with a 1Qt cooking pot from the thrift store, (still using it) and a Coleman stove. Never really went beyond that, still using the same pot (I have several now, different mixes) and got a one burner Coleman propane stove and a 20lb propane bottle. I invested in a Lyman ladle and still use it, too.

[Wolfer]

I started with a Coleman stove and a yard sale pot. Still use it some. Especially smelting wheel weights etc. I use an aluminum muffin pan to cast ingots.

When I was living in an apartment I would drive out to some forest service land and cast on the tailgate.
Where there is a will there is a way.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Sure does look a lot like my set-up, sonoransixgun, been using it for years. I've got a big Lyman bottom pour pot, but gave up on it years ago in favor of your system. Only real difference is my ladle, which has the bottom pour spout. I really only cast twice a year, sometimes maybe a bit more; in the Spring and Fall on a just right coolish day when I can fire up the big one burner propane burner and sit near it and cast all day. Outside, listening to the e-lectric radio, and sipping a hot or cold beverage as dictated by the temperature of the day. Mostly .38s, .45s, .30-30s, but usually one or two odd balls like 8x56Rmm for extra fun. I rotate the molds as they get hot, dump all boolits into a bucket of water, sort them out at the day's end.
Attachment 253433

[sonoransixgun]

Wayne, I think I mislabeled the thread after reading about all you guys who do it the same way...

Absolutely, Wolfer!....Don't think there are many who can claim that kind of tailgate party....That's great...

Der Gebirdsjager, ok, I see I don't need to envy the fancy brand name pots. But I do want to get a ladle like yours.....

[Wayne Smith]

Lyman or RCBS ladle - only basic difference is that the RCBS has a fin on the bottom to move the floating slag away.

[kevin c]

I think the bottom pour ladle in Der Gebirgsjager's photo can be used to pressure pour.

The technique, as I understand it, increases the head pressure as the lead enters the cavity, improving fill out. By applying the nozzle directly to the sprue plate opening instead of pouring a free falling stream of alloy, you get the increased depth and increased pressure of all the lead in the ladle (or in the bottom pour pot if that's what's being used). It also keeps the lead stream from chilling or oxidizing (that matters to some casters). But it takes a bottom pour pot or a closed or otherwise "dammed" spout on the ladle to hold the reservoir of lead back and get the extra pressure.

[Tracy]

My very first ever casting session was done in a tin can on the kitchen stove with a single cavity Lyman 452460 mold. That first melt worked fine, but then I moved outside with a coleman single burner backpacking stove. Didn't take long before I got a cast iron pot for most of my casting, but I continued for quite awhile to use a tin can (steel soup can) to melt soft lead for muzzleloader bullets.

[LenH]

When I started out casting, it was to keep shooting. I started out with a 4# Lee pot a Lyman Ladle and a 2 cavity mold. It was slow and a bit tedious but I was
able to keep shooting. A good buddy had access to truck wheel weights. His dad was a mechanic for a truck line. So lead was no big problem. That was 45 years ago.

I think a lot of people kinda poopoo 2 cavity molds. They do take a whole lot of work to get a pile of bullets. I still have a bunch of 2 cavity molds, but also
have 4, 5, 6 & 8 cavity molds. All have a purpose and still use them.

[tankgunner59]

That is basically my set up for smelting. That pot is exactly the same as mine, bought it at a large flea market here. I have a Lee 10 pound bottom pour furnace, I don't cast as many pills as a lot of the guy's here do.

[bob208]

boy you guys sure had the modern set ups. my first bullets were cast from a home made pot that fit in the top of my potbelly stove I used to heat my shop. hand dipped them. first mold a 359429 single cavity. still use that mold.

[JM7.7x58]

Drill a 3/32” hole dead center in the bottom of that ladle. It will change your life.

I love mine. I saw the fortunecookie45LC video on YouTube and then made mine.

Check out this thread. NavyVet1959 talks about his ladle.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...tom-pour-ladle

JM

[Light attack]

Started casting with a plumbers ladle on the kitchen stove. My dad had a Manhattan Arms .36 cap and ball revolver. We dug up the shot boolits, cleaned off the sand/dirt and shot them again. I later acquired an RCBS cast iron pot and ladle. Later still upgraded to a Lee #10 bottom pour.

More fun than should be allowed

[Littlewolf]

guys when i started casting i had a coleman peak1 backpack stove a tuna can and a couple pair of pliers. i was making fishing sinkers using different caliber range brass as molds. id puch the primer out with a chunk of bicycle spoke and my chennel locks as a mallet and slip joint pliers as the depriming base. then id hold the spoke wire with the slip joints this made the hole for the fishing line and the case would be resting on the plier jaws while the spoke wire was through the flash hole. i'd pour the lead from the tuna can using the channel locks as the ladel handle.
if that aint shtf improv i don't know what is.
boolits can be made the same way just minus the wire through the middle, and a kinetic bullet puller to get the lead out of the case/mold.
the same caliber case can be used for that caliber's boolits.
mind you this is a SHTF method of boolit making.