Don't know, but I would bet that it was meant for pouring Babbitt bearings not boolits originally.
Robert
Very Cool! Thanks for sharing!
Mal
Mal Paso means Bad Pass, just so you know.
Very different! Have you tried it? How well does it work?
It holds water without any dripping. The valve works very well. Have not cast with it. I use a bottom pour pot. And I don't care for casting in the summer.
The valve stem seems to be made of something heavier than steel. Perhaps it is just the desighn but seems heavy enough that it would not float in lead. I can tell there is lead like residue/dross on it. Can't find a maker's mark on it. Seems to be a factory produced item judging by the nice cast iron chamber but not mass produced. Might be a prototype/demonstration piece an inventor was using to try to get a factory to make a run of them. Started casting in the 1970s and went to my share of gun shows every year but never saw one of these before.
Can not tell you who made that dipper to produce soft nosed bullets. I think at one time LBT made one, but do not recall seeing any. That has been some time ago.
Don't see a way to measure out soft lead for a two alloy bullet with this bottom pour ladle.
The LBT softnose caster and the Trammco metering ladle both come up in searches. The Trammco is completely different and I have not found a photo of the LBT.
Cast a slug of the weight of the nose desired. Drop a slug in this ladle, let it float in a heated pot of alloy. When fluid, pour soft alloy, follow with hard alloy.
My guess would be its a production ladle meant to hold a certain amount of lead for a casting on a production line for something. A Lot were made in house and only held enough for the part and desired sprue. This was so the line worker didn't try casting 2 parts with 1 ladle full the second being cooler do to being been in the ladle longer. other reasons were the worker was only lifting what was needed and stayed "fresh" longer. smaller spills and or over pours. A lot of factories make special tooling just for their use for these reasons. It may have been used with zinc or aluminum also.
Another thought that comes to mind is it was a ladle for pulling samples of material for testing certification from the pots and was the amount need to certify alloy.
I think that was made by SAECO or CRAMER. I saw a photo like that when I was looking for early SAECO molds
Thank You 762Sultan! That is a winner. I recognized the Saeco style wood grips but these look like someone put a piece of broom handle in a lathe and free-handed a similar desighn. The grooves are not the same depth, width or the same distance apart.
Those handles do look like SAECO mold handles. I recognized it when I first saw them. They may have some value to a SAECO collector. Find out their value before you let someone talk you out of them.
WOW! I knew I had seen that before! With new search terms suggested by 762sultan's discovery I found another one. Cramer sold one like this too! Of all the places, I have read these articles many times over the years:
http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_book_chap...troduction.htm
Interesting , never seen one of those before.
Now that the "pressure dipper" has been identified, when did Saeco use a manual lathe to make wood grips one at a time by hand?
I suspect this is actually made by Cramer and someone replaced the grip.
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 |