Ingot size?

[Rich/WIS]

The full size aluminum muffin tins will produce round ingots of about 1 1/4 pounds depending on how high you fill them. Have an old cast iron muffin tin that is deeper and those go about 1 1/2 pounds. Store mine in plastic coffee cans, a Maxwell house can will hold about 30 pounds, and have not had problems stacked two or three high.

[lightman]

There are a few things to think about. The ingot needs to fit your casting pot and it needs to fit your available storage space. Also, the bigger the ingot the more it fatigues you when you are casting them.

I've been using 7 or 8 of the Lyman style molds for a long time and I'm pretty happy about the way they work. If I were not heavily invested in them I would buy a half dozen of the Cast Boolits molds that Lakehouse is selling.

[Mitch]

My ingot are made from 2x2 angle 7 inches long weight is about 4 lbs each ingot.i have 2 gangs of 5.these ingots fit nicely in a lee 20 or my rcbs pro melt.the only thing i would do differnt is make the mold from light duty angle mine is 1/4 in thick 1/8 or 3/16 would be a bit less to lift when casting ingots.they satck ver well leaving a small foot print for alot of weight.My cutoff propane tank meting pot will hold up to 400lbs of pure lead.most of the alloy batches I mix are about 350lbs.My idea is to empty the big melting pot as fast as i can without makeing alot of ingots.My casting usualy yields about 8to 10lbs of bullets befor I need to refill the casting pot.so this works out pretty well.I welcome the break of refilling the pot most days.gives me tiem for the bullets to cool a bit and cler them off the casting bench.lube my alinement pins ans hinge point or what ever needs done.If i want to do a marathon casting session i use a smaler pot of my propane burner and keep hot lead ready got go and just ladel it into the casting pot.

[Iowa Fox]

For adding to the pot I prefer 1/2 to 3/4 lb ingots, it lets you maintain pot temps much better. For rough smelting I shoot for 1 to 3 lb ingots for storage.

[shootinfox2]

Who cares what the ingot looks like. Is the lead clean, does it fit in the pot. Melt it cst it, shoot it.

[kevin c]

I like 2-2 & 1/2# bar ingots. They stack well and store compactly, are a good size for handling, fit into my pot easily, and sit securely on the lip of my pot for preheating (true I use a feeder pot, but my casting alloy is stored in an unheated basement, and I intensely dislike visits from TF).

I use Lakehouse's molds.

[Springfield]

I also like the 2 lb ingots from my Lakehouse moulds, but then I have a 40 lb Magma pot for most of my casting. When I cast pure lead into balls I use my RCBS pot, which needs 1 lb ingots or the spout freezes sometimes, so I cast most of my pure into 1 lb Lyman/Saeco ingots. There is no magic ingot size, it all depends on your casting and storage requirements.

[kevin c]

I should note that I found the Lakehouse molds (Cast Boolits and Redneck Gold versions) tend drop easier if not filled to maximum capacity. They have less draft than the mini bread pans I used before (which dropped three and ten pound ingots). Maybe I'll try some sort of mold release agent.

[gwpercle]

I prefer smaller ... easier to add to pot . When casting I will add equal number of lead and COWW .
During casting the small ones are easier to "top off" the pot .
My ingots are Mini-Muffin filled 3/4 full .
When ingots are too large they take longer to melt , add small ones as you are casting, to a 3/4 full pot ...it cuts down on the waiting around time for the pot to melt and re-heat .
So I vote smaller .
Gary

[Mal Paso]

These are 2 inch angle iron 7 inches long and make 5 pound ingots. Angle and 1 1/2 inch strap are 1/8" thick. Welded from the back.