Bottom pour vs ladle

[Wolfdog91]

For you guys who've been able to hang out around or chat with competition cast shooters, is it more common for them to ladle pour or use a bottom pour pot ? Been following some guys on Facebook and they all seem to ladle pour. Just curious
Thanks

[high standard 40]

I shoot handgun silhouette competition and I bottom pour only. This is for 7mm 150 grain bullets. I believe that shooters casting heavy, large caliber bullets do prefer a ladle.

[M-Tecs]

NRA Bullseye handgun shooter tend to bottom pour. BPCR it's a mix but most believe ladle is better for 600 and 1,000 yard bullets.

Personally 98% of mine are bottom pour with ladle used only for long range BPCR rifle.

[charlie b]

Go to the Cast Bullet Assn website. Look at the match results. They list each competitor's information, including load details and ladle or bottom pour, sizing, alloy, heat treat, etc, etc.

https://castbulletassoc.org/match-results

Select bench rest and then year. You'll get a list of competitions by club.

I use a bottom pour, but, I am not a competitor.

[lead4me]

I find that the bottom pour gives me a cleaner boolit. I like to use a light cover of wood ash on my pot. But because I like to cast in the winter here in Mi I use a big pot. It holds about 40/50 lbs of lead so a nice ash cover keeps it all in the melt. Using a bottom pour keep the ash in the pot where it belongs.

[jdgabbard]

Man, I don't think I've used a ladle since the 2000s. But even back then it was usually for larger heavier boolits. I have a good friend who does do some long range blackpowder shooting, and for some larger boolits I believe he still ladle poors to get a better fillout. Having said that, I moved away from the ladle as a matter of keeping a cleaner workspace that moves a little faster.

[Bigslug]

I have found that ladle pouring is a practice for an octopus. Since I only have two arms, I use a bottom pour pot.

(Not really sure how a mold is supposed to know or care what source gravity is filling it from anyway)

[porthos]

i ladle pour. i get perfect fillout. my bullets weight +- 1 tenth of a grain. out of a modern well made 2 cavity
mold. and after mold is hot all are perfect,no throw backs. i used to bottom pour long ago; but no more bottom pour.

[BLAHUT]

I use bottom pour only. Depending on temperature of pot, gives me different weights of bullets, I pour only pure lead, 500+ gr, I weigh all bullets before sizing and lubing and segregate by .01 grain, all bullets are shot with others of the same weight only. For competition or practice.

[jdgabbard]

I have found that ladle pouring is a practice for an octopus. Since I only have two arms, I use a bottom pour pot.

(Not really sure how a mold is supposed to know or care what source gravity is filling it from anyway)

By seating the spout into the sprue hole and turning upright you can effectively ’pressure cast’ larger molds that have a hard time properly filling out with alloys that are light on tin. Instead of a stream of molten lead being pored into the mold you have the weight of the lead in the ladle forcing the lead down into the nooks and crannies of the mold. It absolutely is very much more effective than bottom pouring. Bottom pouring’s benefits just outweighs ladle pouring in most cases.

[stubshaft]

Ladle pour for me as it gives me more control over the filling of the sprue. I also cast bullets over 400 grains and multi-cavity molds.

[Dusty Bannister]

Seems to me that you can pressure cast with both the ladle and the bottom pour pot. The difference is that the ladle holds a limited amount of alloy and must be refilled from time to time. The bottom pour needs filling when about half empty. The advantage of the ladle is that you can open up the nozzle easily and get a complete and rapid fill of a mold cavity. Doing that with the bottom pour pot can result in problems with the valve seat and make excessive dripping a problem.

For multiple cavity molds, the Rowell ladle is quite a handy tool, but it does not allow for pressure casting without major modification.

The majority of my casting is with the bottom pour pot, with an interrupted filling sequence. If one opens the valve and then moves the multiple cavity mold under the flowing stream the flow can bridge over the opening and end up producing rounded bases. Whichever method you choose, practice and proficiency does improve the product.

[samari46]

I could never get the bottom pour to work for me. Drilled and tapped the bottom pour spout and only ladle cast now. Frank

[MT Gianni]

I find ladle casting gives me the lowest variance between bullets. I will tilt the mold slightly and empty the ladle over it letting it run back into the pot on the few molds I have with venting issues. That has eliminated any problems in that area.

[imashooter2]

My competitions are all speed games. I only know of 2 others that cast their own. They use bottom pour pots. Most buy plated bullets. Commercial cast is less popular. They don’t like smoke.

[justindad]

With ladle casting, you can rotate the mold 90 degrees and slosh the lead around - makes sense you would get better fill out. Aggressive sloshing might give more porosity. If you have perfect surface fill out from bottom pour and ladle cast - would one typically have less porosity?

[trapper9260]

I used both till my bottom pour died on me for the use, I do ladle cast and I see I can get the same speed as the bottom. I use the ladle I use for smelting . Yes it is clean and I can push them out fast , better for a 6 cavity mold also. Dose not take long to fill it . It works for me. One of these days I will get another bottom pour to replace the one that died on me, due to worn out. Did replace the heating elements more then once .

[country gent]

I cast long heavy for caliber bullets, 38 calibers at 350 grns, 40 calibers at 420 grns and 45 cal at 500-550 grns. All my moulds have the sprue plates vented.
I ladle cast not pouring for a sprue but slowly pouring the whole ladle into the hole letting the excess run back into the pot. This helps with fill out and off gassing of the mould. I use a modified lyman ladle that has the spout opened up to .205 dia. When filling the ladle it is pushed to the bottom of the pot and 1 "Swirl" around the bottom of the pot. The ladle stays in the pot when not filling the mould

[Larry Gibson]

Bottom pour (Lyman Mag20) for cast bullets up through 300 gr. Ladle pour for the larger bullets. Key is, with the alloy at the right temp, to use the spout adjustment to get the alloy into the cavity as quick as possible and to leave a good sprue. I like to see the alloy roil back up out of the sprue plate hole a bit to form the sprue. With the ladle (Lyman with the pour hole enlarged) I have used the technique shown in #3 CBH with complete success since the late '60s.

[Shuz]

I float a thin layer of new kitty litter (diatomaceous earth) on top of my alloy. This keeps air from oxidizing the alloy and also helps keep temperature of the alloy more constant. Since impurities generally float to the top, I find I get boolits with less inclusions by using a bottom pour furnace. Mine is an RCBS Pro Melt, and I love it!