Which Lee pot

[MikeSSS]

Good choice, it will serve you well.

[Crash_Corrigan]

I use two Lee 4-20's at the same time. One is mounted on a shelf two feet higher than the casting pot on the bottom. I have a piece of angle iron running from the spout of the top pot to the surface of the casting pot.

This way I add hot alloy from the top pot whenever the level of the bottom pot drops below 1/2 full. I have found that the ideal level of the casting pot works best for me when it is between 3/4 and 1/2 full. Too low and the flow of alloy is too slow and the temps of the alloy tend to be too high. Too high and the flow of alloy is too fast and the again the temps fluctuate too much.

I melt both pots about 3/4 full of ingots and wait until they get up to temp. A good flux and stir, then I start casting, usually with a Lee 6 banger or a RCBS 4 or H&G 4 from the bottom pot.

Prior to casting I add a few more ingots to the top pot to bring it up to nearly full. After a time when the bottom pot level gets down to 1/2 I stop casting. I again flux the top pot and check the temperature of the alloy.

I open the spout with the attached small vise grips on top of the op rod and let the silver stream flow down the channel of the angle iron to bring the bottom pot to 3/4 or a little bit more but certainly not full up.

I now flux the bottom pot again and check the temperature. While the therrmometer is getting the information I again top off the upper pot with more ingots.

When all is well I resume casting from the bottom pot. When I really get into a good rythem I just add ingots to the top pot and flux as needed to minimize the stoppage of casting. If the temps are off I can tell really fast as my boolits will tell me if they are too hot or cold.

Using the Bruce B method of cooling down the sprue plate, usage of Bullshops fine Sprue Plate Lube and a 5 gallon bucket of cold water covered with a towel that had a nice slit in it I can really produce some quality boolits really fast.

After I remove the freshly cast boolits from the water bucket I lay them out in the sun on a couple of layers of old towels to dry.

I usually try to lube them within 36 hours as they will harden up some and make lubing and sizing more difficult as they age. After lubing they are given a corn starch bath.

When dried I toss a few handfuls at a time in a large plastic pickle jar {three gallon size} with a few tablespoons full of corn starch. This allows the fresly lubed boolits to remain easy to handle and they will not stick together nor make a mess of my reloading dies.

When I am making .38's, 9 MM's or .45's I usually fill up Captain Black tobacco cans with fresh boolits. With the plastic covers on I can rest assured that these boolits will remain fresh and clean and ready to assemble into quality reloads whenever I am ready for them.

I have some that are over 10 years old in .44 size that I will not use until I again obtain a suitable weapon as I sold off the Ruger REDHAWK in that calibre many years ago. These old castings hold down my reloading bench very well and will need to be replaced eventually after I get my grubby paws on that Lipsey's .44 Spcl RBH in the old smaller frame.

[warf73]

I started with a Lee 10lb pot was good pot till the heat element went out. I got the Lee 20lb pot and its still going strong today. Only issue I have with the 20lb pot is the allow leaves way to fast since I started casting with 2~3 molds. My next purchase will be http://magmaengineering.com/products/cast-master once I get the wife talked into it .
But get the 20lb pot because allow leaves really fast even with a 4 cavity mold once you get into your rhythm. Nothing worse than get rolling really good and bam your low on alloy and need to refill the pot.

[whisler]

I got the Lee 10 lb. pot and wish now that I had gotten the 20lb'er. Am thinking seriously of getting the 20 and using the 10 lb'er to pre-heat alloy for it. We'll see how the money works out.

[nonferrous]

Lee 4-20 and your gonna want a lead thermometer.

[Bucks Owin]

I've had A Lee Production Pot since the 70's. Good choice IMO....Dennis