pouring pot?

[XIT]

Hi Guys

I am new to all this and am just getting my stuff together. I am rigged for smelting with a heavy half inch pot made from pipe. I have a turkey fryer set to go as well. I am just waiting for a ladle and thermometer to melt my lead and wheel weights on hand into ingots. I have muffin tins. Oh yes and a skimmer my wife got for four dollars yesterday. I suppose I should also have a solid spoon.

I am also preparing for pouring bullets and was wondering if one could use a hot plate and a much smaller pot. Or could the much smaller pot work on the turkey fryer. I am thinking it is likely way too hot. I have a four inch by 3.5 inch antique lead melting pot my wife picked up for me in SD last summer. It has an external pot around the smaller internal pot. Could this pot heated on a hot plate work for pouring the bullets? Would the external pot work as a heat shield for more uniform melting? Would a person be better off with a smaller stainless steel soup pot?

So many questions. So little time.

Thanks for now.

[Dale53]

XIT;
Some of the best advice I could give you, is (while they are still available) get a copy of Lyman's Cast Bullet Handbook #3rd Edition. They are "out of print" but Midway still has a few at a VERY good price. I have been casting for about sixty years and still have referred to my copy so much the covers have fallen off. Yesterday, I put my money where my mouth is and ordered a new copy to replace the worn out one.

The 4th Edition has been delayed more than six months and I don't know how good it will be (I am cautiously optimistic), but I can assure you the 3rd Edition is EXCELLENT!! Read it and then re-read it and it will answer a LOT of your questions.

Any questions not found there, can be presented here, of course.

FWIW
Dale53

[XIT]

Thanks Dale

I am planning on getting that book as well as Veral Smith's book. They do sell the lyman handbook as part of a kit with their Big Dipper Casting Kit but I was thinking of starting with more selective components. The lyman book is 25.00 on ebay but with shipping would be likely fifty to Canada. If I get to the city someday I may be able to pick the book up seperately at the store.

Thanks

Pat

[WILCO]

I started out using a hot plate and cast iron skillet for smelting and casting. Search the forums as there are lots of threads and posts on the usage of such items. Walgreen's has a good hotplate for $10.00 and any thrift store will have a cast iron skillet. Mine was a chinese one for $2.00.

[Dale53]

XIT;
Here is the link to Midway USA:

http://www.midwayusa.com/Search/#Lyman Cast Bullet handbook Edition %233

They'll ship to Canada, I am sure.

Dale53

[XIT]

Good News Dale

My wife was off on a foray to the big town. I called and asked her and her friend to go to the big sports store and sure enough they had a copy of the Lyman cast bullet handbook; and the good news is it was just twenty dollars. So the reading has begun..... Thanks for the tip to Midway. I appreciate your time. Do you think that a hotplate and pot with a thermometer can be just as effective for pouring as a fancier electric pot? I suppose I want a thermometer either way. One advantage for the pot and hotplate would be the capacity which could be easily expanded with a bigger pot.

[Dale53]

XIT;
If your hotplate gets hot enough it'll work for relatively small amounts. Some on this forum have reported good results.

I started out about sixty years ago with a Lyman ten pound cast iron pot on the gas fired kitchen range. I cast this way for several years with a dipper. Later I ran into a couple of brothers who were into bulk casting (several thousand bullets at a time) compared to my couple of hundred at a time. I saved my pennies and bought a Lyman bottom pour (they were eleven pound capacity at the time). I used that for many years with excellent results. However, when I got into IPSC I used 15,000 .45's a year and my two sons about half that. I was doing some commercial casting (for fellow competitors) at the same time. I sold the Lyman and bought an RCBS 22 lb pot which I have been using ever since.

I smelt with a turkey/fish fryer and a six quart cast iron pot. I have done 1000 lbs in a day with help but that is WORK!! Now, I more often do a couple of hundred pounds at a time.

These days I don't require as many bullets and typically cast one or two pots (20-40 lbs of finished bullets) at a time. I do it year 'round to feed my needs as I shoot all year long with several different calibers. My home club has a nice 50' indoor range that we use during bad weather.

So, short answer is that it will work until you need more bullets. YOU will know when you need to increase your production...

Dale53