I don't cast much in the summetime (too hot) but I got a new mold the other day, a Lee 457-340, to size down and use in my .45 colt, just for fun.
I fired up the pot monday afternoon. Right from the start I had a hard time casting, but it slowly warmed enough that I cast about 15 good bullets....then began to cool off.
It's dead now. Lyman Big Dipper. I think it's five years old. I was expecting longer life from it, but this isn't terrible, I guess.
So I get on Amazon and see that the Lyman pot, by itself, is about 40 bucks, but some of the Lee pots are more expensive (which is out of character for Lee).
Are they worth the difference? For an electric pot, is there a better value out there than the $40 Lyman Big Dipper pot?
I strictly ladle pour and have no intention of changing that, if that matters.