Where did it go ???

[edler7]

My buddy and I had a casting session last night. We cast 685 200 grain bullets (counting rejects) and used 3 Lee Pro 4 20 lb pots full to do it. My math says 685 bullets should weigh 19.5 pounds, yet 3 full 20 pound pots would be 60 pounds of alloy...and we remelted sprues. Each pot was full (3/4 inch or so from the top) and cast down to within 1/2 inch from the bottom before we refilled it.

Does anyone know if the Pro 4 actually holds 20 pounds of metal ?

Is my math bad ? I've figured it 4 times and come out with the same weight every time.

[smilie=b:

[evan price]

19.6 pounds, nominally.

A Pro 4-20 actually holds about 15 pounds usable metal in my experience.

Did you weigh out your ingots beforehand? Lead didn't just evaporate... :kidding:

or was yer buddy skimming? http://www.unity.i8i.co.uk/forum/images/smiley_thinking.gif

[frkelly74]

I get 8 lbs out of my 10 lb pot.

[ku4hx]

Sounds about normal. I have 10 and 20 lb. pots and if I fill each to the very brim with pure lead I get the rated capacity. My alloy to about 1/2" from the pot's top gives me approximately 9 and 18 lbs.

It's kind of like buying potatoes. You can buy a 25 lb. sack of potatoes or a sack of potatoes with 25 lbs. it in. Sacks have a rated capacity for generally medium spuds. If you fill a 25 lb. sack with medium spuds you get 25 lbs. Fill that same sack with huge ones and you get less than 25 lbs. Fill that same sack with tiny potatoes and you might get 40 lbs.

It's simply a ratings game to give relative size. And being marketing it's mostly hype anyway.

[btroj]

So you have absolutely no sprue left? None at all? Pot is totally empty?
The not full to top accounted for some of the shortage. Sprue accounted for some. What was lost as dross that you skimmed? What fell on floor or table as small pieces or dust.
in the end I don't sweat is stuff. I know about how many bullets I can get from a full pot so I figure how many pots to cast to get what I want.

[casterofboolits]

My RCBS 10 kilo (22 pounds) Pots actualy holds about 24/25 pounds when filled to the brim and if I run them dry without putting any sprue back in, I get approximatly 400 (11.4 pounds) H&G #68 200 grain boolits using two eight cavity H&G moulds. If I run the pot half way out and fill the pot to the top with sprue, I get 600 boolits (17.1 pounds).

Basicly, I produce more sprue weight than boolit weight per pot.

I don't think the Lee pots actually hold the advertised weight. My Lee 10 pound pot holds about 8 pounds. You could check by filling the pot and make one pound ingots and weigh the result.

[selmerfan]

And remember that unless you're casting PURE lead, any other alloy with lighter metals makes the total weight lower than you'll expect.

[mpmarty]

I will never know what my 20 lb pot holds as when I'm casting as the level drops I add ingots and flux to keep the level near the top. It's easier to skim off the dross that way.

[mooman76]

Someone stated here before that the Lee 20# pot doesn't hold quite that much and I never gave it much thought but one day I needed to empty the pot and I refilled it with soft lead and it didn't hold quit 20#. It was more like 19 and I filled it to the top. I don't really care either way, just an observation. I never have sprues left either as I always add mine to the pot while still hot keeping the level up and the need to add ingots less often.

[MT Gianni]

If all your bullets weigh 200 gr not 199.97 or 202,35 you are a very fortunate caster.

[edler7]

We didn't remelt the last batch of sprues, so that will account for some of the loss- forgot about that. We were using 1 lb bars out of a Lee mold, but didn't count how many were put in the empty pot. They were smelted and fluxed pretty clean, we had very little dross to skim. I didn't weigh each bullet, but it was a 200 grain mold- the bullets usually come out pretty close to that weight. Even allowing a +/- 10% variation in bullet weight doesn't do much to the numbers.

As my buddy would say, I'm probably pole vaulting over rat s**t, but I found it curious thinking about what the yield was for what the pot "should" have held.

[mroliver77]

I have never checked any of my pots. I rarely even count how many boolits I cast. oNLY TIME i WEIGH IS IF i AM ALLOYING UP A BATCH.
Jay

[looseprojectile]

I cast 180, 256 grain 45 Colt boolits from a full pot [Lyman #61, 10 pound].
Was full to the top when started and near empty when finished. 6.58 pounds.
I don't sweat it, If I need more boolits I get my son to cast some.
I thought I ought to get more than two hundred of those boolits from a pot full.

There really are a half a million calories in a bowl full of ice cream.:drinks:

Life is good

[williamwaco]

Does anyone know if the Pro 4 actually holds 20 pounds of metal ?


[smilie=b:

No commercial pot actually holds anywhere near the rated weight.

They might if you used pure lead and filled them flush with the top.

My 20 pound Lee, leaving enough space at the top to be able so stir and flux easily without sloshing lead out the top, will hold about 16 pounds of wheel weights.

Ditto for my 10 pound Saeco and Lyman pots, they actually hold about 8 pounds of wheel weights.

[zomby woof]

Mine holds about 16

[Bad Water Bill]

So we have ingot moulds that are supposed to hold #1 of lead per cavity. Has any one ACTUALLY weighed their ingots to see what they really weigh per each type of lead we smelt?

Personally I just keep adding lead till the job is done then top off the pot. When all is melted and skimmed turn off the pot and you are good to go the next time.:bigsmyl2:

[williamwaco]

So we have ingot moulds that are supposed to hold #1 of lead per cavity. Has any one ACTUALLY weighed their ingots to see what they really weigh per each type of lead we smelt?

Personally I just keep adding lead till the job is done then top off the pot. When all is melted and skimmed turn off the pot and you are good to go the next time.:bigsmyl2:


That also helps keep ash, dirt, and slag out of the spout.