Bottom Pour vs Laddle Pour

[brasshog]

I have always used a bottom pour for casting and I am thinking of trying out ladle pouring. Who has experience at this and would like to share thier thoughts ? The reason for thinking about ladle pouring is because I'm tired of my bottom pourer (lee) always getting a tiny bit of trash in it and either constantly dripping or plain all out running wide open. I have emptied it and cleaned it to no avail. I have even tried adding alittle weight to the handle. Besides, it seems that with a ladle I might be able to get a more steady pour while it's hot. Thanks.

[detox]

Reclean your bottom pour and do not flux next time you cast. If it does leak again rotate the valve rod back and forth 10 degrees with screwdriver to clear out debris.

My RCBS Pro Melt has not leaked yet.

Ladle and bottom pour can both produce good results. I make a bigger mess using the ladle...too much sprue.

[shadowcaster]

I don't know which Lee you have, but The pair of Lee pro 4-20's that I use very seldom drip. I did have to make some adjustments to begin with. The Lee 10 pound bottom pour is the one that has earned the drips alot tag.

detox is right.... Ladle and bottom pour can both produce good results.

Shad

[Mk42gunner]

Get either an RCBS or Lyman ladle and have fun. I don't know about the ten pound Lee, (I have never melted anything in mine, backup don't you know) but the 4-20 that I used to use would eventually drip enough that it would self limit whe I was ladle casting.

Either method can produce good boolits, for me it depends on what the mold wants for proper fillout.

Robert

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I use both methods depending on what I feel like doing and the mold. I concur 100% with MK42 gunner that either way produces good bullets. Some casters are happily wed to one or the other. There is however some confusion as to the use of the terms Ladle and Dipper. RCBS and Lyman have since coming out with their models..have advertised them as "dippers". You can of course call them anything you like, but originally the term ladle was used in reference to "soup ladle".... a hemisphere or sphere cut in half with a couple of pouring ears and a long handle. It is still used to "ladle" out soup or punch. In a write-up found in the NRA Hand Loading Handbook on "gang moulds" as they (multicavity) molds were then called, directions and pictures showed how to pour from a ladle to fill a mold with several cavities. The routine was to pour "uphill". It worked very well, but until you got it down pat, it was kind of sloppy going (splashy) and the sprues were grotesque(ly) large and weird. But it made good bullets and that's what counts. I once had H&G make me a ladle..I ordered it as such and that is what I got...handle was too short for the soup pot, but ok for the melting pot. I also use the Lyman and the RCBS dippers and the procedure for those is well known...connect the nib to the empty mold cavity sprue hole and rotate 90 degrees to fill the cavity. Easy with one cavity molds and almost as easy with 2 holers...a bit more complicated with multicavs...depends on how you like to do it. LLS

[brasshog]

Thanks for all of the help guys. I appreciate the input and ideas.

[Gliden07]

I just got a Lee 4-20 bottom pour pot and have had 1 casting session with it. After adjusting the flow and getting a system down it was way easier and quicker than my ladle. Less sprue and better looking boolits. The biggest problem with my ladle was constantly scraping the oxidized layer off the pot (dross). Now I add clean lead ingots, flux with a little beeswax, clean off the dross and pour. I never clean off the dross again until I add a substantial amount of lead to the pot, then I repeat the process. It seemed to work well!! I am keeping my small pot and ladle for back up but unless I have a problem with the Lee Pot I can't see me going back to the ladle in the near future?