changing the lead in your lee pot?

[samwithacolt]

So I just bought a lee pro 4 melter, and realise my life has been incomplete till now!
I cast a bunch of .40 and various rifle boolits the other day.
My question is, now that it has an inch of WW alloy in the pot, how do I change to pure lead for my shotgun slugs, 38-55 boolits, and RB's?
I don't want to put crud through the spout, or is that just how it's done? Just stir and skim to clean it up and then pour it all out the spout? Pick the whole thing up and pour it out the top? What do you guys do?

[Buzz64]

If you must start with a dry pot, heat it up and dump it. With just an inch of ww left, putting pure lead in will dilute it so much you won't even notice the 'increase' in hardness.

[ElDorado]

Don't empty it through the spout. It may crud-up the valve and cause dripping. Pour it out of the top. Just be careful not to burn yourself in the process.

[ShooterAZ]

I just melt the remaining alloy and top pour into muffin ingot molds. I then mark the ingots with a sharpie as the the alloy and store in boxes also marked. I have a good pair of welders gloves for this task. As mentioned, pour slowly and carefully to avoid splattering.

[dragonrider]

To empty your pot simple heat it up to liquid and then turn it over and pour into an ingot mold. Where heavy gloves when doing so. Something to think about is never allowing your level to drop below half full. The method I use is to have another pot to melt lead and when my casting pot is low I add to it from the other pot so as not to have to wait for it to heat up again. Then you add lead to the other pot get it melted and ready for the next refill.

[tengaugetx]

Just tilt the base so the melt is on the opposite side of the pot from the rod that allows the lead to flow out the bottom of the furnace. Let it cool and turn over the pot. The remaining lead will fall right out.

[el34]

I've emptied my pot several times but the rebel in me did it by draining through the spout into ingot molds. I periodically use a 3/8 dowel to stir and scrape the bottom to prevent crud and haven't plugged up the spout yet.

But tilting, cooling, and dumping the remaining chunk is a cool idea. Before I made the PID base my pot sits on I would jack it up with 2 chunks of 2x3 sitting on their sides. Somehow I pulled the pot sideways and it toppled over almost full. Don't want to mess with pouring a hot pot anymore.

[bangerjim]

To empty your pot simple heat it up to liquid and then turn it over and pour into an ingot mold. Where heavy gloves when doing so. Something to think about is never allowing your level to drop below half full. The method I use is to have another pot to melt lead and when my casting pot is low I add to it from the other pot so as not to have to wait for it to heat up again. Then you add lead to the other pot get it melted and ready for the next refill.

+1.........that's why I have several pots. I keep different alloys in them and never have to worry about changing out.

banger

[williamwaco]

+ 1 on "pour it out the top.
(The last inch or so.)

[.429]

all of it goes out the spout for me and i've never had a problem