About had it with casting using a gas camp stove. Tiring, frustrating morning.

[Tallbald]

Between the $10 a gallon price for white gas, the uncertainty of when I need to pump the tank up again, the burner bigger than the 10 pound capacity iron pot (flames lick up the pot side a lot), and flames that need to be adjusted often I can't spend the time focusing on what I'm casting. I do like dipping with a pouring ladle. Since I plan to keep casting, I think it's time I buy a simple electric pot I can use on my shop bench to do my casting with, and keep my iron pot and gas stove setup for converting nasty scrap lead and wheel weights to useful ingots ready for the... electric pot. I guess I just take longer to learn what's good for me than most. I'm also getting tired of my six cavity economy mold sprue plate not hugging the mold halves snugly and leaving me a nice fat fin at the base of my otherwise handsome slugs. Despite my making sure every few minutes the sprue stop bolt and hinge bolt are snug. But I will persevere and get better as I go.
Thanks for letting me vent a bit. I will, as usual, sort all my slugs one by one and see if I can peel the base fins away. Maybe the sizer will take some fins off. If not, at least I know what the alloy is for sure as I toss them back in the pile to remelt. Don.

[03fatboy]

Don,hang in there
I'm really new to the casting game and I feel your pain.
I use a second hand turkey fryer burner to make ingots and like it.
I'm sure someone will be along that has more knowledge the I do and give you some. advise.
Good luck

[DLCTEX]

If your mould is aluminum it is very simple to drill and tap for set screws to hold the adjustment of the sprueplate screw and stop screw. A drill bit and tap set cost me about $5 at Ace and the set screws (Allen head) were about .20 ea. Iron could /will be be best done with a drill press, but I used a cordless hand drill on the aluminum.

[Tallbald]

Is there supposed to be light seen between the sprue plate and the top of the mold halves when closed? The tool and die maker part of me says "no, it should be flush with the top of the halves". Warpage? Don.

[Love Life]

Lap the sprue plate and top of the mould blocks. I do it when my lee moulds cause a ruckus.

[country gent]

Drill and tap the moulds sprue plate screw and stop screw for 8 X 32 set screws ( just into the hole ). An electric pot is good for casting and can be usefull. You will still want a bigger pot for blending alloies and cleaning up lead. Watch the garage sales for a turkey frier burner and stand. They work very well for both casting and smelting rendering lead down.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

With the blocks closed the sprue plate should lie flat on the top of the blocks...no light showing between the two. When the blocks are tilted the sprue plate should slide on its on weight. A common error is made by many who tighten the plate so that it does not slide. This hinders or prevents the escape of air in the mold cavity resulting in poor/incomplete fillout around the bullet base. Another contributor to bullet fillout woes is the use of a pour stream diameter that is too fat for the feed hole; if it is drowned then again the air in the cavity cannot freely escape and one gets voids or incomplete filling. The sprue plate cannot have any up and down slop and base fins will result as well as the probability of smears and buildup. Camp stoves have been used a lot of folks in bullet casting...they are clumsy, hot and expensive to run...admittedly they can get the job done, but life is definitely easier with an electric pot. At $10 a gallon for white gas you will not have to go far to equal the cost of a good ladle dipper type electric unit. LLS

[bangerjim]

Bottom pour! Check Amazon for very good prices on the Lee 4-20. It is well worth $60-70 to me to get perfect boolits in large quantities.

The bottom pour is fast and effecient....much more so than a bottom/side CI ladle. I have both and rarely use the dipper. I can cast HUNDREDS of preferct boolits with a 4-20 pot and a six banger mold. No wrinkles, no voids, no errors! Just set the knob between 6 & 7 and you will be good to go.


And leave the camp stove for the cook!

bangerjim

[aspangler]

I use a Lee 4 pound dipper pot and love it. You can get one of Evilbay pretty cheap or try Titan. 4 Pounds is about all the time I can stand in one place anymore. Old age sucks.

[Tallbald]

With the lower volumes I cast, and as aspangler has said about self, I too can only stand for short periods. The smaller pot would likely do me well. I do enjoy the dipping process itself folks. That may change if I am lucky enough to age much more, but for now the dipping makes me really feel a part of the process. I'll look into correcting the sprue plate. I do expect that with time and more experience I'll have a better grasp on the nuances of the casting craft. Don

[VHoward]

https://fsreloading.com/lee-precision-magnum-melter-90949.html
If it were me, I would get the 20 lb pot even if I was only going to cast 5 lbs at a time. The 20 lb pot has more room for the ladle dipping in and will be more stable on temps.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

I have had two casting sessions this week using my many years old Coleman gas stove and opern top pot.

Get yourself an old cast iron Dutch oven type pot that holds about 45lb of alloy.

The small pot your using is the pits, while the large pot allows me to keep adding the sprews back to the pot or add ingots all while continuing to cast. Only stopping once in awhile to flux the pot.

Use a Rowell bottom pour ladle!

Have been there and done that trying a bottom pour electric pot and gave it up as a bad thing.

To each his own, but there is no electric bottom pour pot made short of some kind of industrial/commercial unit that will keep up with my casting rate. Especially when I am team casting with a friend and we are running 4 - 5 molds.

Earlier this week I was casting 465gr Wide Flat Nose 45/70 bullets from a 4 cavity mold. Sorted and weighed out to about 300 - 340 bullets or a couple hours of casting. Those big bullet use a LOT of alloy, fast!

Today, I was breaking in two new 5 cavity molds from Tom at Accurate Molds for 9mm and .38/.357 and using an old and rattily 4 cavity .38 semi wad cutter Lyman mold along with a 2 cavity Lyman of the same style. Should have just stayed with the 3 larger molds and kept the 2 cavity in the drawer.

Typical production was down with the two new molds, but surprisingly, the old Lyman started throwing good bullets very quickly.

THEN, no there should not be light between the sprew plate and the mold blocks.

As said, to each his own, but it would take at least 3 - 4 bottom pour pots such as the Lyman or RCBS to keep up, so I'll just stay with the old gas stove and the large pot along with the Rowell bottom pour ladle.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

138555138553138554

[Mk42gunner]

Don,

Like you, I started out casting with a Coleman stove and a cast iron pot (mine was actually a one pint sauce pan). I didn't really like using white gas, so I tried using a propane adapter. It worked a bit better than white gas, at least there was no pumping.

The absolute best thing I ever did for casting comfort was to buy an electric pot. In my case I bought a Lee 4-20, and haven't lit my Coleman stove for casting purposes in several years.

The 4-20 is one of the best deals going for casting boolits; you can either bottom pour or dip from it, and it costs very little more than one of the economy melting pots.

If you really want to splurge, there is always the Waage...

Robert

[Tallbald]

VHoward I agree a larger pot would be nice, but I have a very fixed income and larger costs more of course. I have a permanent 10 pound weight lifting limit too. Crusty yours are much prettier than what I made today. MK4 I have trouble lifting a pot that size, but I agree it would be, if I could do it, be much more efficient. I do have a stainless steel pot I use to melt the few wheel weights I've been able to buy. And the roofing boot jacks I use for the pure lead.
Below is a photo of today's efforts drying on the dining room table with first coat of LLA so I can size them (and in this case use a trim knife to remove any base fins. Toward the end of my session, some became "frosty" looking but after such a day fighting with the stove, I kept them anyhow.
I don't want a bottom pour pot. I prefer to ladle dip. I feel more "connected" if you will, and enjoy the pour process itself. I'll always be a small-time hobby caster, and I have lots more time than cash. I'll shop around.
138586

[retread]

If your mould is aluminum it is very simple to drill and tap for set screws to hold the adjustment of the sprueplate screw and stop screw. A drill bit and tap set cost me about $5 at Ace and the set screws (Allen head) were about .20 ea. Iron could /will be be best done with a drill press, but I used a cordless hand drill on the aluminum.

When you install the allen set screw, snip of a very small piece of copper from a #12 copper wire and drop it in the hole before installing the set screw. This will protect the threads on the sprue plate screw from becoming damaged. Don't ask me why I know.

[daniel lawecki]

A small lead shot works really nice in the hole.

[zuke]

I saved my Looney's and Twooney's till I had enough to buy a LEE 4-20 pot

[srd]

Need to visit a few Goodwill stores in your area. I was looking for pewter yesterday and saw a dutch oven for 5.00. Stop at a few repair shops and check on wheel weights. If they see you are going to stop in every few weeks there is a good chance they will save some for you. Especially if they reload and find out you are a boolit caster.I bought a mold for .380 to cast some boolits just for trading purposes.I have some friends that trade me wheel weights for fishing sinkers and boolits. As far as your 10 lb weight limit...DO NOT let that stop you from what you want to do !!! I was told the same thing 2 years ago after open heart surgery 3 times in 5 months but my limit was 8 lbs. I have worked myself up to the point I can cast with my favorite 10 cavity H&G molds for a short period of time with out a lot of trouble. If I can do it..so can you !!

[lightman]

Like many, I started casting with a Coleman camp stove, a 10# cast iron pot and a Lyman dipper. I smelted on that same stove in a small dutch oven. I saved enough to buy a bottom pour pot and would hate to have to go back to that stove and 10# pot. Now days, I smelt on a homemade gas burner and a pot that holds around 400#, based on the number of 1# ingots that I can produce. If a 20# pot ever can't keep up with my casting rate I will look at a 40# Magma pot.

These upgrades did not happen all at once. I scrapped and saved a lot along the way. Also, I'm not a Lee hater but 1 Lee mold was enough for me.

[Treeman]

I support your inclination to get an electric pot. Personally I love a bottom pour. However, regarding your camp stove-a larger cast iron pot is useful.(I smelt on a camp stove). You DO NOT need to buy white gas. Regular pump fuel works just dandy. No, you do not have to purchase a new "unleaded fuel" generator tube either. Try it. White gas smells less obnoxious and probably was a lot better to cook with than leaded gasoline in the old days but gas station regular burns just fine.

[Southron]

I started casting in 1962 and over the years I have cast many hundreds of thousands of bullets. Back in the early 1990's I purchased an electric, Lyman 25 pound lead furnace. I use a RCBS Lead Dipper and either Lyman Iron Bullet Moulds or Bass moulds. I do have a few aluminum moulds, but aluminum is a very poor material from which to make moulds because at casting temperatures aluminum loses about half of its strength. I do own several Lee aluminum moulds but I have to "baby" them compared to a Lyman Iron or brass mould.

I CAN'T SAY ENOUGH GOOD THINGS ABOUT THE LYMAN COMPANY.

About 10 months ago, after many years of being used to cast many, many lead bullets, my Lyman 25 pound lead furnace literally "died" on me. It wouldn't heat up so I assumed the heating elements inside the furnace had finally worn out or "died."

I sent the furnace back to Lyman with a note asking them how much it would cost to repair my furnace. I figured that the warranty had long ago expired. Well, not too much longer later (and without ever hearing from Lyman) the UPS truck showed up at my front door. The driver handed me a package from Lyman.

When I opened the package, I found my "renovated" Lyman furnace and a note telling me that I didn't owe them anything!!!
My Lyman furnace works as good as it ever did, so I am a very happy, long time Lyman customer.

So, get a 25 Pound Lyman Lead frunace and you can't go wrong.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Treeman,

Thanks for the tip.

If as you say, typical gas station gas burns OK in the old White gas stoves, it would be because it is "un-leaded."

Years back, the local grange supply where I bought my "bulk" white gas, hauled the white gas from Spokane in one of their bulk farm delivery fuel trucks.

Because they had hauled leaded gas in those tanks, there was enough lead passed to the white gas to cause problems in a lantern. Needed to regularly pass the cleaning needle through the generator to clean the orifice.

I'll need to try your tip, although I don't know how the corn squeezings are going to affect the burn.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[Tallbald]

This has been a very helpful and dare I say encouraging thread. I've looked at several choices and am going to get the Lyman Big Dipper, which is on sale at MidwayUSA for $34.99 (the price of 3.5 gallons of camp stove gas I currently buy) plus postage. It has a 10 pound capacity which is plenty for me. As I've said, I like the act of dipping. For some reason it just appeals to me. Looking forward to simply plugging in the thing.
I'll still use my 10 pound capacity iron pot, and my stainless steel sauce pan for turning roof lead and any WW I find into ingots.
As always, I appreciate folks here sharing their experience and thoughts. Don.

[Petrol & Powder]

I feel your pain...

OK no Bill Clinton jokes


Years ago I started casting round balls for a cap & ball revolver and actually used an iron pot on a campfire! I'm not some super dedicated civil war re-enactor nor am I some sort of luddite; I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. After satisfying my curiosity I moved on to a single burner Coleman stove. You can run most of the Coleman stoves off of unleaded gasoline and even if you screw up the gas generator (I never have) it's still way cheaper than Coleman fuel.
I keep that setup as a back up but I have long since moved on to an electric bottom pour pot. For my needs the Lee Drip-O-matic is fine. If it dies I'll move up to a RCBS Pro-Melt but for now I'm happy enough with it. I suppose an electric pot and a ladle would be about as reliable and simple as one could get but I prefer the bottom pour pot. I think you'll find that the electric pot makes casting much more enjoyable.

[dikman]

Whether you use a dipper or bottom pour, I reckon you'll find an electric pot much nicer to use (and potentially safer too). I really like my bottom-pours as they let me sit down to cast (another aging body!!). Who knows, you might even PID it one day :smile:.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Bottom pour pots may be faster, but you can pour beautiful bullets with a ladle....and that is the way it was done back in the day before the advent of bottom pourers. In the book titled "The Art of Bullet Casting" still sold by Wolfe Publishing, there is an extensive article done by Jim CarMichael (former editor of Field & Stream) which discusses the pros and cons of both methods. The book itself is a treasure-house of casting information and worth every penny that it costs. I myself started with a ladle and when I acquired my first multi cavity molds, used a soup ladle to pour for them. That worked too, but it was an experience in itself. Keep in mind a bit of advice offered by Guy Loverin of casting fame..."Watch the quality and not the clock". LLS

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Well, me and the old fashion way of casting had another session today.

Using 3 molds, a 4 cavity Lyman for semi-wad cutters in .38/.357 and a couple almost new Accurate Molds, 5 cavity, one for 9mm and the other for .38/.357.

Something a bit over 21lbs of bullets after the first rough sorting. Time now to again sort while segregating the three different bullets and then on to sizing and lubing.

After casting in this ages old method, likely won't end up with more then 2 or 3 each that are shootable. :wink:

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[mjwcaster]

I use unleaded in my stove, even though it is a red tank (white gas) stove.
I bought a duel fuel stove and lantern over 20 years ago, don't know what ever happened to them, but they ran fine on unleaded and my friends started using unleaded in their stoves and lanterns.
My colemane stove was a $10 yard sale find, so if it dies, I have gotten my monies worth.
One thing I have learned is that the plunger seal needs a little oil, there is a hole in the top of the plunger to add a few drops. Never knew that before, probably in the manual I didn't read over 20 years ago, and no manual with this one.
My plunger seal needs to be replaced, but when it acts up I just pull it apart squeeze it around a little and it works for a few more sessions.
$2 part with $5 shipping, I will get one someday.

Also if you go with a larger pot, keep an eye on the grate, they are not designed for this much weight.
I use a couple of soup cans under the grate for added support and make sure that it stays on the lip of the stove.

Pumping and adjusting are a pain, I plan on upgrading sometime, but it works for now and the price is right.
And the second burner works for preheating the mold.

Also no need to mess with power, unless I am working at night, then I run an extension cord out for lights.

[ascast]

Tallbald- I'll add my 2 cents- I also used a Coleman for many years with a Dutch oven (watch yard sales etc). When the AUTO GAS model came out or DUEL FUEL that has a gas pump on it I got one. Extensive testing yielded a pile of crapped up generators. I found that no matter what gas I was using (automotive fuel) it would clog up in 2 or 3 tanks full. I am baffeled by fellow shooters who report good results with the DUEL FUEL stove. I would caution against it MOST STRONGLY.
Watch for junked out electric cook stoves, like on the side of the road. You can re-wire the thing with 110v on the top with a separate plug in. I have one like this I took off the base and built a suit case for. You can leave the hole thing together and you have a casting table. That will melt a 20# batch in about 20 minutes in a Dutch oven type pot. The other burner can be used to preheat molds or premelt alloy. Can also be used to cook a couple pots of deer soup if need be; and please be "tiddy" when doing this.

Now, about that mold finning issue. Here are my thoughts:
1) bent sprue cutter plate
2) loose sprue cutter plate
3) using a mallet to open sprue cutter
4) too much tin
5) too hot
6) too much pouring time (mass flow rate)
7) sprue cutter plate too tight
8) galling (erosion) around sprue cutter hinge bolt. read lost material
OK here 1,2 ,3, 7and 8 rolled together. You should see only a very small crack of light under the sprue cutter plate. The harder you have to look for it the better. If you see light, look for dark spots. Dark is a trouble spot like a burr. They need to by filed off. Check the under side of the sprue cutter for a burr. Check where it hits the stop pin/screw. If cutters are mounted so that they "swing open under their own weight" then they swing shut. It will peen a big shoulder where it hits the stop pin and this lifts the cutter plate. Check the top of the blocks for tell tale arcs. If it seems to be bent, do not try to beat it flat, it will only make matters worse. Do you use a mallet? If you do STOP if at all possible (10# limit). If you must use a mallot, try to find a spot where you can really get a good 90degree hit. Most of us can't do that but about 1 in 1,000. Over time those off hits will bend the sprue cutter. Look for galling or erosion around the hinge pin. If there is material gone then maybe the tight hinge screw if lifting the cutter up off the blocks. very hard to fix this. Always use lube of some kind. Check under side of cutter in detail, just like the top of the blocks. Check for lead spatter. Do not open mold such that sprue falls directly back into the pot. It will splash and get little spots of the top of the block.
OK 4,5 and 6 Too hot and too much Tin are sure ways to getting finning either on the top or in the vent lines. Also, if you spend too much time pouring in lead, the lead stream can lift the cutter a tad. It's a bit of a hydrualic thing, especially with large diameter flat base boolits. Just pour a good puddle and move on to the next.

hope that helps a bit

[Elkins45]

A two quart Dutch oven is a real improvement. You can smelt with it and it holds enough all you don't get significant temperature swings when you add ingots as you go.

I have been using regular unleaded gas mixed 50/50 with white gas in my older Coleman stove for years with no problem, and have occasionally run straight unleaded. I have a dual fuel model as well, but I cook on it so it doesn't ever get used for casting. I don't know if you can swap out the generator with the dual fuel type, but if they have the same thread size you could probably burn straight unleaded in your old stove.

I will tell you that I have burned nothing but regular unleaded gas in my Coleman lantern for 20+ years now with no problems whatsoever.

[tmc-okc]

I also use a Coleman 3 burner camp stove for smelting only. I cut 2 5/8" dia. rods to fit front to back of the stove top to sit my cast iron Dutch oven ( holds about 40 Lbs) on to keep the stove grate from becoming stressed and folding in. When the rods are properly placed over the normal grate they hold the Dutch oven directly over the center burner without any danger of the rods rolling and the pot falling off the rods. I have 2 fuel tanks for my stove. One is for camp fuel ONLY and the other is for Regular Unleaded Gas (RUG). The generator on the RUG does not gasify the additives in the RUG and therefore it does not burn as clean as the camp fuel (white gas). I eliminated the problem of the expense of camp gas and the less clean burning of the RUG by using a propane converter. They are pretty cheap and never wear out or need cleaning or replacing. It has it's own generator, 6 Ft hose and no regulator needed. The regulator is part of the generator setup. The propane converter keeps the flame, and therefore the pot, at a regulated temperature during the entire smelting process. I don't use the camp stove for casting-only smelting. Propane is cheaper than white gas or even Regular Unleaded Gasoline. My propane setup is over 30 years old..
Ron H

[RogerDat]

I have a hot plate that struggles to keep lead molten and up to temp. Might be too low a wattage could be that garage circuit is too long a run. Either way I found that casting bullets from cast iron Dutch oven full of lead on the fish/turkey fryer when making alloy ingots was best BUT once I have the alloy in ingots I don't want to deal with a 50# batch.

What I came up with as a solution is probably not new but might be worth mentioning again. Burner insert made by laying some scrap angle iron across the existing burner. From a scrap yard we are talking a couple of bucks for angle iron to turn the ingot burner into a casting burner. An old bed frame is another possible source of angle iron. In my case this is an opportunity to use some angle iron I have shuffled around for 15 years. Priceless moment in hoarder history.

I guess if one has not yet gotten the cash together for a proper electric lead pot or PID and pot this would get you by for the time being.

141224

I will say the large pot is easier to manage temperature on, maintaining burner at right level to keep small pot at desired temperature is a bit of a challenge. Might be easier to manage temps if there was a metal plate under the pot. But it does seem to work...
141225
Tumble lube bullets drying on metal tray
I might add metal tray that is NOT pewter despite soldered handles. $2.00 gamble I chalked up to experience and now put to use.

[DocSavage]

To melt my wheel weights and mix alloy I purchased a 2 burner Fire Chef camp stove,uses 20 lb propane tanks and is very sturdy no problems doing 40 lbs at a time. For bullet casting RCBS pro melt that I bought "used" from a gun shop for $120.
Saw that on the "used reloading equipment " table and latched on to it and never let it out of my sight. The camp stove was on sale $80 2 burner each produces 30 K btu. Right now they run about $120 or so. Never liked the idea of a Coleman stove always had a picture of the grate giving way and being covered in molten lead.

[bob208]

I had the same deal with Lyman. bought a 10 lb. pot new in 72. used it a lot. about 89 it would not heat up any more. friend at the gun shop said let me send it back and see if they can fix it. about two weeks later got a call from him my pot was back. they rebuilt it no charge.

[longbow]

I have cast on a natural gas stove, Coleman camps stove and more recently a propane stove. I have been doing it that way for about 45 years. I did have lee bottom pour pot briefly but didn't like it at all. I am a confirmed ladle caster and like the stove and cast iron pot.

Something you can do to help control the flames is to either put a piece of about 3/16" steel plate over the burner. it should be large enough to keep the flames on the underside. Wouldn't cost but a few dollars to have a square or octagon sheared at a local steel fab shop if you can't do it yourself.

Another option is to find a can that is a little larger than your pot and cut a pot size hole through the bottom then cut it to length so the pot sits inside the hole with bottom up so it becomes a shroud around your pot and holds heat in from the flames licking up the sides but no more flames.

It works for me.

Longbow

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

I'm with ya Longbow!!!!!!!!

Hard to beat casting with a Rowell bottom pour ladle!

And yes, if the thought of the grate on the Coleman stoves bother a person, it is an easy fix.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[AllanD]

Like many here I started casting on a two burner Coleman stove.
"dipping" got pretty tired after a few casting sessions so I switched to a lee bottom pour.

This was in the late 80's

I did my "smelting" and alloy mixing without using any white gas RUG or propane
I would just put the garage sale cast iron dutch oven I used inside the wood stove
I used for heating in my garage...


I no longer live there, and honestly the only thing I miss about living there
is that garage... and though the house was built by an ancestor in the 19th century
I don't miss it a bit...

Now a days I live in a house that's the same age as my pickup truck and I don't have a wood stove
in my garage, I have a coal stove in my den, YES, I do my smelting and mixing in the coal stove...
with a thrift store cast iron pot purchased for that purpose... Coal is much cheaper than any other fuel
and if you consider cost relative to heat value it even beats wood...(Unless you own a >40acre woodlot for firewood)

In warm weather I will "smelt" outdoors using a propane fueled "turkey fryer"

I also have a PAIR of US ARMY M2A burner units these are Kind of like a Godzilla sized
single burner Coleman stove... I have actually melted 50# of aluminum over one of these
burners, so lead isn't a challenge... I want to try brass or copper next


The old Lee bottom pour lost an argument with gravity and I replaced it with one of the new 4-20 pots last month

I've really only had one casting session with it, but I like it a lot more than my previous Lee (which I did like)



AD

[Garyshome]

With a bottom pour your casting time can be reduced greatly while producing more boolits per session. If I cast for a couple of days at 6 to 8 hours I can cast enough for 6 months or longer. Plus it leaves time for sizing boolits.

[Iowa Fox]

A botom pour electric with nice clean ingots, a sweet casting multi cavity iron mold, and a Star sizer running nice would really change your outlook on casting.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Guys,

Your all welcome to use the bottom pour pots that you like, no problem here. But I have tried them, and out side of having 2 - 3 good electric pots or a Large commercial unit of some type, there is no way in the world you can keep up the casting pace I am able to maintain with a 40 - 45lb. pot on the Coleman stove.

This pot is large enough and the heat source hot enough that I can add back sprews and add new ingots while continuing to cast, only stopping once in awhile to flux.

With other then my 45/70 - 4 cavity mold for 465gr bullets where I cast by myself using a single mold with the attempt to maintain a high level of quality and consistency, I will be running 2 - 3 - four to six cavity molds and when team casting we will be running 4 - 5 molds at one time.

I realize that pot and dipper casting is not for everyone, but the large open pot over a good heat source and using a Rowell bottom pour ladle is the fastest and best system for casting bullets that I have seen.

I'd really like the simplicity of a good bottom pour pot, I really would, but simply they can't keep up with my casting rate except for possibly when I'm casting for the 45/70 and even there I'd need to stop and wait for more metal to melt.

While I may enjoy sitting down at the loading bench to produce a good run of hand loads, when casting it is all about production and producing as many bullets as possible in as short a time as possible.

I won't convince anyone here, as we all like what we like, but I'm just telling it like it is.

Anything short of a number of GOOD electric bottom pour pots all heating at the same time would not keep up with the pace of casting that I'm able to maintain with the very old Coleman gas stove and the large open pot.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[MT Chambers]

a.) for smelting, think of making a melter from propane tiger torch, much more BTU then turkey cooking gear.
b.) for casting think RCBS pro-melt
c.) for molds, loose the Lees, quickly.

[Lance Boyle]

If one is doing wheel weights one might be best served being able to keep the melt low enough to not melt the zinc weights too fast.

I have a handful of Lyman, RCBS and NOE molds. Actually the latest version of the lee's make me want to give them a shot. I still like the brass and mehanite iron molds though.

[gwpercle]

I dipper cast too. From my experience, a Lee electric melting pot is a great investment.
I started with a small one ( 4 or 5 lb. is too small), next tried a bottom pour (not my cup of tea)but liked the larger size, and my last one was a big Lee Magnum Melter....SWEET ! You can put a good 15 pounds of metal in there with your ladle and cast a good many boolits before you need to replenish the pot.
Bigger is better.
As for Lee moulds, I have a lot of Lee double cavity moulds and like them. Especially the new style dbl. cavity moulds . Aluminum is a little trickier and temperamental, at times, to use. But with a little TLC and working with them, can do fine. I learned with Lyman iron moulds and iron is less temperamental , but for $20.00 with the handles I can adjust my technique to make them work. Lee's are a good value mould.
Gary

[Tom W.]

Having worked in a sawmill, and my dutch oven not fitting well on my turkey fryer burner, I brought home a 20" ruined gang saw blade to lay between the burner and my dutch oven. Worked like a dream, until I packed up to move and lost the saw. There is a sawmill a few miles from here. When I need to smelt again, I'll go beg one from one of the supervisors.

[gwpercle]

With the lower volumes I cast, and as aspangler has said about self, I too can only stand for short periods. The smaller pot would likely do me well. I do enjoy the dipping process itself folks. That may change if I am lucky enough to age much more, but for now the dipping makes me really feel a part of the process. I'll look into correcting the sprue plate. I do expect that with time and more experience I'll have a better grasp on the nuances of the casting craft. Don
Get the big one , the larger diameter makes things much easier, more room to work with, It's much easier if you dipper cast. Heck I'm 66 with a bad back and if I wear out, I turn the pot off and go rest. The larger diameter opening just makes using a dipper easier.
I've got a small one , a bottom pour and the big magnum melter...get the magnum.
Gary
I cast for many years out of the little one and believe me, bigger is better.