Best value casting furnace

[Fastleo]

I’m over the Lee 4-20 bottom pour I have and I’d like to get your opinion on a high value bottom pour casting pot. I don’t have a exact budget. I’m a buy once cry once kinda guy, so I’d like this pot to last me the rest of my life( I’m 28). What do you fine people recommend?

Cheers!

Andy

[Walter Laich]

Oh, to be 28 again! (heck, to be 70 again)

while it is no longer made my RCBS Pro-Melt with a DIY PID unit is all I'll ever need.

I know the Pro-Melt IIs have the PID built in but I would worry that's a lot of circuitry close to a great deal of heat.

[Jack Stanley]

I bought the original Pro-melt in the mid eighties and it's still running fine after tons of lead . It was expensive on a just over minimum wage job but it has proven it's worth many times over .

Jack

[Grmps]

My Lee 4 – 20 has done thousands of pounds of lead with a homemade PID and it still going strong, I can't justify" upgrading":)

[gpidaho]

I like my pro-melt the best but I do have 20yrs. of use out of my Lyman Mag 20. I have a Lee pot but it's a Magnum melter not a bottom pour, it works ok if your a ladle caster but I don't use a ladle much. Gp

[bangerjim]

I have TWO Lee 20# bottom pours and am thinking abou buying a 3rd! Great piece of equipment. No need to ever upgrade mine, even with a PID controller. They have made and continue make perfect boolits by the thousands. No drips. No errors. But mabe that a little something to do with the operator???????????:D

[NoZombies]

I've honestly had good service from a couple of older Lymans, a Saeco, and 2 or 3 Lee pots. I like to keep a pot dedicated to a specific alloy, so when I find cheap casting pots at gunshows and the seller says they work, I usually pick them up. The Saeco is a few decades older than I am, and still going strong, I gave $10 for it, and it was full of linotype when I got it, so that's probably my 'best' value. They don't take up much shelf space.

[winelover]

I’m over the Lee 4-20 bottom pour I have and I’d like to get your opinion on a high value bottom pour casting pot. I don’t have a exact budget. I’m a buy once cry once kinda guy, so I’d like this pot to last me the rest of my life( I’m 28). What do you fine people recommend?

Cheers!

Andy

If I was your age, I would invest in a 40# Magma with the optional PID.

Winelover

[Tatume]

I'm with you fellers. The Lee pots are an outstanding value, and mine have shown no signs of approaching retirement age after many years of steady use.

[dverna]

If I was starting again, I would get a Master Caster. The downside is that it uses Magma molds but that is resolved by taking the pot off and then any mold can be used. I bought one set up that way, (separate stand). As I can no longer do long casting sessions with hand held molds, the Master Caster is easier to use. With pistol bullets making up the bulk of my shooting, the Master Caster is a good choice. It will do 400/hr with a two cavity mold and down the road it can be automated.

For the few rifle bullets I may cast, I have a 40+ year old Lyman furnace and ladle cast. Plug your Lee and use it for that purpose if you do not want to remove the Master Caster pot.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

If I was your age, I would invest in a 40# Magma with the optional PID.

Winelover

If money wasn't an issue, Winelover's suggestion is also the route I would take, I've often wished the Lee had more capacity...and no doubt the Magma will be quality built. But for the amount I shoot, the Lee 4-20 with aftermarket PID seems the most logical purchase.

Fastleo,
I don't know what issues you are having with your Lee, but I can assume it's dripping??? if so, there are fixes for that.

[1bluehorse]

The best "value" in a casting pot probably IS the Lee 4-20, IF you can put up with it's shortcomings. Evidently you like many of us decided there was a better way. The fellas that love their Lee pots that never drip and always work perfectly, good for you. I've owned 3 of them over time and kept waiting to get one like that. Never did. Yeah, probably operator error, casting pots are pretty complicated. Went with the Pro Melt, much, much, better. I've not seen the new RCBS or Lyman but have read good reviews on both although there aren't a lot on the RCBS as it is pretty new on the market plus it's less money than the old model Pro Melt. Either would be far better than the Lee pots. The Magma is probably the "king" but I don't like the fact of using just their molds and I don't cast enough to warrant the 40lb size.

[KenT7021]

The Lee 4 -20 is the best value.I mostly use a Lyman Mag25 and like it but if all I had was the Lee I would be satisfied.I doubt is any of the currently available pots would last 50 years of hard use.

[Ed_Shot]

My Lee 4 – 20 has done thousands of pounds of lead with a homemade PID and it still going strong, I can't justify" upgrading":)

Totally agree!

[Lloyd Smale]

ive got two rcbs pots and they worked flawlessly for about 10 years now. Had two lymans before I lost them in a fire. They were almost as good but I did have a coil burn out in one after about 5 years but to be honest back then I casted about every day. If it were my money id go rcbs.

[Fastleo]

Thank you all so much for your thoughts and suggestions, I’m going to look at the rcbs pot and the magma pot

[lightman]

I would do a Google search looking for a RCBS ProMelt. I expect you can still find one. The Magma looks good if one can afford it.

[toallmy]

I wanted a pro melt so bad I could taste it , when I first started casting just a few years ago , but the cost + not really knowing how much I would use it held me back , so I picked up a lee 4/20 to start with . Then came the shortage and the discontinued model well finally cruising the used mkt didn't show much promise . I gave up on the new pro melt 2 after waiting for months and picked up another 4/20 . I looked at the magma pot with drool running out of my mouth but that's a hard pill to swallow . So I'm just going to use lee until they burn up , or in a couple years people are just as satisfied with the pro melt 2 as they were with the old pro melt . A member hear turned me on to preheating the ingot before adding it to the pot so when I really want to cast a lot of handgun boolits I can keep the pot full and flowing . Well the drip ?????????

[Don Purcell]

As winelover and deverna suggested go with the Magma. Been using one for awhile and you can crank out the production especially using two or more molds even using two H&G's eight cavities at a time. If you are the cry once laugh forever type then go for it.

[Dragonheart]

You are 28 and I am 70. What might be a good value to some may not be a good value for you. As far as I am concerned the absolute best value are the products I have purchased that did everything they were designed to do, did it well with little or no problems and continued to work flawlessly year after year. When you buy a product like that at your age, even if it is expensive at the time, it ends up being the cheapest because of the longevity of use. Take it from an old man, buy quality and you will never regret your purchase.

When it comes to a bullet casting furnace it is the RCBS Pro-Melt Furnace, I can't vouch for the new model, but would assume RCBS would do their usual and make it right if there were a problem.

When it comes to molds it is the H&G & old Saeco. I have molds that are still casting perfectly that are older than me.

Lubricators I quit using 6 years ago and have gone to powder coating.

[DBrown]

I’m a Lee user as well so I will be following this thread.

[Jackpine]

I used a Lee for many years, and probably would have continuted I ran into an unbelievable deal on a almost new Pro-Melt. It is a great unit and RCBS, if you ever need service, is a great company to work with.

[Ranger 7]

Have two (2) Lee 4-20 Bottom pour units for 9 years.
Have processed two TONS of range scrap lead into clean 1 & 1/2 pound ingots.
They are producing very nice cast bullets and still working fine.
I have cleaned out the spout pour hole on each and reseated the rod twice.
Can not imagine any reason to spend as much as 5 times the cost! Per pot!
Lee 4-20 Bottom pour pots work great and cost far less.

[Fastleo]

You are 28 and I am 70. What might be a good value to some may not be a good value for you. As far as I am concerned the absolute best value are the products I have purchased that did everything they were designed to do, did it well with little or no problems and continued to work flawlessly year after year. When you buy a product like that at your age, even if it is expensive at the time, it ends up being the cheapest because of the longevity of use. Take it from an old man, buy quality and you will never regret your purchase.

When it comes to a bullet casting furnace it is the RCBS Pro-Melt Furnace, I can't vouch for the new model, but would assume RCBS would do their usual and make it right if there were a problem.

When it comes to molds it is the H&G & old Saeco. I have molds that are still casting perfectly that are older than me.

Lubricators I quit using 6 years ago and have gone to powder coating.



Thanks sir for the advice and wisdom!

[Fastleo]

Have two (2) Lee 4-20 Bottom pour units for 9 years.
Have processed two TONS of range scrap lead into clean 1 & 1/2 pound ingots.
They are producing very nice cast bullets and still working fine.
I have cleaned out the spout pour hole on each and reseated the rod twice.
Can not imagine any reason to spend as much as 5 times the cost! Per pot!
Lee 4-20 Bottom pour pots work great and cost far less.

Having to tweak the Lee pot over and over is not for me. I enjoy casting and shooting, I don’t enjoy having to mess with a casting pot in the middle of a casting session

[Petrol & Powder]

Well I'll toss in here.

I'm about 5 1/2 years into my experience with the Lee 4-20 Drip-O-Matic and I have to say that's it has proven to be a good value.

There was a learning curve and I did need to tweak it a bit, but we're getting along well now.

When I purchased the Lee, I just could not justify the cost of the RCBS Pro Melt. If the Lee dies, I'll probably get a RCBS but as of now the Lee shows no sign of giving up.

As for the dripping, I have eliminated that problem by polishing the rod and nozzle. Empty the pot, remove the rod from the nozzle, put some grinding compound on the tip of the rod and chuck it in a drill. Insert the rod into the nozzle and spin it with the drill. Clean everything up and carry on. Problem solved.

My casting bench normally sits too far from the closest outlet for the original Lee cord to reach. I cut the power cord and spliced a permanent section into the cord so I don't need an extension cord.

I expected the Lee to be a stop gap measure until I could budget for a better pot but it has performed better than expected. I'll use it until I kill it but so far it is soldiering on.

[murf205]

I have an older Pro-Melt and I love it. I have read that the newer ones (China?) drip as bad as a Lee 4-20 or in some cases worse. I have an old 10 lb Lee that I have used since 1980 and it might drip a little but its still working like a charm. Midway has the Lee 4-20 for $62 and the Pro-Melt2 for $270. Is the RCBS worth almost 4 times what the Lee is? You will have to decide that. The older Pro-Melt was the best furnace a hobby caster like myself ever needed but I have a hard time stomaching the China thing. FWIW, I bought a Lyman pot in the 70's and it lasted a very short while. They sent a replacement element that I installed but it died too. With Lymans track record on replacing parts without charging for them, I wouldn't buy one now, but that's just me.My 2 cents.

[Rcmaveric]

I have been using the Lee 20Lb bottom pour for a couple of years now. Not problems from me i love it and would buy it again. I second the larger capacity. I don't have a PID but i do have a thermometer and patience and great tempo.

[dbmjr1]

I too use a Lee bottom pour furnace. Using a thermometer, it takes a while to get the temperature just right and get into a rhythm.


Yes, my pot leaks. I can mitigate this by turning the rod with a flat head screwdriver.

I'm on a limited income, so I don't expect to be buying a new pot any time soon. I'd rather spend the money on other things.

[HATCH]

I would change your train of thought.

Master Caster
Yes its $1100
But it will out live you
It is a production machine meaning you can do about 650 bullets per hour with out much hassle.
Yes the molds are $90 each but they will last your lifetime and then some.

[slim1836]

I started out with the LEE 10 pound pot and moved up to the 20 using my homemade PID. Their issues are minor IMO compared to their price. After all, we're only melting lead. Any bottom pour pot will leak at some time.

If I were better off financially, I might (or may not) move up to an older Pro-Melt, not one with a built in PID though.

Slim