What size melting pot?

[Minnesotam7]

About to take the plunge and start casting. I'm looking at the Lee electric pots and they have a 10lb and 20lb unit. I think the 10lb would be big enough for what I want to cast at a time, but wondering how many of you guys went with the smaller and then decided you needed the larger? Thanks in advance!!

[lightman]

Get the 20# one.

[Misery-Whip]

The 20.

7,000 grains per lb so how many do you want to cast in a session?

[fc60]

Greetings,

Agreed, the 20# pot is a good choice.

Holds the heat better due to the quantity.

Better resale value.

Cheers,

Dave

[GregLaROCHE]

As everyone already said, go for the 20# pot.

[BLAHUT]

I like the 10 lb bottom pore.

[Dusty Bannister]

I started with the 10 pound pot and the nozzle is close to the front so it is easier to watch the flow as you are filling the mold. I then got the 20 pound pot which is not quite as easy to see, but does have the mold guide so with a little practice and attention, it is easy to position the sprue hole of the mold under the nozzle.

The big advantage of the 20 pound pot is you can add larger ingots when first filling the pot, but that also drops the melt temperature a lot once you are at casting temp. I suspect that once you decide you really want to cast, you will wish you had started with the 20 pound pot. You might add the 10 pound pot for casting smaller bullet like 22's or a different alloy. You may want to add the advantage of the PID unit before you get the larger or smaller pot and have the advantage of swapping the PID back and forth between the casting pots.

[Winger Ed.]

You'll outgrow the 10 pounder if you do much casting.

[Rapier]

I went through six Lee pots, before I got smart and bought a Pro Melt by RCBS.
The larger pot is for adding ingots and adding flux with a faster return to temprature. I run down to about 50% beteeen ingot and sprue loading, then fluxing. I cast with four double moulds at a time, water dropped.

My alloy pot is a 100 pound plumbers cast iron lead pot. Never make alloy in a bottom pour casting pot. Sand gathers at the bottom of an alloy pot. Sand and cast bullets, is a great mixture, just not for a gun barrel.

[Mk42gunner]

I own three Lee pots. A ten pounder, a 4-20, and a Magnum Melter. I like the Magnum Melter the best, but I also prefer to ladle cast.

The 4-20 is a good pot, you can also ladle cast from it without too much trouble.

The only thing good about the ten pound bottom pour is the spout is easily visible, so you can see when it leaks (and it will). I do not like the valve design on it.

For the slight extra money, you will be better off getting the twenty pound (sixteen or seventeen pounds really, but who's counting) pot.

Robert

[gwpercle]

I wish someone had told me this 25 years ago ... Get The 20# Pot !!!

I started off with lee pots ... 5# isn't good for even a single cavity mould .

The 10# is even too small ... the winner is the 20# Pot ... the reason is it takes time to get the pot / metal / mould all up to temperature and casting good boolits ... the 20# pot has enough metal to let you cast a decent supply ... the smaller pots run dry right when the mould is casting well ... you get a few boolits then have to refill pot and wait for everything to heat up ... You waste too much time heating metal and mould ...
Some guys buy two 20# pots ... cast from one while the other heats up ...
Now that's production !

I ladle cast with a Lyman spouted dipper and Lee Magnum Melter ... open top .
All three of my Lee open top pots still work ... the 5# , 10# and 20# , despite the first two being bought in the 1970's
Gary

[RickinTN]

I cast in stainless steel pots on top of a Coleman stove. I prefer a 2 quart pot which will hold about 50 pounds but I usually have 30 to 35 in the pot at a time. 10 is just enough to make me mad.
Rick

[country gent]

think about 2 pots one your casting from the other is heating a new batch up to temp. this greatly lowers the down time when casting. Get an idea of what your casting weight wise ( add 150 grns for the sprue) and the number you wish to cast in a session. multiply these and divide in to 70000 (ten pound. pot}. to give an idea there are 14 500 grn bullets in a 1 lb pot not counting the sprues.

[Carrier]

I started out like Dusty with a 10 lb pot. Cast a ton of good bullets with it from 38 wadcutters to 500 grain for 45/70. Took a bit to get used to the 20 lb pot nozzle but works ok now.

[Minnesotam7]

Thanks for the replies!! The 20lb it is

[Targa]

Can’t go wrong with the 20lb especially if your casting large, heavy bullets. With that said, I probably use my 10lb pot as much as my 20lb for 9mm, .38, 30-30 and when I just want a shorter session with my heavier casting. Both have their time and place for me.

[justindad]

My 10lb bottom pour Lee pot only holds 8lb. My small Lee ladle lot only holds 4lb in a useable manner, but 5lb technically can fit.
*
The temperature varies widely every time you add ingots to cast more boolits. Get 20lb minimum.

[Bent Ramrod]

I started with the Lee 10 lb dipper pot with temp control, used it for everything for 30 years. I don’t shoot massive volumes but do shoot a lot of calibers. Never felt particularly handicapped by its size, but when it finally burned out I went to the Lee Magnum Melter. Holds ~18 lbs with dipper and stirring, and has the temperature control.

The main advantage of the bigger pot that I see is that it delivers enough heat (as well as molten metal) to do the casting-with-two-moulds trick. Never could keep both hot enough with the little pot.

For me, bottom pours are for multi cavity pistol boolits where volume is more important than precision. Most of my moulds are one- or two-bangers.

The 10 lb one is fine if you’re on a budget or just getting your feet wet. But if you see more moulds and more shooting on the horizon, the 20 lb pot is better.

[slim1836]

Thanks for the replies!! The 20lb it is

Wise choice grasshopper. :brokenima

Welcome to the site. Ask away, you'll have plenty of answers.

Slim

[farmbif]

your first question, what size melting pot? good question. what seems popular are propane tanks cut in half. ive been using a 3 quart cast iron pot and a bigger cast iron dutch oven for a very long time. get youself something like that to melt and flux your alloy first and pour cleaned alloy into ingots.i use an assortment of long handles stainless steel serving and slotted spoons and a ladle and other spoons ive bent for pouring into molds. you can find this old commercial stainless stuff at thrift stores or even the scrap yard if you have one that will sell to you. lee makes an inexpensive ingot mold that makes 1/2 and 1 pound ingots. or if your handy weld some angle irons together to make your own ingot mold. then you use your bottom pour pot to cast bullets in your molds. using ingots of clean/fluxed alloy will save you lots of grief with pour spout getting plugged with crud and generally keeps your pot much cleaner.

[jonp]

Done both. Go big or go home.

[GregLaROCHE]

Glad to hear you are going with the big pot. If you don’t already know, it best to leave some lead in the pot when you shut it down. It will heat up faster and if you try to empty the pot, you risk having impurities in your last boolits.

[slim1836]

And, "DON'T LEAVE IT UNATTENDED", it will leak. Learn how to use it properly.

You can thank me later.

Slim

[Winger Ed.]

Good choice.
Over the years, as hard as it can be to save up for what you really want-
I've never known anyone that looked at their new item, and said, "Gosh. Now I wish I'd gotten that smaller and cheaper one".

Unlike a car, when you find it's kind of small for what you want to do--- there's no trade in allowance on it.

[rsrocket1]

When casting conservatively I started with 15# in the pot and refilled it when it got down to 5#. That meant a 20# pot was really only good for 10#. I go a little more aggressively and and start closer to 18# and cast until there's about 2-3 in it. That means 15# between refills. That translates to about 1000 9mm bullets or 450 45ACP bullets between refills.

Get the 20 pound bottom pour pot.

[Mk42gunner]

If you use angle iron to make your ingots eight to ten inches or so long, you can preheat them by laying one or two across the top of the pot. As the level goes down, you can stand a fairly hot one in the liquid pool and keep casting as it more or less self feeds into the melt.

BruceB recommended ingots 10½" long, that being as long as will easily fit in a fifty cal ammo can for storage.

Robert

[slim1836]

Many members here would go broke just buying ammo cans to store their lead, excluding myself of course. :(

[triggerhappy243]

About to take the plunge and start casting. I'm looking at the Lee electric pots and they have a 10lb and 20lb unit. I think the 10lb would be big enough for what I want to cast at a time, but wondering how many of you guys went with the smaller and then decided you needed the larger? Thanks in advance!!

if you are just starting, then you need to know how to smelt the dirty lead you will be scrounging. I use this cast iron dutch oven on a turkey fryer burner. the large surface area allows unobstructed space to let the crap float off, and space to skim.

[wills]

Text of e mail I received from Waage several years ago.
Hello Wills,
We manufacture a ~25 pound pot 115 volts temp ~820 degrees F. The model number is K4757 The price is $120.00 + 14.00 S&H to your location. a photograph is attached for your information. The estimated manufacturing time is 10-14 days.
Looking forward to answering your questions. visa/mc accepted for your convenience
Best Regards,
Marc Waage

This was not listed on the website.

[Rich/WIS]

10# will work if you use a double cavity mold, but if you go 5/6 cavity, especially with larger bullets you will appreciate a 20# pot very quickly.

[wills]

There is a lot of alloy at the bottom of a 10 pound pot you cant get out with a dipper. Easier to save yourself the aggravation and get a 20.

[triggerhappy243]

many members here would go broke just buying ammo cans to store their lead, excluding myself of course. :(

i don't store ingots in ammo boxes, i stack them like cord wood. These are 20 pounds each.

[kevin c]

think about 2 pots one your casting from the other is heating a new batch up to temp. this greatly lowers the down time when casting. Get an idea of what your casting weight wise ( add 150 grns for the sprue) and the number you wish to cast in a session. multiply these and divide in to 70000 (ten pound. pot}. to give an idea there are 14 500 grn bullets in a 1 lb pot not counting the sprues.

Or you can use one pot mounted over the other with the top pot feeding already-up-to-casting-temp alloy into the lower. I do this, having stolen the idea from Ausglock, because I like to cast a lot of slugs per session with little downtime, and I get to find a good use for my drippy Lee 4-20 while casting with my preferred ProMelt.

Do be sure to build a really solid and secure mount; you’ll have 15+# of molten lead hovering over 18# below, and don’t want anything tipping over.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=254181&d=1578113781

[450]

Glad, I found this site. I am in the same boat(just starting out). I also was debating what pot to get but looks like it will be the Lee Pro 4 20lb pot.

[triggerhappy243]

Glad, I found this site. I am in the same boat(just starting out). I also was debating what pot to get but looks like it will be the Lee Pro 4 20lb pot.

or, you could start with this. I do all my smelting in it as well as casting my t/c maxi-balls.

[450]

That’s what I’m using to melt down wheel weights.

[450]

or, you could start with this. I do all my smelting in it as well as casting my t/c maxi-balls.

I need a smaller pot to use in my garage because it’s to cold for me to cast bullets outside. I do my WW’s outside in big batches.

[triggerhappy243]

I need a smaller pot to use in my garage because it’s to cold for me to cast bullets outside. I do my WW’s outside in big batches.

fairbanks............ yep, that is cold.

[450]

fairbanks............ yep, that is cold.

Unfortunately yes it for several months. Can’t wait to retire and move South.

[lightman]

Many members here would go broke just buying ammo cans to store their lead, excluding myself of course. :(

Ain't that the truth! I bought 2 pallets of 50 caliber ammo cans back at the beginning of the first gulf war for $1 each. I don't remember how many that was but I think there were 40 to a pallet. I wish I had bought more of them!

[PP-67]

Thanks for your opinions,
on the basis of which I made my choice and purchased,
Lee - lead smelting boiler (PRO 4 20LB) 220V
Lead is on its way too.
Monday will be HARD for the courier
:smile:

[Winger Ed.]

Monday will be HARD for the courier

Try to watch for them. It'll be a hoot.

One time I had a 7" piece of 6" steel round stock ordered for the breech block on a bowling ball mortar.
They just wrapped in with duct tape and put the label on it.

It looked like a gray coffee can on the shelf in the UPS truck.
The driver just walked back through his truck, grabbed it on the move like you would a coffee can and kept walking.
It didn't come off the shelf like a coffee can, it 'stuck',,,,,,, but his momentum pulled him back off his his feet.

[450]

My mail guy wasn’t happy the other day either. I got 2 boxes delivered at the same time 1 had 52# of lead and the other had 25 ish # of lead. Don’t sound like much but in small packages combined with snow/ice makes a hard walk.