Casting Package

[joecool911]

Cabela's has a Lyman casting package for $69. 10# dip furnace, ladle and an ingot mold. Is this a good deal or a waste of money on cheap stuff? I am gearing up for 400 grain + bullets and as I understand the bottom pour is problematic with larger bullets.

[Lead Fred]

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0076636217355a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all_NYR&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&nyr=1&Ne=46&Ntt=lyman+casting+package&Ntk=Product_liberal&sort=all&Go.y=8&N=49&Nty=1&hasJS=true&Go.x=5&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form1&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I personally never thought too much of Cabella's prices; You might give Midsouth a ring or check em on line and see what they are getting for the same package, before making a choice. The mag pot seems to be going for $39.95 by itself. It looks very much like a LEE..probably made by them or under license. It would be a good pot if the Lee thermostat holds up. A Lyman dipper in last year's Midsouth catalog ( I don't have the new one yet) went for $14.21 and the ingot mold went for $16.45 so you have $69. right there plus they are tossing in the lube and the booklet free. I don't know if Midsouth has a comparable package, (but should) but pricewise it all seems pretty much in the same ballpark. As to quality the ingot mold looks like it is made out of alu and thats ok...it doesn't stick or rust. I'm not sure about the dipper....Lyman's used to be cast iron, but nowadays anything can happen...could be alu too. The only other ladle style pot that is reasonably priced is the Lee Magnum Melter which is a 20 pounder and that goes for around $48-$50. by itself. The Lee ingot mold is around $10. so you would be in for $58 and still need a dipper that would handle the size bullets you want to cast. There is always Midway if you want to try them as well. Look em up on-line. LLS

[pjh421]

I'm not sure how deeply you want to get into this but a 10 pond pot will not have the thermal mass that a larger one will have. Without getting into brand names, I can tell you that I cast 405 grain boolits for the .45-70 from a bottom pour pot and get excellent fill out. It also feeds the 310 grain 6 cavity mould without a hitch. When you add an ingot to a 10 pound pot, that ingot should probably be preheated or you will have to wait for the pot temp to come back up before resuming casting. The beauty of a larger pot isn't being able to cast 20+ pounds of boolits and then reload the pot. Its that you can add lead to it as soon as you have room and just keep going. Your mould doesn't cool off while you're waiting on the pot.

Paul

[sdelam]

I started with the 10# Lyman, but I ran a second pot on a colman stove and used that to pre melt the lead before adding it to the main pot. It worked good for two hole molds but could not keep a 6 hole mold hot enough. It's all in how you want to start.
I got the 10# pot years ago when thats all I could afford. Honestly, had I not bought it back then and continued just using my dads set up, I may not have started casting again.

[Echo]

+1 for PJH421. Thermal inertia is a factor, and I set an ingot on top of my furnace to warm up. When needed, I drop it in, and place another on top to warm up. So far I am just using 10-lb pots. My 20-pounder has developed a short, and I intend to simply direct wire it and use a PID controller for temp control.

Re bottom-pour being problematic with large boolits - I use bottom-pour with 4C/6C and 10/C molds. The 10-banger is a 38 SWC, so doesn't put too much strain on the thermal inertia. No problems...