Worth it?

[paul45120]

I figure I'll need about 5k to 6k of 45,s for our spring and summer pistol shoots. What my thought was is to spend a day smelting WW. Pour each melt into 4lb. ingots and marking them. After all the 4lbs are done then take an equal amount of ingots from each melt and fill the pot again. Pour these into 1lb ingots. Repeat until all 4lb ingots are gone.
My thoughts on this is to give very consistant boolits when I go to cast them. It should also speed up the casting as I can keep my Lee pot full without worrying about some ingots being a little different hardness.
I know this will be extra work. My question is. Will it be worth it? I have plenty of the same brass.primers, and powder to do 6k of ammo. I want to eliminate any inconstincy with these loads.

[mpmarty]

IMHO, it isn't worth the effort.

[snake river marksman]

I doubt it is worth it.

[harrya]

I'll have to agree with both of the above. But I have a question. What size smelting pot do you have? If it's 40+lbs and you're melting all WW with NO stick ons, etc, then it's going to be so close I don't feel you can tell the difference. 1# of lead/WW = about 35 each of 205 gr boolits. You've already done what you want to do without all the extra work, BUT go ahead and let us all know if it makes any difference. You'll have to do 2 batches, one small test batch and then the rest. I really think what you're doing is much tooooo much work!!! But then, I'm retired and distaste work.

[Ole]

Save your propane for cookouts, IMO.

[Lead Fred]

Ive emptied all my propane bottles this winter casting.
I just ordered a 20lb furnace for the price it will take me to fill all my bottles again

[Slow Elk 45/70]

I will say it sounds like a make work project, which will be costly , for little or no gain..IMHO

[HeavyMetal]

If you were "blending" a specific alloy I'd say you were on the right track, as I've done this myself to maintain a 90-7-3 alloy consistantly across several hundred pounds or more.

However if all you are casting is SWC for the 45 auto the easier path is to simply seperate clip on's from stick on's and then have at it!

I prefer ingots bigger than the one pounders and made several ingot molds from angle iron that weigh 2 pounds each. The triangle shape fits easily into every Lee or Lyman or RCBS pot I've tried.

Economy of both motion and cost is the goal when smelting. The manufacturers have already done the blending, as far as the WW alloy is concerned, you just need to remove the trash, oil,dirt and metal clips to make a good usable alloy for the 45. Pour the ingots into a good sized mold the first time and you'll be way ahead of the game!

[paul45120]

Thanks for the comments guys. I thought it might all be a waste of time. I'm new to casting and really apreciate the forums and advice from you all.

[mooman76]

Kind of depends on how you cast. or how long your casting sessions are. I like both. I'll put the bigger ingots in at the end of the session when I let the pot get lower but while I'm knocking out bullets I like to drop the smaller ingots in. You could do some and keep the bigger ones for startup or end of session.