Lead pot storage

[Tom-ADC]

Do you empty all the lead from your pot when you are finished casting or just unplug it with whatever lead remains in it.?

[Tom-ADC]

Should have added this is the electric Lee pot.

[dragonrider]

I top it off before unplugging. Never empty it.

[kbstenberg]

Not to be contrary but i "Do" empty my pot about every 3rd time casting. I have a Lee Pro 20. I figure its good maintenance. Empty it then when its cool clean out the inside of the melter. Its surprising how much gunk gets accumulated. Do you think that is why some guys pots are dripomaticks???????
Kevin

[462]

Tom-ADC,
A full or partially filled pot heats up quicker. A pot that is emptied and cleaned will either not drip, or hardly drip. I'm still conducting some alloy experiements, so I empty mine quite often.

[Tom-ADC]

Thanks I left it about 1/2-3/4 full. Of course being an older Lee it does drip a little bit but not everytime.

[Edubya]

If you have one alloy that fits all of your needs, leaving it half full is in deed a good idea. The coil goes up about half way or a little less and when you turn it on with out lead in contact it tends to over heat the coils and will prematurely burn out. Lead will absorb and distribute the heat to where you need it.
If you are like most of us, always trying a new alloy, you will want to empty it but then to make sure that your coils last as long as possible, make your ingots so that they will fit up as close as possible to the sides where the coils are. That means normal mould sizes (1-2lbs of lead) less than 2" in any width. The shape of most commercial moulds are good, just stand them on end. The angle iron moulds are very good also.

EW

[Crash_Corrigan]

I always leave mine with a substantial level of molten alloy in it. Upon completion of casting my boolits I empty my cardboard sprue box contents into the alloy until it melts. Then I turn off the Lee 4-20 pot and unplug the cord.

Then I police up the casting area...there is always chunks and pieces of cooled alloy around and also some miscast booilts that do not pass first inspection. All this get thrown into the cooling mass of alloy in the pot.

Then I dump the boolits out of the 5 gallon bucket into a metal strainer over the sink. The remaining mass of boolits are dumped onto an old towel over a carboard box liner which abosorbs the excess moisture.

Now is the time for a detailed examination of the cast boolits just made. I do not stop to examine very carefully what is being cast when casting as I am on a mission and I do not stop and break my routine. Examination of these freshly cast alloy boolits will find some that do not quite pass muster. These also are piled up on top of the by now solid core of cooling alloy in the pot. Careful here as some of these boolits have moisture on them and a visit by the Tinsel Fairy can occur if the ally is still molten.

If I am being really fussy the electronic scale is used to weigh these boolits and I separate them according to weights. The ones that are out of bell curves main area get remelted and added to the alloy . I am not too fussy when sorting out pistol and revolver boolits but I am more careful with the ones for the rifles.

If I am working with a 15 yrd distance on suspended steel plates and bowling pins and shooting my 1911 in .45 ACP I would not really be upset if a boolit had a void or inclusion or something that threw off the flight of the boolit a mite. I would be more concerned about the functionality of the boolits and the ease in which they chambered when fired in a rapid fashion at this range.

However if I am at 365 yds and shooting my Garand at a steel gong I want this boolit to fly true. It had better weigh within .5 gr of the intended weight and have no defects on the base at all.

For really precision work with a bolt rifle at long range I only use boolits within a very narrow range of weight. This calls for merciless culling of less than perfect boolits from the masses and relegating borderline boolits to the fouling pile.

[jsizemore]

The only time I empty mine is to change alloys. When I fire the pot next time, I line the sides of the pot with ear of corn ingots so they make good contact with the sides and use muffin ingots stacked on edge so they help to keep the ear of corn ingots pressed to the sides. Hope that makes sense. Seems to offer the best heat transfer at start up. Whatever was left from the last casting session would be best.

[blikseme300]

I refill mine and do a good fluxing before I turn off the power. When I need to cast again I know that I can start casting 45 minutes after power-up. Not needing to refill during a casting session is a time saver as well. See my setup here: http://bliksemseplek.com/boolits.html
:castmine:

Bliksem

[fredj338]

Not to be contrary but i "Do" empty my pot about every 3rd time casting. I have a Lee Pro 20. I figure its good maintenance. Empty it then when its cool clean out the inside of the melter. Its surprising how much gunk gets accumulated. Do you think that is why some guys pots are dripomaticks???????
Kevin

Actually, I think the opp. Any scale or carbon in the pot will flaot. As long as you never empty it, nothing foreign gets into the spout. That was how I "cured" my 10# from dripping, never epmty it all the way. I leave all the pots I sue at least 1/2 full for startup next time, never empty them. I don't change to diff alloy very often either. Two pots are ww alloy or equiv & one is 25-1 for LHP.

[buck1]

Actually, I think the opp. Any scale or carbon in the pot will flaot. As long as you never empty it, nothing foreign gets into the spout. That was how I "cured" my 10# from dripping, never epmty it all the way. I leave all the pots I sue at least 1/2 full for startup next time, never empty them. I don't change to diff alloy very often either. Two pots are ww alloy or equiv & one is 25-1 for LHP.

Thats what I used to think also. But if I drain a well fluxed and skimmed pot thats had a lot of alloy through it, I find a fair ammount of dross toward and on the bottom. It doesnt always let go and float.