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Looking for a new ladle
Ok here is the deal. I am a new caster. Only had about 10 sessions so far. My casting concentrates on my 45-70 four gang molds. Which is the problem. I want to ladle cast but the two ladles i have (rcbs and lyman) are not big enough to fill all 4 cavities(@ the same time) Now to throw another wrinkle in the mix. I am strongly LEFT handed. I do want to learn to ladle cast as i hear it is the way to go with bigger bullets for consistency. I do get decent bullets from my bottom pour 4-20 but the bullet weights fluctuate more than i would like. Anybody know of a ladle that is a little bigger and lefty friendly?
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Rowel #1 ladle holds almost a full pound of lead and pours well. Not sure if its available left hand or convertible but a nut welded on the opposite side would make it either or. Depending on your pot the bigger rowels ladle might be a problem also.
You can make a ladle with heavy black iron pipe and a little work. Tools needed are a hack saw drill motor or better drill press welder Tap and die. materials are a short length of pope 1-1 1/2"x 1-1 1/2" long a piece of 1/16- 1/8 flat stock a length of 1/4" round stock 8-12" wood file handle and 1/4" nut.
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YEP, a Rowell bottom pour ladle. Miles better then the lyman or RCBS with the little tit on one side. Been years since I used those ladles, and once I used the bottom pour Rowell, I haven't looked back.
A week ago Wed. a son and I had about a 3 hours casting session, using 4 and 5 molds and cast almost 2000 bullets.
Crusty Deary Ol'Coot
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I'm a lefty and use a Rowell #2................the only issue with the Rowell's are the handles need to be shortened for casting. Not a big deal since they are threaded on both ends. I hold the mould in my strong hand (left) and pour with my right.
I also have a #1 but only use that for moulds that cast small diameter bullets............when I don't need the extra volume of lead. You can use the RCBS ladle handle on the #1 Rowell, to shorten it to a more user friendly length. It has the same thread, the #2 requires a larger threaded rod.
Winelover
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Oh Winelover, I'm sooooo sorry! By now you must have discovered that lefties hand no rights!! So sad! :kidding:
I too hold the mold in the left hand and pour with the right, correct, hand. :bigsmyl2:
Use an open pot of about 40 - 45lbs capacity and an old Coleman stove which allows for almost continuous casting.
With this heat source, it allows me to add fresh ingots while continue to cast, only stopping for the occasional fluxing.
Other then with my 4 cavity 465gr - 45/70 mold where I use a different alloy, I usually run three molds of 4 - 6 cavities, and as said earlier, a week ago this past Wed. having the help of my son for about a three hour casting session, we ran 5 molds for 1900+ total bullets. About 47lbs total. :cbpour:
Crusty Deary Ol'Coot
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Well i knew about the rowell but they are made for right handers. And i really dont have access to a welder, if i did i would have converted a rowell #2 or something. I did see a a fairly heavy duty kitchen ladle idk if it was cast iron or stainless now but that had a little crease for pouring on both sides. If i run across something like that i will have to grab it. Granted its not botttom pour but us lefty's have to make due i guess....
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Well, any welding shop should be able to fix you up in short order. Wish you were close by, as that should be an easy change!
From personal experience, the effort will be well worth the price!
Crusty Deary Ol'Coot
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they have them that have pour on both sides was made for plumbing work. check with older plumbing guy in your area
I have some
check cabela ik--143975
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I’ve heard of people drilling a hole in a soup ladle and using it to pour into moulds. Can’t say I’ve ever tried it, however a stainless soup ladle works fine for me for casting two pound ingots. (No holes drilled in it)
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I'm pretty sure the Rowell ladles are made of cast iron, which I thought is hard to weld onto (but I'm not a welder, so correct me if I'm wrong).
RotoMetals also sells what they describe as pressed steel ladles with double spouts. They're not bottom pour, but they sell capacities of 1.5, 3 and 6 fluid ounces (dunno if that's a maximum or a practical/usable volume). All the Rowells are technically double spouted as well. But in all cases, in both kinds of ladles at RotoMetals, the secondary spout is open and pretty small, making it harder to pour from and impossible to pressure pour from closed spout onto the sprue plate opening.
I suppose with a steel ladle, the right tools and enough heat, that second spout could be improved, but that's a SWAG since I'm no metal worker either.
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All good ideas. I guess i just have to keep my eyes open. Relearning to use my right hand only goes so far as i had cut a tendon in march an had two surgeries on my thumb. So while i have use of my right hand i trust my left to do the manipulations and strong work. Clenching and holding a brass 4 hole .460 mold is pretty good exercise after awhile but lifting a hot ladle an then doing certian twisting actions while maintaing a grip worries me a bit. Especially when i am a strong left hander to begin with. Idk man. I guess i can try it... i did teach myself to shoot shotgun right hand after learning i am right eye dominate.
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Spot the handle hole to the other side of the rowel ladle drill and tap for the handle then install handle with a nut inside and out to lock and strengthen the joint. This should hold up well as long as you don't bang it around.
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Cast iron can be welded with the proper skills and rod, but the easy fix is to simply cut the attachment point off the standard side and then braze the handle attachment onto the opposite side of the ladle. Total time, maybe 30 minutes.
The melting point of the braze is MUCH!!!!! higher then the lead alloys, so no problem there!
Years back I had a set of Lyman mold handles fail/break where the screw attaches the mold blocks to the handles, Just brazed a small strip of steel across the weak point and back in business!
Having open ladles on hand if needed, and having used for years the little Lyman dipper with the nipple on one side, once I bought a Rowell bottom pour ladle it was sooooooo very much better, I never looked back!
As said earlier, the effort to make the bottom pour ladle workable for a lefty would be worth the effort! Even if, as also said much earlier, leftys ain't got no rights! :bigsmyl2: :kidding:
Crusty Deary Ol'Coot
