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.

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.