Pure Lead Casting Pot Recommendation

[patio]

Looking to purchase a good casting pot to cast pure lead bullets for civil war era black powder firearms. Will be casting minie bullets and bullets for various other firearms. Ladle pouring is preferred. Want to get the melt temperature to at least 850 degrees. What is a good lead melter to purchase in today's market place?

Thank you,

Pat

[Winger Ed.]

Either the 10 or 20 pound Lee pots will probably do a good job for ya unless you get off into mass production.

[swamp]

For ladle casting, bot LEE and Lyman make melters for that. I have a Lyman that works well for me.
swamp

[Recycled bullet]

. I like to ladle cast hot and fast in one quart sauce pans with propane gas burners.

[patio]

For ladle casting, bot LEE and Lyman make melters for that. I have a Lyman that works well for me.
swamp

Hi Swamp,

Which Lyman furnace do you have?

[swamp]

It is a Big Dipper. I have set it up with a PID.

swamp

[BJung]

I own both a Lee 10lb bottom pour pot and a Lyman pot. I like both. For what you want, the Lyman Big Mouth is better. First, if you're going to melt range scrap, debri can be removed the large pot opening compared to the Lee. A Lyman ladle works better than a Lee and be submerged in molten lead to stay hot. When I pour lead out of my Lee, lead sometimes can be trapped between the heating coil and wall because the top plate fits on the top. The Lyman doesn't have this problem. I hope this helps.

[imashooter2]

I also use the Lyman Big Dipper for ladle casting. On first blush, the larger capacity Lee Magnum Melter looks better, but the pot is tall and skinny. Once the lead level falls near half pot, it is difficult to fill my Lyman dippers using my preferred technique.

[GregLaROCHE]

You are probably going to be casting large boolits. I’d definitely go with a 20# pot not 10#.

[Fast Asleep]

Warning—if you ladle cast from a cooking pot on a gas stove, make sure it is not an aluminum pot. The gas flame is hot enough to melt the pan.

[metricmonkeywrench]

Though you said ladle preferred as an alternative recommendation I did trip across an older Potter Model C pot that turns out to be just perfect for pure lead casting for my Muzzle Loader> It only holds about 3 lbs or so but the cast iron pot heats up fast and holds the temp real well.

It worked so well for the pure lead I actually chased down a second to hold my store bought known alloy I use for rifles. In both cases I only cast 20-30 or so batches of any given ML or Rifle bullet at a time leaving my bigger pots open for big batch production of pistol bullets.

[lightman]

Lee, Lyman and RCBS all make a melting pot. Like GregLaROCHE said, your Civil War bullets are likely to be large and heavy so I strongly suggest a 20# pot. An iron pot on a camp stove will work but an electric pot is just so much more convenient.

[Mk42gunner]

Lee Magnum Melter. It is easy to dip from with my RCBS ladle; advertised capacity of twenty pounds, not sure what it actually holds. When I bought mine right before the panic started, Titan Reloading was the cheapest.

If I had bought one of these first, I don't think I would have messed with any of the bottom pour pots.

As for the rest-- The Lee 10 pounders are difficult to dip from. I'm not saying it can't be done, but there are better ways to not have a good time casting. Mine is full of pure lead for casting round balls. It lives in a turkey roasting pan to contain the occasional deluge.

The Lee 4-20 isn't bad to dip from I cast a lot of bullets with mine, both bottom pouring and dipping. It still drips, but self limits with drip art stalagmites after a while. No deluges though.

The RCBS Promelt (original version) not bad, and can be dipped from. I bought mine used, no way I was paying new retail price for one.

Then there is using a Coleman stove and a pan. The electric pots are so much more comfortable to use. The only time I use propane for casting anymore is when I am smelting scrap lead into ingots.

Robert

[swamp]

If I plan to cast up a lot, I have a Pro Melt(old model) dedicated to pure. Will do a bunch of the big 58 Mines.

[BLAHUT]

Looking to purchase a good casting pot to cast pure lead bullets for civil war era black powder firearms. Will be casting minie bullets and bullets for various other firearms. Ladle pouring is preferred. Want to get the melt temperature to at least 850 degrees. What is a good lead melter to purchase in today's market place?

Thank you,

Pat

I use a #10 lp Lee bottom pore for my big bullets in pure lead. Once you get a rhythm it goes good.

[gwpercle]

For ladle casting ... the big Lee Magnum Melter is just the ticket .
Holds a nice 20 pounds , melts fast and doesn't cost an arm and a leg ...
$66.49 on sale at Titan Reloading ... 110 volt electric , plugs into standard wall outlet and melts fast ... I wish I had gotten one 40 years ago .
Anything smaller than 20 lbs is a waste of time and Titan is a CB Sponsor !
Gary

[patio]

Thank you to all that replied. I went with a Lee Magnum Melter. Got it from Midway. with a birthday discount and free shipping - $65.00 otd. Will try it out next week. Should I let the pot cool with lead in it to increase the element life?

[imashooter2]

I doubt there is any difference in element life. As long as you don’t regularly change alloys, there is a LOT of convenience in plugging a full pot in and coming back in 20 minutes when it’s melted.