Smelter Question

[Calibre44]

I'm thinking of getting into casting my own lead balls and am considering buying a Lee Pro 4-20 smelter. Anyone used one or know anything about them or can recommed an alternative?
Any comments gladly received
John

 

[hildo]

You could use an old cooking pan and heating it with a propane torch of some sort. Dependable and low cost. Works well for me.
Woodfire is possible as well but difficult to keep temperature at the same level during casting.
Hildo

 

[Aries-]

all depends on how many bullets your going to want to make in a sitting.

any more than 100 or so if your useing a dipper. your gonna be sorely hurting after.

a nice smelter with a spout on the bottom would be nice if your making a lot of bullets. lets the lead in evenly, and at the same speed each time. (more consistant bullets i would guess)

 

[O.S.O.K.]

Lee

Lee makes a good product. I did a lot of research prior to buying my equipment and decided on a Lee production pot - I think mine's a 20 pounder... and a bottom pour dipper. The bottom pour dipper allows you to pour lead without the slag getting into the mould. But it doesn't require high alloy temperature.

Yes, you can get a six cavity mould and you would go faster with the bottom pour lead pot.

I get very good quality bullets with my dipper - the general wisdom is that the dipper method gives the best quality as the bottom pour smelters need higher temperatures to operate - which causes frosted bullets.

 

[ED21]

Melting Pot

Back in the late 70's, 80's, and early 90's I did a lot of BP shooting. I would mold over a 1000 round balls just for my .62. Then I would mold about half that for my .36 and .54. (Be damn sure what you put in the pot! But that is a story for another time.) My melting pot is a 22 pound capacity RCBS production pot. Works great. It has the bottom pour spout that drains directly into the mold. You can adjust the flow rate as well. I have not done much shooting lately but still keep the pot, just in case. I've tried and done the primitive way of melting lead on the camp fire. (Kitchen stove, Coleman stove, wood stove have all been tried as well) Works but the temperature is real hard to keep consistent. The balls come out real wrinkly. The same thing happens if the mold is not heated to near the same temperature as the melted lead. Consistency is the name of the game. Some of the “big boys” in the competition shooting game used to weigh each and every ball molded. I never did this as it was not worth it to me.