lead pot lee or dutch oven

[wileynet]

finally going to jump into the cast bullet hobby, i have read that the the lee pot is hard to keep at temp, would i be better off with a propane fired melter, i have my old lead pot from doing lead and oakem as a plumber, also what molds would you recomend to start, i want to cast for 308, 303 british and 45/70 my 308 and 303 tend to like the 150 grain bullets the 45/70 405 prefer lee if yall can help

[Ranch13]

I've not had any problems with keeping the lee electric pots at temperature. You do need to turn the thermostat down as the amount of lead in the pot goes down, but that's with any source of melthing lead.
For the smaller bullets lee moulds are pretty good, but for the larger stuff like the 45-70, they just don't have enough material to stand up to alot of casting. I'ld urge you to spend a bit more on RCBS or Saeco moulds for your 45-70.

[Siskiyou]

Recently Gun Runner cast me some real nice bullets for my 303 British.  He cast a real nice Lee bullet; I believe it is listed in the link, 303B.  The bullet runs about 185 grains.  My test loads of the gas check bullets were on the light side having not fired them in my rifle in the past.  I used 2400 and AA2015.  His mix was good because leading was not an issue.  My light AA2015 load might have been just below 2000 fps.

http://leeprecision.com/xcart/Bullet-Mold-Double-Cavity-c-7289/
Not sure what brand melting pot he uses but he has casting lead down to an art form.  The burn on his knuckle from the hot pot months back was very ugly, but no doubt it was very hot.
 
Based on the different caliber bullets he has cast I would not have a problem with Lee molds, but GR might pop-up and say different.  I would respect what says.

[wileynet]

thanks will look at the lee mold, theres a lot of lee melters on ebay might just go ahead and try to get 1

[anachronism]

The temp range with my old LEE pots used to vary wildly, often over 100 degrees. I now use a Lyman MAG20, which does really well controlling temperature. Varying temps are often a source of bullet weight variations. I only use open flame and a pot for smelting & alloying.

[manatee1947]

no problems with my Lee pot, but it is small. If I am casting 98 gr 32's it is great, if I am casting 500 gr 45/70's it does not go far.You might want to get a small pot and then keep a pot of melt going also, you can more easily flux and also make a large batch of uniform alloy that way, and refill the Lee from the larger. The bottom pour feature on the Lee is good, I use a lot of Lee molds also. I use  3 molds often, say a 300 gr 44 caliber, a 340 gr 45/70, and a 440 gr 50 caliber, By the time I have poured 2, the 3rd mold is ready to dump into the quench barrel and refill. Every seven molds is a pound plus of lead. You want to keep the pot at least 1/3 full, so you only have about 5 pounds to work with, so I need to refill often. I only cast 4-5 weekends a year so I make a lot of bullets when I do.

[wileynet]

what mold numbers are you using for the 45/70, and let me understand keep 2 pots going, what about the larger lee pot.

[Lloyd Smale]

Lee pots arent as good as an rcbs or lyman pot but they get the job done and there hands down better then trying to cast with a propane powered pot.

[Lloyd Smale]

I used to run two 20lb pots at the same time and feed the one i was casting out of with the second one and add cold lead to the second one as i moved it to the first. It was nothing for me to cast a 100 lbs of bullets in a day. Anymore with my bad back im lucky to get through a 20lb pot without haveing to rest so i just run one. As to a 4570 mold youll do yourself right if you buy the rcbs 405 round flat gas check mold. Ive yet to find a 4570 that didnt shoot that bullet well.

what mold numbers are you using for the 45/70, and let me understand keep 2 pots going, what about the larger lee pot.

[mechanic]

Everyone uses their own preferred method, and you will develop yours.  I have two electric pots, which I seldom use.  I cast in bulk.  I wait for a good dry day, and fire up a burner outside, and work with 50  or more pounds of lead at a time.  When I cast, I keep two or three molds going so I can control my mold temp. better, and I will try to cast for at least 6 mos. supply.
 
Whatevery you buy, it will have shortcomings that you will learn to work around.  Lee molds will overheat quickly because they are aluminum.  Thats why I run two or more.  I lay one near but not on the fire so it will cool a little but not a lot, etc.
 
Other molds, like Lyman take longer to heat up and cool down but work great as well.  I've never had the problems that some report with Lee molds, perhaps because I learned with them...
 
Ben

[Anduril]

Use your dutch oven to smelt down wheel weights and other dirty lead alloys, then pour into ingots of some sort.
 
The clean alloy ingots go in the electric melter for casting bullets.
 
My 10 pound Lee bottom pour pot is over 25 years old, has cast many thousands of bullets and it's still going strong.
..
 

[mdi]

I think it's waaaay easier to control the melt temp. with a Lee pot over an open flame burner. I started with a single burner Coleman propane stove and it wasn't easy to keep the heat/temp. even. I've been casting with my Lee 4-20 for over 9 years with only minor mishaps...