Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting casting furnaces

I learned to cast using a Lee bottom pour furnace in the early 90s and I am comfortable with it. I am used to it, it has always worked without too much trouble, and I get nice results. Today was a bit different. I went out to the garage today to do a little casting since we got a little break from near triple-digit temperatures---finally. Everything started off normally but as I got the mold warmed up the spout of my pot clogged. It would not unclog, so I powered down, drained all the metal, and cleaned it all up. It needed it. That's not too unusual with a bottom pour furnace, IME.

So, I get everything up and running again and it's all working as it should, but I find that I need to either slow down the pace or lower the temperature of my pot. I chose the latter option. Within a few minutes the pour spout froze up again and that caused me to have to break my rhythm. It didn't take too long to get back on track but I am beginning to wonder if I wouldn't be better off casting with a ladle. I tried casting with a ladle early on and it just didn't click for me, so I abandoned it and never tried it again. At this point, I'm wondering if I should give the ladle another try, but I'd rather try to collect a few pointers first.

So first, is there a good trick for keeping a bottom-pour furnace form acting up like this? I know keeping the alloy clean will go a long way, but maybe there's something else I can do that I haven't thought of.

Second, who's made this transition and did so with complete satisfaction---and in a pain-free manner?

Is there a commonly recognized and recommended type of ladle? Any special tricks in using one?

should I decide to go with ladle casting are there any special features in a furnace I should either seek or avoid?

You just never know what it is you don't know, so here I am. I'd like the benefit of experience since there's so much of it here.

Thanks.

I’m a ladle caster. I use the big Lee ladle pot and don’t have any complaints. When you get a ladle definitely get the type that looks like a ball with a teapot spout on one side, much less spillage and you can pressure cast if you need to by sticking it in the sprue hole and tilting the whole works instead of pouring it from above. I have to do that with hollow point molds sometimes to get good results.

I used a Lyman bottom pour for a few years and didn’t care for it. Probably the operator but I got more culls and always had the drips underneath. Went back to ladle and have been satisfied for my uses.

I use both. Bottom pour furnaces (an old Lyman and an RCBS) and ladle. For sure a bottom pour furnace when running pistol molds and gang molds such as the six cavity H&G #68. I tend to use the old Lyman side pour ladle when casting plain base schuetzen competition bullets. The Kid's description of ladle pouring mirrors my technique. Drag the ladle across the surface to create a mirror-like surface into which to dip for a fresh pour.

When employing the furnaces I press the sprue plate tight against the bottom spout for a one-two count, then drop it a fraction of an inch lower for another one-two count without letting up on the handle and let the lead puddle up high on top of the plate with often some dribbles down over the side. With a strict cadence when the lead and mold are at optimal temperature I get very consistent bullets at an acceptable rate - as good quality as with a ladle.

With a gang mold I just open the spout and fill each cavity one by one down the line without stopping. I get a few incompletely filled out bullets but I accept that in exchange for the speed. Don't know if weights vary much with that technique, my handguns don't seem to mind if there is.

With my equipment I can more closely control temps with a furnace. I find ladling out of my furnaces to be a bit awkward so I employ a cast iron pot. Thermometers are omnipresent in the lead no matter which system I use.

I and a buddy gifted our dear friend a new Lyman furnace with all the bells and whistles last spring as a going away present and after seeing it I gotta get one for myself. The built in PID is the t*ts.

I only briefly attempted years ago to use a Lee furnace and soon discovered that the whining I heard about them was true. Life is too short to put up with aggravation.

Obviously I can't speak to why the OP's spout keeps freezing, just a shot in the dark: the thermostat in the old Lee pot is crapping out and the temp isn't as high as you think it is? That'll cause freezing in the spout for sure. Unseen contaminants in the alloy?

2 rcbs pro melts for bottom.pouring. A Lee Magnum ladle pot with a PID temp control for big bullets..mb

Rowell Ladles
This is the Cadillac/Lincoln/Benz of casting ladles.
I don't remember what size I have, but they go all the way to two hand, small child size pours to a little too small for a four cavity 400 grain mold. There is a guide that will help you pick what's best for your needs, probably one of the two smaller ones.

The trick to good ladle casting is a lead thermometer. A guy with a turkey fryer and a cast iron pot has a tendency to get things TOO hot, and creating excess oxidation and slag when doing so. The Rowell ladle will still make good bullets if you are guessing. The thermometer will make the ladle and the alloy pot both happy.

I apologize, but then I don't, for anyone trying to expect decent work with anything LEE as it pertains to most things, most of all casting.(Yes, maybe it was me that gnoahh was referring to). Unfortunately, judging by reviews of most of the "new" pots, the fancy controlled jobs by even Lyman and RCBS get mediocre reviews. I still have my old analog RCBS and would get another if they still made them. I've had a Magma on order for two years now.

Keeping alloy clean, never running scrap through a bottom pour uncleaned and ever so often running the pot empty and running molten wax through the spout and pin helps. The RCBS and Lyman of old allowed removal of the pin for cleaning with fine bronze or steel wool if absolutely needed. Not running the pot low and fluxing before a session keeps the grit on top where it can be skimmed.

The pin and spout plugs because it isn't being seated firmly over time when shutting off the flow. The LEE handle lacks much mechanical force to do a decent job to do this and they plug and are wretched little creatures that never seem to behave. When you think they do, they'll burn a fella or worse.

Thanks for the responses so far.

Since I've been in these internet forums (starting around 2000 or so), I've learned that you gotta give credence to what a man says about his experiences. Conclusions based on observations may not always be spot on, but when a guy tells you "I did this and this is what I saw happen," it's a pretty safe bet it went like he says. When it comes to casting guys seem to find a range of techniques that work for each individual, so I conclude that there is no "rule" that holds true universally. IOW, it ain't rocket science. Just an observation.

So, I can accept the notion that the Lee pot is not highly esteemed. I've been using mine since I found it in a second-hand store in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico back around 1991 or '92 for about $25. I guess I've got my nickel's worth out of it.

I do think I prefer a bottom pour, if for no other reason than that's the way I've done it for thirty years. So, are there bottom pour furnaces that won't clog up as easily? I know mine was clogged with slag/impurities/oxidation or whatever when I first fired it up and I believe it clogged the second time because I turned the heat control down, and maybe just a little too far. Incidentally, I do have a thermometer but I do not leave it in the melt all the time. I've been running at around 650*F lately and my alloy is a kind of approximate running average 96-Pb/3-Sn/1-Sb that I started many years ago, re-mixing and re-alloying at intervals when I needed to add metal to the overall stock---kinda like that pot of beans that's been simmering on the stove since 2008 with fresh dry beans added once or twice a week...not too scientific at all, but my results have always been quite acceptable.

Anyway, if there's a bottom-pour furnace that is notably better than the Lee in regards to the pour function, I'd sure like the suggestion. I'm still open to relearning with a good ladle but if I can stick to bottom-pour and be happy with it I'd probably opt to go that direction. All I know is I've put up with the Lee's habits of not pouring when I want it to and continuing to drip when I DON'T want it to long enough. I might have a good 20 years left in me and not having to tolerate all that might be pretty nice.

I have been using a Lee bottom pour for so many years I can't remember. One thing I always, always do when I'm thru casting is drain the pot completely. Then I turn it upside down & tap it against a piece of scrap 2x8 . This causes all the slag & debris left in the pot to be removed. This way when I run anew pot of alloy my pot is always clean. Keeping your pot clean helps a lot. Yes my spout freezes up at times if I set it too cool. Turn the temp up a bit til it flows & leave it there. Adjust your pour rate so your mold doesn't over heat , or use two mold alternately back & forth.

I went ahead and bought a 25-pound RCBS bottom pour furnace. It's here now. I figured I've gotten my money's worth out of the Lee production pot, and besides these minor irritations the 10-pound limitation is as much a concern.

One thing I intend to do is clean the ever-lovin crap out of the stash of bullet metal I have on hand so that I don't need to clean it in the pot after it melts. I use Marvellux, which I know many guys hate, and it does leave residue in the pot but its ability to thin the melt so that it pours like water makes it worth the trouble in my opinion. I will be re-alloying about 250 pounds of metal in the next few weeks, and hopefully I can get it clean enough before I pour it into ingots that further cleaning won't be needed...we'll see about that, though. I've never been able to achieve that but I've only used paraffin and other conventional stuff for alloying and the initial cleanup in the past.

I hope the RCBS furnace is a little easier to work with. I'll be finding out soon enough, I guess. Just being able to keep on casting once I've done eight or nine pounds of bullets without stopping, then having to bring the mold back up to temperature again should be a benefit. I can get a lot more done in a day if I don't have to stop for that crap.

Been using 1 rcbs promelts for many moons they are great bottom pour pots but if you need to ladle BIG bullets the Lee Magnum dipper pot is the best for the money..mb

Any of them.

I think you have set yourself up for better results with your recent purchase.

I wore out a Lyman (rewired it twice), still have an RCBS that I would get another if they still made them. I generally use it twice a week and have over the last 5-10 years, cranking out 500-1k pills a week.

I have had three LEE bottom pour pots. The first one was around for years, making a handful of jigheads or a few dozen bullets until it didn't even make the alloy molten anymore. The last two I tried making use of by being used strictly for softnosed metering where they couldn't even manage that; the newest one was worse than the older one it replaced. It pissed right out of the box.

I love my new rcbs furnace after only having a lee drip o matic with a thermometer sticking in the pot. I love that the rcbs regulates Temps and doesn't drip. My first one the fan sounded like a wheat grinder so they sent me a whole new furnace.

I kept the Lee dripper just to melt and clean alloys to make clean ingots for the rcbs. The lee does well in that role.

Bb