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Thread: Lead melter

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Dursley
    Posts
    923

    Lead melter

    I’m going to have to purchase a lead melter so that I can start casting my own bullets and shotgun slugs, what is the benefit of 20lb melter vs. a 10lb melter beyond the obvious extra melting capacity?

    Also looking at the options there appears to be two brands (Lee & Lyman) any opinion on which is best? Is there any other brands I should look at?

    Just as an additional thought, i will be melting old lead looking on a post further down the Lee pots seem to dislike gunk, any thoughts?

    Cheers
    Last edited by s.stimson; 09-06-2014 at 01:00 PM.
    If I knew then what I know now I wouldn’t have been bottle feed

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    grantham
    Posts
    1,504
    Used a Lee with spout for a few years till i lost my rag with the dripping spout and pulled said spout
    off with a big pair of grips. Welded a plate over the hole and used it with a ladle for a bit but due to
    its small diameter i could only use the top part of the molton lead. Hence about 3 years ago i bought
    a Lyman Big Dipper and its brilliant. Larger diameter pot means i can get to the bottom of the pot,
    no drips, holds a good load of lead and only cost about £40 new. Brilliant. Use mine for .577 minnies,
    45, 44, 357 and 303 bullets as well as 451 and 457 round ball, can't praise it enough. Tim

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Tenterden
    Posts
    589
    Have to say that if I'm using old lead, I do melt it beforehand and get rid of most of the oxide and rubbish and then pour it into a Lee ingot mould. I will then use the clean(er) lead in the Lee melting pot. Even so, you still end up with residue that has to be cleaned out from time to time.

    Personally, I think the Lee pot has a spout with too small a hole in it and I've drilled it out a size which seems to be a fairly common mod.

    Steve.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Dursley
    Posts
    923
    I'm nto hearing much of a positive vibe for the Lee bottom pour melter, think in that case it will be the lyman,

    In regard to melting the scrap lead, what do you guys do this is/on? I have an old calor gas stove that uses the 4.5kg gas bottles, would that be any good?
    If I knew then what I know now I wouldn’t have been bottle feed

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Sittingbourne
    Posts
    63
    I melt my scrap range lead using a gas camping stove, portable and very quick...

    Use this to make ingots with an ingot mould, then put the ingots in your electric pot melter.

    - Tom

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    doncaster
    Posts
    2,468
    "Men occasionally stumble on the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened" Winston Churchill
    http://planetairgun.com/index.php

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    The Valleys of South Wales
    Posts
    2,456

    Lee pot

    On a positive note for the Lee pot, I'm still using the same one which I bought in the early eighties. Mostly 38 cal and 45 round ball but also 3oz to 8 oz fishing weights to keep my lead supplier happy. I've no complaints at all about it. The nozzle does drip from time to time but I keep the ingot mold underneath and a dumpy screwdriver at hand to tweak the valve rod. A slight tap (sideways) with my sprue cutting mallet usually stops the drips and a bent paper clip is kept at hand to clear the blocked nozzle from time to time. I've not noticed the flow rate to be too slow for anything I cast. I cast about three to four hundred of whatever at a time in a couple of hours which is plenty of casting for one sitting.

    I bulk melt scrap lead in an old pressure cooker (without the lid) on a gas ring that came with a turkey broiler from the states. This is cast into lee ingot molds and mince pie trays which make flat, round 1/2lb and most importantly, clean, blocks for the smelter.
    Last edited by DesG; 10-06-2014 at 12:35 PM.
    [I]DesG
    Domani e troppo tardi

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