lead furnace ?

I use a lee bottom pour drip o matic, cheap and gets the job done.

For bulk melting I made my own propane heated 100lb "big boy" It has bottom pour that drips less than the lee, not bad for a home fab "this should work" compared to a commercial unit.

For shot I use a littleton shotmaker.
 
I also use the 20LB lee, although I have the bottom pour and don't find it to leak. I found the 10LBers had a tendency to leak, but have had very good success with the 20LBer sealing up.

I also cast up to 500gr bullets in it and they seem to come out just fine. For 6 cavity pistol moulds the bottom pour is just fantastic.

I can't compare to other brands, but if you go lee, spend the extra few bucks on the 20lb bottom pour IMHO.
 
I use both bottom pour and ladle, my bottom pour is an RCBS and does not leak like the Lees do, of course the RCBS one is nearly $500 so make sure you are doing it for the long haul before you shell out for this one. MY experience is that there is more weight variation in bullets from a bottom pour, esp the bigger heavier bullets, alot of folks that cast for BPCR find the same. For top accuracy, whether you cast them yourself or someone else does, weigh and sort them, I think that the weight discrepancy from the bottom pour will surprise you.
 
I've got a small Lyman that I used for a long time. I still pull it out and play with the ladle once in a while. My main pot right now is an RCBS Promelt bottom pour. Like Ben said...don't go out and spend $500 on one unless you're sure this is somthing you'll be into for a long time. I didn't have good luck with the Lee stuff at all and will never buy any of their lead pots again.
 
mooseman1 said:
sound's like RCBS is the way too go in the long run?
Click to expand...

I like my RCBS bottom pour. It has never leaked and works very well.

You might want to consider getting a thermometer too, as the settings on the dial can be quite a bit different than the actual melt temperature. It just depends on your desired goals as a lot of folks get by fine without one.

My only complaint about my RCBS pot is that temperature can vary by about 40 degrees over the course of a casting session.

Chris.
 
X3 for the Lee 20 lb bottom pour.

It leaked until I figured out the cure. Simple adjustment of the top screw to lower the needle more.

You can also adjust the height of the needle lift to allow faster lead flow. Best value in pots.

Paper clip wire is handy to keep the spout free and clear. Thermostat works well too.
 
I have not found it necessary with my 20lb pot to clean the spout much, the 10lbers were bad. I have found if the lead temp gets too low the spout will solidify, and a butane torch is a great quick remedy for that.
 
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