Lead melting.

Modern Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Modern Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Firestick

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2019
Messages
166
Reaction score
28
I am not a big shooter of front stuffers but I do shoot enough that obtaining projectiles for the new .58 will be bothersome to obtain. I have been thinking of getting a Lee pot and casting again. I have access to scrap lead of all sorts from pure lead to wheel weights. If I do this I can cast for my 45 acp as well. Does anyone use the Lee pots? I have always used Lee casting equipment in years gone by (I.e. A few decades ago) except the melting part. I used a cast iron pot on the kitchen stove. Just figuring the casting pot would be a bit safer and MORE convenient.
 
Been using two different Lee pots.
1st one is the smaller Precision melter for use with pure lead and ladle - Black powder pot
The other is their 10lb Production pot I use for WW - Castboolits for cf rifles/pistol
Been using both for 16’ish years.
 
.
Have used several different size Lee Lead Pots through out the years. Still have an old 40 lb. pot from the telephone company when we were sealing lead pipe. Have several of the Lee's pots. But favor my old cast iron pot from past years.

th_id=OP.RRWFwGU8OT8uSw474C474&o=5&pid=21.jpgp_100010153_1.jpgt_100010154_1.jpg
.
 
I am not a big shooter of front stuffers but I do shoot enough that obtaining projectiles for the new .58 will be bothersome to obtain. I have been thinking of getting a Lee pot and casting again. I have access to scrap lead of all sorts from pure lead to wheel weights. If I do this I can cast for my 45 acp as well. Does anyone use the Lee pots? I have always used Lee casting equipment in years gone by (I.e. A few decades ago) except the melting part. I used a cast iron pot on the kitchen stove. Just figuring the casting pot would be a bit safer and MORE convenient.
Firestick, talk to FG(Jon). he has 2 of them. Seems to work excellent for him. He's at rendezvous right now. Should be back Sunday. One of his Lee is a 10# pot.
 
Research shows Lee as being popular with home casters as well as the Lyman "Big Dipper". I am sure I would be happy using a ladle to cast with as that is how I did many 1000's of bullets and round balls in years gone by.
 
Been using Lee pots and molds for nigh on 50 years. Down in Georgia we used to melt lead by putting ingots in an iron pot and leaving it in the sun for a couple of hours.
When I was a heavy equipment mechanic in Texas, I learned the hard way to put my tools in water to keep them cool. That was after I was out on a scraper and picked up a wrench, burned my hand, and threw the wrench!!
 
I've done a lot of dipper casting in the past. I eventually bought a Lee bottom pour pot and liked it a lot. I cast so much it started to wear out so I sent it back to Lee along with $20 and they rebuilt it. It came back looking brand new. I then bought a second Lee BP pot since I was casting so much for muzzleloaders and cartridge guns. The second one eventually wore out over the decades and I trashed it. Still have the first pot. It's a bit worse for wear but still works fine. Lee will still rebuild them but it now costs a lot more than the $20 I paid back then.
 
.
I have done a little dipping myself with original molds as well as modern ones.

It's surprising the size of balls you get from an original mold, not like what we see today. Those old boys shot whatever they had - correct size or not - that's what patching and wadding was for.
.
tools-molds.jpg
tools-molds3.jpg
These old molds still cast as good as they ever did.
,
 
Last edited:
I have two Lee's and love them, also have iron plumbers pot to melt and cast into small cup-cake pan for a mold. I now only use my pots outside under a shady oak and make sure the breeze is at my back or quartered there about.
 
I've done a lot of dipper casting in the past. I eventually bought a Lee bottom pour pot and liked it a lot. I cast so much it started to wear out so I sent it back to Lee along with $20 and they rebuilt it. It came back looking brand new. I then bought a second Lee BP pot since I was casting so much for muzzleloaders and cartridge guns. The second one eventually wore out over the decades and I trashed it. Still have the first pot. It's a bit worse for wear but still works fine. Lee will still rebuild them but it now costs a lot more than the $20 I paid back then.
Hanshi, was that the 10 pounder? If it was, did you have any trouble with it?
I use the Lee production pot bottom pour to melt for ingots and rb’s
Have you had a lot of problems with the bottom pour clogging up? Hanshi uses one and I asked him about any problems also.
 
Hanshi, was that the 10 pounder? If it was, did you have any trouble with it?

Have you had a lot of problems with the bottom pour clogging up? Hanshi uses one and I asked him about any problems also.
No sir I use a q tip size pc of beeswax and keep the slag skimmed off. I never let all the melt pour completely out and just turn it off when done pouring.
 
Mine is the 10 lb pot. I do have clogging bottom spout trouble from time to time. But I keep, next to the pot, a dipper (for stirring), a screwdriver to unstick the the valve rod and a bent paperclip to pick the bottom vent if needed. Casting does go quickly though. I also have an iron pot & dipper. Prior to moving I had three iron pots and a Lyman iron ingot mold. But they never made it up here.
 
Mine is the 10 lb pot. I do have clogging bottom spout trouble from time to time. But I keep, next to the pot, a dipper (for stirring), a screwdriver to unstick the the valve rod and a bent paperclip to pick the bottom vent if needed. Casting does go quickly though. I also have an iron pot & dipper. Prior to moving I had three iron pots and a Lyman iron ingot mold. But they never made it up here.
Thanks,
I see they also have a 20 lb pot and not a bad price.
 
Bought the Lee Magnum furnace. It works GREAT. Now to figure out how to lube the bullets without making a damned mess. All the "recipes" seem way to soft. Thinking I need just beeswax and a few drops of Murphys oil or Pinesol. in it.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top