Lee Casting Pot - 10 pound or 20 pound

[chrisx1]

another vote for the 20

[fredj338]

I like the ergonomics of the 10# but the 20# is really the way to go. I started w/ the 10# & when you satart casting larger bullets or 4-6cav molds, you can't keep the alloy hot enough, you are always adding. I now use the 10# for LHP casting only & the 20# for everything else.

[Doby45]

I love my 20#. Just got it and it is awesome, none of the dreaded drips and I can cast until I just get tired of putting lead in the pot and taking it out with a mold. Prior to that I was over a gas flame and that just sucks unless your in a SHTF situation.

[Changeling]

Amazing, how many bullets some of you guys pour! I just can't imagine needing more than 10 lbs at a time. However I know you guys know what you are doing, so I just wonder what "I'll" be saying this time next year, LOL!

[Jim_Fleming]

Interesting is correct, amazing too, but first stop and think...

You might be interested in some sort of training regimen...

Let's see... .40 S&W cartridge, average weight of cast boolit = 175 grs....

You might shoot a puny 100 rounds a week considering the flamin' high cost of primers...

100 rds x 52 weeks... = 5,200 boolits x 175 grains... = 910,000 grains of boolits

910,000 / 7,000 (grains per pound) = about 130 pounds of boolits...

130 lbs = about 13 - 14 10 lb. pots of lead... about a good weeks worth of casting in my 10 lb. pot...

Not all that much when you think about it... No wonder we casters are interested in recovering and scrounging up so much lead...

Personally I built a bullet trap, everyone uses it... and I get the lead, lol! but that's in another thread.

Don't worry Changeling, you'll get the addiction same as the rest of us... it's called Blue Pill Fever!

Amazing, how many bullets some of you guys pour! I just can't imagine needing more than 10 lbs at a time. However I know you guys know what you are doing, so I just wonder what "I'll" be saying this time next year, LOL!

[skeet1]

I have never owned a 10# but I do have the 20# and for the difference in price the 20 is the one I chose and it has been a very good choice.

Skeet1

[Seth Hawkins]

Get the 20# pot. I've got one and it works great. I did open up the hole a little to increase the flow rate, and polished the plunger tip to stop the leaking.

You always need more capacity than you think you'll need.

[Crash_Corrigan]

I have two Lee 4-20's. The one on the top shelf is used for remelting sprues and new ingot. I have a piece of steel channel about 30" long which transports the hot alloy from the top pot to the one on the lower shelf.

Pot #2 is my casting pot. I keep it filled to a certain level with preheated alloy from Pot #1. The idea is that certain molds require a certain pressure of alloy during the pour. My monster Buffalo Arms 695 GR Creedmoore mold needs a 3-4 second full blast pour right at the edge of the sprue hole. For this one I keep the level somewhere between 2/3 full to full on the casting pot.

When casting .45 ACP's or .45 Colt 200 to 255 gr SWC's or whatever in a Lee six banger I need a more refined flow of alloy. Keeping the bottom pot at 1/3 to 2/3 or so is just the power and flow I need to make good boolits.

Now for the small boolits like .22's, .32's, .309 to .323's and the like and most of them are cast in two bangers I like a more controlled and even flow of alloy. Filling the bottom pot to about 1/2 full down to 1/4 full is about right there.

Buying a 10 lb Lee pot is like leaving two empty cases in your Ruger Six Shooter and loading up just the remaining 4 chambers. You no longer have a six gun....you got a 4 gun. Same size (footprint on reloading bench) but does less work for you. Buy the 20 lbs size and never look back.

[Jim_Fleming]

As I've stated, thus far I've limited, (keyword "limited") myself to a 10 lb. pot but you guys have pretty much convinced me that soon, I need to get a second pot, and you can betcha bottom dolla, it'll be a 20 pounder...

Thanks Guys,

[stephen perry]

I agree with your situation. I have a SAECO bottom pour that has the spicket towards the middle. Don't trust it with lead drop so I use it only for melt down wth whatever I can fit in it. I pour a couple hundred bars at a time, the SAECO works fine for that. I drop Cast out of a LEE 10 and dip out of a LEE 4. I recently bought a LEE 20 for dipping only, no bottom pour function.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR

[Shiloh]

GO with the bigger pot. A six banger LEE mold empties it in a hurry. You'll be glad you did.

Shiloh

[mustanggt]

I started with the 10 pouring WW lead. The drip was something I just lived with. I decided to go with the 20 for pouring Hardball lead. I wanted to keep it clean with a known alloy rather than mess with WW and other alloys mixing. Then I went and bought another for 20-1 and another for lino. I get no drip from the 20's but the 10 kept me messing with it all the time so I just leave it in the back of the cubbard. I like the 20's alot and think that for less than the real expensive furnaces like rcbs and lyman I have much more value and flexibility for the money.

[big dale]

I started with a 20 pound Lyman furnace in the mid 60's and everything went fine till mid 80's after I bought a H&G #68 4 cavity mold. Then I added a 22 pound RCBS furnace. That way one could be heating the lead up to casting temp while I was casting out of the other. With this set up I could cast about a HUNDRED POUNDS in an afternoon. I was doing a lot of 45 shooting at the time. This setup was also useful for my Lee 255 grain two cavity mold block for my 44 mag. Even thou it was only a two cavity block, you could quickly emoth a 20 pound pot of lead pretty quickly.

When you live in Texa, it helps to try to get your casting done before it gets to be 100 degrees. I always try to get a big pile of boolits cast before the end of March.

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

[yarro]

20#. When I used a ten I found that adding lead caused much more variation in the melt temp and it took longer to get back up to a steady temp.. Before you use it, take some valve grinding compound and lap the seat for the bottom pour and it won't leak. I have a Lyman and a Lee. The Lyman melts just a little fast I think. Never leaked, but it was a used garage sale find so it may have new. Lyman is maybe a little better made, but had to beat the price on the Lee.

-yarro