Ladle vs. bottom pour

[Maillemaker]

Well, for over 3 years now I've only ever been a bottom-pour pot guy.

But with the new Pritchett style bullets from Noe Bullet Moulds, I could not get them to pour without voids no matter what I tried with the bottom-pour pot.

So I bought an RCBS ladle and tried ladle pouring. This ladle has a submerged spout so the dross floats on top of the melt in the ladle.

I think you ladle guys are right - there is no more sure-fire way to get good nose-case bullets than with a ladle. It lets you start the pour with the mold held sideways, and then turn the mold and ladle together to vertical as the mold fills with lead. This results in pretty much perfect bullets.

I still don't have my technique down yet - I get lots of splashing and dripping of lead all over the mold. And I have to stand up to ladle pour. So I like bottom pouring for ease and convenience.

Steve

[jonk]

To me it depends on 2 things. The mold and the bullet size.

Generally speaking I can get good results with bottom pouring with anything up to 300 grains. Beyond that, I think the issue lies in that even the most generous of flow spouts on the bottom pour doesn't let lead exit as fast as with a good ladle, and as such the bullet starts to harden too soon.

Some molds just prefer it anyhow.

I ladle pour all my minies, and bottom pour all my Smith and Henry and revolver bullets. And all my smokeless stuff, and the sb round balls (as I use scrap, the tin helps with flow rate). I keep 3 pots on hand. One big Lee pot for the bottom pour pure lead for the Henry and my BPC stuff, one medium Lee for my hard lead, and one small Lee 5 lb job for my minies. Sounds tedious, but one pot full will give me about 50 bullets, of which even with ladle, usually about 3-5 are rejects. I go through about 1000 minies in a year, so 21 casting sessions and I'm done. Less if I do more than one pot full in a day.

OTOH, I can do all my Smith bullets for a year in 2 sessions, or sharps if I go that route.

One of these days I'm going to buy a spare pot liner for the Lee and bore out the spout to see if that makes bottom pouring minies and other big bullets possible.

[ms3635v]

I have been casting for my black powder guns since 1977. I have always used a plumber's pot (screwed on to the top of a 20 gallon propane tank) that holds 25 pounds of lead. I always rest the mould next to the burner so it pre-heats. Once the lead is melted, I skim the dross from the pot (sometimes I drop a small piece of bees wax to flux the lead). When the lead is the proper temperature, I start casting. I tilt the mould very slightly and begin the pour. Once the lead fills the mould and a small amount runs off the sprue plate I stop pouring. This method has consistently produced well-formed bullets. I had a few moulds over the years that were a bit cantankerous, but after experimenting with different methods of pouring, I finally got acceptable bullets. The key, for me, is not to change the way I pour. Using this method I get very few rejects (maybe 1 or 2) at the beginning of a casting session.

[Lou Lou Lou]

Steve
I drilled out the spout on the RCBS ladle to deliver more melt, works a treat.

[Maillemaker]

I keep reading about all these Anderson, Snyder, etc. bullet machines from the Civil War that cranked out 10,000 in a day. I want to make one that makes 500 in an evening.

Steve

[Lou Lou Lou]

Dave and Steve Smith have a master caster for Minie, I believe. Look for a used master caster.

[Maillemaker]

Dave and Steve Smith have a master caster for Minie, I believe. Look for a used master caster.

I want swaged. :)

Steve