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"...an electric pot or hand casting(cast iron pot, a keeled ladle). Which makes the most consistant round ball? Anyone ever do a test on such? Am wondering if a Production Pot of some kind may be worth the dollars?"
Leatherbelly,
I've been casting both RB's (pure Pb) and elongated bullets (wheelweights + 1% Sn) for use in metallic cartridges since 1969. I began using an electric furnace (Lee Precision) with a keeled ladle (Lyman) 30 yrs. ago. If you maintain a consistent rhythm and constant pot temperature, the results can be very good. For pure Pb RB's, I cast at 800 deg. F, and somewhere between 730 deg. - 800 deg. for the others, depending on the mold. While not essential, it is most helpful to use a casting thermometer if you can obtain one locally at an attractive price. Lastly, no matter how good my cast RB's and bullets look, I still segregate them by weight, particularly if I'm going to use them in a match or if I use a different mold to cast a .490" RB (I have several different .490" RB molds.) Hope this helps you out!