I had a lee Production pot – and did not like it. It dripped all the time – and that was a pain in the rear.
What I ended up using was a soup can – with the top squeezed narrow – like a spout. I made a wire handle for it and just melt it on a coleman stove. Works fine, pours easily, no leaks. I’ve been doing it like this for years w/o issue.
Tim
imo the little hand held melting pots are too small to be practical. I have poured lots of lead with the free standing units that hold 10 lbs of lead. They are also safer than trying to mess with ladles. I used one to keep a bait shop stocked with weights for 8 years and didn’t wear it out. If your having trouble pouring small jigs and weights make sure you pre heat the molds and use good pure lead. That should help a lot.
the production pots will leak if they become coated with contaminates from dirty lead. Using clean lead will help avoid this. Also they are easy to take apart and clean.
Lee Production Pot – there is a screw slot at the top fo the spout – turn it 1/4 turn every 10 minutes or so and dripping will be a non-factor.
As yellowdog said – clean lead will eliminate the drips in the Lee production pots. If you have some accumulation of slag in there (dripping) you may have to use the wire end of a bottom bouncer after the lead is melted to insert into the nozzle – and clean out the impurities. Then you can run the lead through until it will shut off after you release the handle. Occasionally even with clean lead you may have to run through this routine but not as often if you are always using all clean lead. Good luck – it is worth the effort!
Chuckles
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Lee Production Pot – there is a screw slot at the top fo the spout – turn it 1/4 turn every 10 minutes or so and dripping will be a non-factor.
Right on Kizew!
Lead Oxide gas is very bad to breathe…I would NOT be melting lead in the kitchen… 
I do this in my shop with a vent fan on high sucking the fumes outside. 
The Lee pots work great. As others have stated, you need to use clean lead. Its wise to mix in some flux like Marvelux into the melted lead, and use some type of skimmer to get the junk off the top of the lead.
The 20# pot works better than the 10# if you are pouring anything 1/4 oz or more, and lessens the re-heat time. A thermometer can greatly help when pouring. The best pours will be at about 850 degrees. Once the lead gets to about 1000 degrees, you will start to get slag issues, and your molds will get excessively hot.
If you have a drip, grasp a wire with a long pliers and scrape out the inside of the spout… be careful not to break off the wire.
Propanne cookers, a cast iron pot, and a larger lead ladle are good to own if you use dirty lead. Cook down the nasty lead outdoors and use some flux in it. Skim the junk off the top and get yourself a couple ingot makers and make some good, clean lead ingots. The ingot makers that make both 1 pound and 1/2 pound ingots are VERY HANDY for bottom pour furnaces to help maintain the level while pouring to nearly eliminate remelt down-time.
RCBS Pro melt pots are very nice with the thermostat control , but they will drive you nuts in about 5 years when the thermostat goes out. The do make better pours on normal size stuff, but not as good on large weights because they wont get quite hot enough for efficient large pours.
I have also used the Lee pots with good luck using clean/pure lead but drips and problems trying to re-use lead or using dirty lead. I also have a small hand held pot that has an element inside the pot. This plugs in and has a cord just like soldering iron. It holds enough lead to pour a few molds at a time. Like it was said above, watch out for the gases and use in a vented area or have a fan nearby. Only issue with the fan is don’t have it blow directly on the pot or molds – it will cool them off to make a difference.
Thanks for the replies, guys. I do have a big lead pouring operation out in the garage, and it’s pretty well ventilated. I just use the turkey roaster, and it work fine, but I do have problems pouring the smaller jigs/weights sometimes. But usually it works better when I heat up the mold, and sometimes spray some WD40 in the cavities too. I’m not real interested in the Lee production pots, but rather the hot pot because it’s handheld. I like to have everything at the ready to go when I’m pouring a bunch of jigs at once. But the reason I ask about the hot pot is because if it keeps the lead nice and hot, I’d be willing to have it only hold 2 pounds because you can pour a lot of 1/16, 1/8, and even 1/4 with 2 pounds of lead. The ladle I use now holds about 5 lbs of lead, and it doesn’t have the best pouring spout, so I think that’s where a lot of the problem originates when pouring into the little cavities. Thanks again guys, I appreciate it.
I use a single element electric hotplate I got at Wal-Mart for about $10, an 8 inch cast iron skillet from Wal-Mart for $8, and a cast iron ladle I found at a garage sale for 25 cents. When melting the lead, I leave the ladle in the pan and cover it with an old aluminum stock pot. I put my molds in the stock pot to pre-heat them. When the lead reaches pouring temp, I remove the stock pot, take out the mold and pour with the ladle. Works like a million bucks.
Keep posted for more on this, but the $90 non-resident turkey tag just turned into an either weapon tag. Rather than being pigeon-holed into a weapon you bought the tag for, you can use either/or.
Joel
When do we leave???? 
wouldnt it be turkey-holed 
Here is the link to our ’09 Fall turkey season.
http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/hunting/pdfs/turkey/09fallregs.pdf
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When do we leave????
wouldnt it be turkey-holed
My son and I go for the youth season this coming spring! 
They had also talked about a lower priced youth tag? Any word on that Joel? Sure would be nice to get a little break, $90 is a lot to intro kids to them Merriam Turkeys.
CW
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Quote:
When do we leave????
wouldnt it be turkey-holed
My son and I go for the youth season this coming spring!
They had also talked about a lower priced youth tag? Any word on that Joel? Sure would be nice to get a little break, $90 is a lot to intro kids to them Merriam Turkeys.
CW
Chris:
I had heard that too……I’ve got a buddy in NE Game and Parks. I’ll check with him and report back if that’s true!
Joel
It’s true! 
The cost for resident and nonresident youth tags is $5 this season!!!
They also have pulled the minimum draw weight for archery hunting also! Now Little Bossman can try for one with his bow too!!
The bad news is the tags for NR hunters went to $91 and $20 for the habitat stamp. Not a big change, but if you plan on shooting all three you still need a tag for each.
CW
here is the latest from the G & P
1/6/2010 Spring Turkey Permits Available Jan. 11
Keywords: General (4075)
LINCOLN, Neb. – The new $5 youth turkey permits will be available when 2010 spring turkey hunting permits go on sale Jan. 11 at 1 p.m. Central Time, according to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.
In the past, youth hunters paid the same price as adults for a turkey permit. The new low-cost permits are designed to attract more youth to turkey hunting opportunities.
Youth permits are for hunters who are under age 16 on the opening day of the youth archery season. All turkey hunters, except residents under age 16, require a Nebraska Habitat Stamp.
The 2010 permit prices, not including issuing fees, are: resident turkey, $23; resident youth turkey, $5; nonresident turkey, $90; nonresident youth turkey, $5.
The archery and youth archery hunting seasons are March 25-May 31. The youth shotgun season is April 10-May 31 and the shotgun season is April 17-May 31.
A spring turkey permit, as well as a spring youth turkey permit, allows a hunter to take turkeys with bow and arrow in the archery season and a shotgun in the shotgun season. A person may have up to three spring turkey permits. The bag limit is one male or bearded female turkey per permit.
Thanks for posting this!
Joel
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The archery and youth archery hunting seasons are March 25-May 31. The youth shotgun season is April 10-May 31 and the shotgun season is April 17-May 31.
In Nebraska you can hunt for a month and a half? That sure would be nice!
Yes that is correct. Here is a link to it.
http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/hunting/guides/biggame/pdfs/turkey_regs.pdf
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