I am considering purchasing a new bullet casting furnace.  I've had Lee furnaces in the past with limited success.  The Lyman and RCBS furnaces are four times the cost of the Lee but are they worth it?  Any opinions?

Get a Waage 20# pot you’ll wonder how you put up with anything else.

40 Rod

If you are handy with tools you can build one.  I built one around a 3 quart cast iron pot ($5) from the thrift store, a 220 v element from a range top ($23) and some misc. sheet steel, refractory insulation, etc.  I also built a PID controller for about $50. 

I love the pot, it holds 50 pounds of lead-tin alloy, heat up in 20 min and holds temp to within 10 degrees or better.  I can easily change temperature for tiny 25 cal (hot!) to big 520 gr 45 cal. (50 F cooler).   

I also use the smaller Lee pots for pure lead round balls but they are easy. 

I'm now working on a way to blanket the pot with carbon dioxide to prevent oxidation and dross formation.  I hate dross!   

Cheers

Dave

Have had my little 10 lb. Lee for probably 35+ years, and only bought a 2nd Lee 20 lb. to get more capacity. Both are working great for my bullet casting.

Lyman 20 here.  I also have an old Lee 10-pounder.  I wish for an even bigger pot every time I cast anything more than a few dozen for a tryout, though. 

shovel80 wrote on Jan 18^th, 2016 at 8:41am:

Same experience here, though I've put a PID controller on mine. Is casting season for me. I cast a season's worth of bullets (3000+) over the winter and this is peak casting weather (moderate blizzard going on outside until Sunday a.m.). Just finished casting/lubing 100 and will do another 100 this afternoon and probably another 100 this evening. Turn on the Lee pot, come back in ~1hr when everything is stabilized and cast a quick 100. Recharge the pot and turn everything off (hot lead in the post will melt the recharge) and go goof-off for a while. Come back and turn on the power strip and do it a gain. Life is good. 

SSShooter wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2016 at 10:30am:


Another vote for the Lee Magnum pot with a PID controller.  I've got both a RCBS & a Lee pot - use the same PID controller with each.  If I did not already have the RCBS from previously bottom casting pistol bullets I'd only buy a Lee for dip casting & use it with a PID.

Wayne

While I like the PID control, I've found over the 3yr I've used that a 20F temp variation makes about a 1gr difference, max, in the weight of a 400gr bullet. As I weigh all my bullets and segregate into 0.5gr lots, am sure I could get by without the PID. However, it was inexpensive and has been faultless over the years and the 'set & forget' functionality is nice. I think the +/-2F accuracy of the TC is the biggest bonus compared to the +/-25F accuracy of the thermometer.