To start off with, you will get several replies on the Lee equipment. It is either a love or hate relationship. To be honest, IMO, they make a "good" product for a good price. What they produce will get you shooting and if your looking for volumn the 6 cavity molds are hard to beat. How you use and take care of them will determine how well they work for you. For "greatness" in a mold, you more or less have to turn to semi custom to get it. Places like NOE, Accurate, MP molds, and such. The prices might be a bit higher and the cavity count might only be 4 at tops with some, but you get what you want and what you pay for. The downside is you might have to wait seemingly forever for one to be built if it is a group buy like some of them are. What you will find if you read enough and research enough molds is they will all make great bullets and they can all make junky bullets, there is more to it than just having a $200 custom mold and it automatically just pours great bullets from the get go. Each and every one has a break in period, and depending on what it is made of, might be three or more casting sessions. Also depending on the alloy, and the temp of it, can make a world of difference in good or bad bullets as well, or if they stick, or pull apart, etc... It will also depend on if your pouring say in a Lyman mold if your using something equivalent to Lyman #2 alloy as to the weights of the bullets and possibly even the as cast sizes as well.
As for pots, I use the Lee 4-20, with an added PID controller attached ( see
Project PID ).
This allows me to set a temp for my alloy and it will keep it there within a 10-20 degree spread, usually a bit closer. It's an extra hundred or so bucks, but after using it three or four times you will wonder why you didn't start out with it. Is it necessary, nope, but it sure is great to have. There are several post on this over there so read through them all then decide if its something you might want to add. I promise if you DO, you won't be sorry.
With the 4-20, aka-drip o matic, a bit of up front detail will almost completely stop the drip. Just use some lapping compound to lap in the seat and stem where they mate up, and it will go far in keeping you from having any issues. Also "DO NOT USE IT TO SMELT WHEEL WEIGHTS OR ANY OTHER DIRTY ALLOY IN". Pick up a decent cast iron or SS pot with a decent thick bottom and sides for smelting down your raw alloy, then after fluxing pour into ingots. Only put clean and well fluxed alloy ingots in your casting pot and you will be miles ahead.
Invest in a lead thermometer to start with and you will be miles ahead. I think the best one is from NOE molds, and goes for about $25. Its about the same type as the rest only cheaper. Again this is something some feel isn't necessary, and while that may be, it is something I started out with and when I bumped up the temp a little at a time until I poured perfect bullets from the get go, I noted that temp and when using that mold again I know where to start out to get good bullets from the start. I hate looking at each and every bullet from a 20 or more pound session, and by using the thermometer or the PID my cull rate is down to around 20 or so at most from a 500-1K pour. I can usually see them when they pop and it is usually the bottom that is the issue, when I get going too fast. Also using a thermometer when you are smelting down your raw alloy is VERY useful to help make sure your not getting any zinc weights melted down in your lead ones. By keeping your smelt down in the 650 - 680 range the zinc wheel weights will float to the top to be skimmed out with the other clips and junk. It is also useful when your melting down unknown alloy to help determine what it might actually be. Using some of the melt temp charts you will quickly find that lead, tin, and other things will melt at a certain temp and this can be used when you start gathering up mystery metal.
Lubes,
Don't knock the tumble lube, it is fast, efficient, and works on every style of bullet. I use it on 98% of what I pour because of that. In fact I only just last week purchased a lube sizer only to get started with some rifle bullets. IF you want the best lube for TL'ing, go to White Label Lubes, and order some of the 45-45-10 Xlox, and be happy. It is simply the same as the Lee Alox with Johnson's Paste wax already blended in and it makes a nice non sticky finish on your bullets and dries within about 5 minutes or less if you pre warm your bullets with a hair drier. I have run it on lowly target loads of only 650 - 700 fps up to full blown gas checked 454 loads pushing 1700fps with no issues. It just works and works well for most needs.
For sizing, also don't knock the Lee push through. They are fast and efficient for sizing bullets. I use exclusively for now, as mentioned I only just did get the Lyman 4500 for rifle bullets. I don't even know when I will set it up since the Lee works so well. Thing I like about Lee sizers is you don't have to have a separate nose punch to fit each type of bullet you want to size like with the lube sizers. With the Lee if your bore needs a .452 diameter bullet for fit you use the .452 sizer and go for it regardless of which bullet it is or if it is a RN, a HP a SWC or RFN. You set them on the stem and run them through. After several thousand depending on how hard you push the sizer and all you might wear one out with a little wear on one side or another or to the stem, but for $20'ish bucks, to get another one it isn't he end of the world. The lube sizers are great and plenty of folks use them. My reservation has been I like to try different lubes on different loads, and having to clean out half a load of lube just to try out another one on 25 or so bullets just isn't my thing. I can easily pan lube a hundred or more bullets or just dip lube and dozen in what ever lube I want to try and again run them through the Lee sizer and be ready to load and shoot. Just what ever fits your style.
You mention LONG casting sessions, trust me when I say, even with a 4 cavity mold, I can easily pour up 40-50 pounds of alloy in an hour or two depending on the exact bullet. Figuring most of mine are for my bigger handguns and run on average 250grs, taking 45 # x 7000 divided by 250 you get 1260 bullets. That my friend is a PILE of bullets to be sized and lubed, and that is with a 4 cavity and not pushing it. That is 315 pours, and adding in another 25-35 pounds of alloy into the pot from what I started with as I go. This also doesn't take into effect the weight of said mold by it's self much less when you pour in close to half a pound of lead. You will feel the effects of it the next day, trust me.
As with anything your research will go far in getting exactly what you want. That said even when you think you did, your going to find something you wished you had gotten different. It just happens. For utensils like straining spoons and stirring spoons, pots and pans and such look to the dollar stores, big box stores or garage sales or where ever to pick them up cheap. Just try and get the spoons with a wooden handle and that are welded, or riveted, and not brazed or soldered. Another thing that is good to have are some of the sheet metal cake pans for dumping bullets into. They come in various sizes and something in an 8x8x2 or 8x12x2 will hold a good number of bullets. Just thrown a shop rag or similar type towel in the bottom to absorb a bit of the shock from the drop and fill them up.
One last thing that has helped out greatly for me and it is another one that will either be an asset or non issue. I and man others use a small one or two burner hot plate to pre heat the molds while the alloy is getting up to temp. Plenty say just to set the mold up top of the pot and let it warm up there and I have done that, also sticking one corner of the mold into the molten lead works well for others. Myself I like to simply set the temp of the hot plate, put which ever mold or molds on the grill, then turn on the pot. When the alloy is up to temp and the hot plate has cycled on and off a couple or three times everything is ready to start pouring great bullets at the same time. I use both aluminum and brass molds and they each take a different temp setting. I simply gradually heated them up, just as I did with the alloy, until they poured great bullets then marked the setting on the hot plate dial. Now I simply turn it to the proper mark , and when the mold and alloy both get there, I pour.
Hope this helps....
