Well I apologize for not getting back with you I have had a full plate around here lately.
As mentioned above with regard to the casting pot, it is hard to beat the price of the Lee 4-20 Production pot. Couple it up with a PID controller and your set for just about anything you would ever want to pour up. If you build the PID yourself you will save some money but it can be had pre-made and ready to plug and go. Do you absolutely need one, nope, but it sure does help keep the temp where you want it. Just something to put on your "Want List" for now
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I started out without one, but I DID have a nice lead thermometer I picked up from NOE molds. It clips right to the side of the Lee pot and responds quick enough that you can adjust the temp controller to keep your alloy within a certain range. The key thing with the PID is that you set it to what you want, and it will keep the alloy within about 10 degrees of that from tip top full to an empty pot. With just the thermometer, you have to watch it as you lower the level as the alloy temp will increase as you drop it down. Like Snuffy said, it is hard to keep things consistent when you have fluctuating alloy temps. The thermometer is also good to record the temps at which your molds are pouring their best bullets at. All molds are different even when made from the same material. It is also always better to sneak up on a nice bullet temp, than to start off too hot and have to wait for things to cool down.
As for molds, well it is hard to argue with the history behind the 240gr Keith SWC. It is a classic and always will be. If I were to recommend a mold you could purchase and have in your hands relatively quick, it would be from Accurate, and would be one of the following links,
Bullet design #43-240K
or this one,
Bullet design #43-235V
Based upon what I have found with my testing using alloy around the 10-14 BHN range, either of these poured up with either a 50/50 wheel weight to pure lead, or a 75/25 blend of the same, would, or should, work out to be an excellent hunting bullet as well as for anything else you want to work on. Elmer Keith shot a 16-1 alloy for most of his loads and it seemed to work out fine for him. Also if you head over to, and sign up on Castboolits, you can look in the Swapping and Sellin section and they have an area called the
The Boolit Exchange where you can post up something you might like to try out, and if someone has the mold, you can swap them something for a handful of what you want to try, before you invest in a high dollar mold.
For sizing, it's hard to beat the Lee sizers for ease of use and cost. If you want to use another lube aside from the Alox or 45-45-10, you could contact Glen at White Label Lubes and try out some of his or blend up your own using one of the many recipes over on Castboolits. I use Carnuba Red now for most of my top end loads, but I also still use a bunch of 45-45-10 for the low to mid range, and some top end ones like in my 454. If you go with something like the Carnuba Red you will have to pan lube but that isn't a huge deal, or you could powder coat with the stuff from Harbor Freight. (Just don't do it in the same oven you eat from.)
I saw you mention the Lyman Devastator mold. I have one and it only took two or three casting sessions with it to determine I wanted nothing to do with it. Not that I didn't pour some nice bullets, but pulling and replacing that pin over and over again and only getting one bullet per pour pretty much sucked. I MUCH prefer the MP or NOE multi cavity molds over that one.
So you can save some money picking up the Lee pot, Lee sizing die, and keep using some of what you already have for lube. Then save up and pick up a great 4 cavity mold from Accurate or NOE, which will get you almost where you want to be. To be honest the two biggest things about the Alox lube is it is messy and it smokes. Other than that I haven't really had any issues what so ever with it failing to work properly. That said, I do like using the Carnuba Red, but it cost me another buck fifty in a Lyman 4500 lubesizer and dies to be able to really enjoy it. However if you watch the classifieds there is usually someone putting one of the Lyman 45's up for sale once in a while. If your lucky you can pick one up for around $80-100 with dies. Might seek out Ol Beagle on what to look for.
One last thing I want to throw out thee for you. At some point while your gathering up lead and wanting to blend up batches of alloy, you will find that a hardness tester will come in handy. I can highly suggest looking into the Cabine Tree tester for simplicity of use and repeatability of readings. I have one and wouldn't want to try learning with another one. When you DO blend up your alloy, and IF your going to test it, I also highly suggest using something like a nice fat WFN bullet poured from your alloy to test on. I, well I
DID HAVE one of the Lee 452-255RF 2 cavity molds I would use to pour up half a dozen or so samples when I blended up a batch of alloy. This way I could test it periodically to see what it would actually be doing in the weeks following being poured. Some alloys get harder over time some start off hard and get softer. This just helps to keep things honest so you know if and when you have to adjust your load to match the alloy.
Well I hope this helps some,
