Saeco Electric Pot?

L Ross

L Ross

Well-Known Member
Looking through FB Marketplace before Supper last night and I saw an ad for, "Sarcoma Lead Melting Kit $50." I looked at text for the ad and the seller listed a ladle, an ingot mould, a pile of ingots, and a small cast iron pot. I looked at the photo and clearly saw the SAECO label on the from of a bottom pour pot, a stack of 15 Lyman style ingots, a cast iron ingot mould, a ladle and a small cast iron pot. The seller's photo was of a pretty looking young woman.

Unfortunately the city it was listed in is 100 miles away. Fortunately I have a really good friend that lives in that city and is a business owner there. I helped him decided on a deer rifle for his daughter and sold him a Leupold M8 4X scope for her Browning 7mm-08 for a very low price. I helped set her up with ammo and she learned to handle the rifle with my cast bullet ammo. By the time she shot up the 100 rounds she transitioned to factory ammo and loves her rifle.
I felt no guilt at all calling my friend and was happy to find him home. We visited and I explained about the casting equipment. My friend casts his own sinkers and jigs and has borrowed my ingot moulds and was happy to contact the seller and indeed was able to, and picked it up for me last night.

Anyone have any experience with a SAECO bottom pour pot? I just could not let it pass at 50 bucks.
 
J

JustJim

Well-Known Member
I used one for about 10 years or so. Good pot, kept a fairly even temp (pre-infra-red thermometers, but weight/diameters within a lot were consistent). It was nice for single-cavity rifle moulds but couldn't keep up with gang moulds or larger (500+ grain) moulds. When electrical problems developed, I replaced it with an RCBS and haven't looked back.

I won a bet with it once casting a run of bullets for the Pope 33-47 I was tinkering with then. Once the mould was up to temp, weight range (plus-or-minus) was .1 grain for more than 100 bullets. (I couldn't shoot that rifle for sour owl spit, but the bullets were nice.)

If I ran across another, I'd clean the pot (boil it out with lye water, then use a wire brush), lap the valve so it shut off, and make sure the rod that lifts the valve was polished. If repairs were practical, I'd probably get my old one fixed and use it as a dedicated pot for one alloy.
 
Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I have two, the intention being to rig one above the other so the bottom pot always has a steady level. If you get one that hasn't been busted in the wiring area they work good. THere are ways to fix the wiring, but it takes some web searching to get the parts.
 
R

richhodg66

Well-Known Member
I think it's the same one as the Lyman that was sold then, modle 61, I think? I've been using one a few years I got used, much better than the Lee I used before.

Assuming it works as it should, sounds like you got a very good deal for fifty bucks.
 
L Ross

L Ross

Well-Known Member
richhodg66 said:
I think it's the same one as the Lyman that was sold then, modle 61, I think? I've been using one a few years I got used, much better than the Lee I used before.

Assuming it works as it should, sounds like you got a very good deal for fifty bucks.
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What pushed over the edge was the ingots of lead, ingot mould, dipper, and cast pot that come with it. Somebody in my group of reprobates will need some or all of it. Maybe I can hook another younger shooter into the joy of casting at an affordable price. Usually when I try to get a newby interested the initial investment and the supply chain issues throw a monkey wrench into things.
 
P

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
I think even if the pot didn't work, you would come out ahead on that deal.
The pot can be repaired and with all the items included in that deal, you got a lot for your money.
 
L Ross

L Ross

Well-Known Member
Petrol & Powder said:
I think even if the pot didn't work, you would come out ahead on that deal.
The pot can be repaired and with all the items included in that deal, you got a lot for your money.
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I haven't received it yet. My friend picked it up from the seller, and though he and the seller live 100 miles away, my friend has a cottage on the Mississippi only 35 miles away. Sooner or later he will be over here.
 
R

richhodg66

Well-Known Member
I watch FB marketplace quite a bit for reloading stuff. IT doesn't come up much, but occasionally you can find something good. Seems like mostly shotgun stuff, I got a MEC loader, which was OK, doubt I'll use it, the huge keg of 700X that came with it was worth the asking price.
 
L Ross

L Ross

Well-Known Member
Wouldn't ya just know it. My friend came up from Beloit to fish the Mississippi and spend the weekend at his cottage. He called Sue and I to ask us to join he and his wife out to dinner and we were out of town/State at the funeral.
He left the Saeco and accessories in the porch of his cottage and Sue and I took a drive over and picked it up. It appears to be even better that the photos showed. It also looks like the former owner was melting WW directly in the pot because there are a few clips frozen in the bottom inch of lead. Y'all were correct it's a 10 lb. pot. Once I get it cleaned out I think I gonna switch it over to pure and use it to cast round balls as my muzzle loader itch has gotten worse. Might have had something to do with inhaling all of the BP smoke while shooting the flint locks Saturday. I even made a deal on an 1860 Army replica that had the antique finish, has had all the Italian stampings removed, and the front sight modified with coin silver to bring the point of impact down to 25 yards.
This revolver has taken an adult doe at 30 yards with a chest shot that passed through and left a decent size exit wound. 28 grains of 3fg and a .454" round ball prior to being shoved into the cylinder. Yupper, we is a needin' .300 Remington Ultra mags fer killin' them deers. Seriously, a guy working for my neighbor was telling me he hunts with a .300 Ultra Mag, holy crap, or should I say holy venison scrap.
 
Glaciers

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
Yeah 300 ultra is just a little over kill. My BIL wanted me to get a 300 WM, but I was shooting a 30-06 and didn’t see much difference except in rude recoil. So I opted instead for the 338 mag which has a nicer recoil impulse.
We were hunting the western open country for mulies.
 
RBHarter

RBHarter

West Central AR
Just throwing it out there but 30 gr of FFFg under a 255 gr RF was the original nominal 45 Colts loading and your stoking up a 140-141 gr ball with 28 gr .

From my notes in an 1858 44 Army 25 gr by volume .454 ball in a .448 cylinder with a .426 bore and .440 groove 6" barrel .
FFg 920 fps
FFFg 940 fps
T7 980 fps

With my screened powder from gum charcoal and Walmart shelf goods , filling the chambers full and seating full stroke I had 890 fps pretty consistently. If I tamped it down functionally using 45 gr of my powder I had 920 fps . My screen powder by volume required 140% to match FFg Goex in 50 cal TC Hawkins with a .490 PRB .
 
L Ross

L Ross

Well-Known Member
I went out to shoot my Sharps on Sunday and afflicted as I am with Adult Distractibility Syndrome I plugged in the new to me SAECO pot. I filled it with 50 year old G.B.P.D. wadcutters I had lying around gathering dust in their meager lube.
Subsequently I made up some fishing jigs and about 80 Lyman 401043s. The pot seemed to get the lead from solid to liquid with alacrity but perhaps that is because it is only melting 10 lbs. The pot worked as it should but lacks a mould guide. Spills on the crackle coated base plate lift right off, neither sticking not causing discoloration.
I was telling my good friend, Big Bird, about the good deal I got when he told me he bought two identical SAECO pots about three years ago for TEN BUCK EACH! I asked if he used them yet. Of course he said, "No." He wanted to replace the cords before using them. Someone will buy them at his Estate sale and the cords will still be original. My dear friend is the poster child for Newton's First Law of Motion.
Still haven't shot the Sharps yet, foggy early, hot later. That's my excuse.
 
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