If you want to cast fast to save time there is a way to do it but if done wrong can be very dangerous to the caster.
I take an empty 1 gal plastic milk jug and cut off the top and fill it with hot tap water, the hotter the better. Plastic is a good insulator and the water can remain hot in it for quite a while.
When my bullets start to become overheated, usually you can see them start to frost slightly or even a lot you then take your mold and plunge it straight down into the hot water and immediately withdraw the mold and then hold it over the water to let the excess drain off but mostly evaporate off, it only takes a second or two.
Remember do not throw the mold around or shake it especially if its close to the melting pot because the water entering the hot lead will make it explode like an atomic bomb.
Your mold will still be hot enough to use if you do this properly. As a matter of fact I have turned the hot water almost to boiling when using large gang molds and casting very fast. This also prevents lead build up on the inside of the mold blocks and under the sprue plate which happens when you overheat a mold by casting too fast. In decades and decades of doing this I never warped a steel or even an aluminum mold.
When casting and filling your mold in order to speed up the hardening of the spruce on top of the sprue plate turn the mold upside down and press it down on top of a wet rag for a second, this will harden up the sprue immediately so you can open the mold without smearing lead over the top of the mold blocks and under the sprue plate. This enables much faster casting.
For even faster casting use two pots at once. When the lead level runs low from my bottom pour pot I have a cheap Lee dipping pot sitting next to my Lyman bottom pour pot. I take an old soup ladle (steel) and dip out hot metal from the Lee pot and put the hot metal into the Lyman bottom pour pot to fill it back up so I can keep on casting. I do not like using one pot because when you put more cold metal into the pot you have to stand around and let the mix come up to casting temperature which takes way to much time. Putting cold metal into hot lead can also cause it to pop or explode and then when you get hit with the hot lead you do the rumba lead dance around the garage.
In order to prevent lead poisoning use an industrial mask with screw in filters like the excellent mask made by MSA. Yeah its uncomfortable in hot weather but it will filter out the lead fumes as well as filter out the stink for the lead melt. I find casting in the cooler months when there is nothing to do anyway better than sweating to death trying to do it in the heat of the summer. I cast in the garage next to a "man door" and raise the car door a little off the floor to make sure I get air flow through the garage (this is in the winter) not the summer as everything is wide open then.
I use "to the elbow" leather welding gloves to protect my arms in case I get lead popping out of the tank which sometimes happens when you throw a cold piece of lead into the hot tank or even ladle hot lead in from another pot.
Of course safety glasses are absolutely mandatory to protect your eyes.
I use a plastic headed hammer with changeable heads. When the heads wear out and get misshapen you just unscrew them and replace them.
I take an empty 1 gal plastic milk jug and cut off the top and fill it with hot tap water, the hotter the better. Plastic is a good insulator and the water can remain hot in it for quite a while.
When my bullets start to become overheated, usually you can see them start to frost slightly or even a lot you then take your mold and plunge it straight down into the hot water and immediately withdraw the mold and then hold it over the water to let the excess drain off but mostly evaporate off, it only takes a second or two.
Remember do not throw the mold around or shake it especially if its close to the melting pot because the water entering the hot lead will make it explode like an atomic bomb.
Your mold will still be hot enough to use if you do this properly. As a matter of fact I have turned the hot water almost to boiling when using large gang molds and casting very fast. This also prevents lead build up on the inside of the mold blocks and under the sprue plate which happens when you overheat a mold by casting too fast. In decades and decades of doing this I never warped a steel or even an aluminum mold.
When casting and filling your mold in order to speed up the hardening of the spruce on top of the sprue plate turn the mold upside down and press it down on top of a wet rag for a second, this will harden up the sprue immediately so you can open the mold without smearing lead over the top of the mold blocks and under the sprue plate. This enables much faster casting.
For even faster casting use two pots at once. When the lead level runs low from my bottom pour pot I have a cheap Lee dipping pot sitting next to my Lyman bottom pour pot. I take an old soup ladle (steel) and dip out hot metal from the Lee pot and put the hot metal into the Lyman bottom pour pot to fill it back up so I can keep on casting. I do not like using one pot because when you put more cold metal into the pot you have to stand around and let the mix come up to casting temperature which takes way to much time. Putting cold metal into hot lead can also cause it to pop or explode and then when you get hit with the hot lead you do the rumba lead dance around the garage.
In order to prevent lead poisoning use an industrial mask with screw in filters like the excellent mask made by MSA. Yeah its uncomfortable in hot weather but it will filter out the lead fumes as well as filter out the stink for the lead melt. I find casting in the cooler months when there is nothing to do anyway better than sweating to death trying to do it in the heat of the summer. I cast in the garage next to a "man door" and raise the car door a little off the floor to make sure I get air flow through the garage (this is in the winter) not the summer as everything is wide open then.
I use "to the elbow" leather welding gloves to protect my arms in case I get lead popping out of the tank which sometimes happens when you throw a cold piece of lead into the hot tank or even ladle hot lead in from another pot.
Of course safety glasses are absolutely mandatory to protect your eyes.
I use a plastic headed hammer with changeable heads. When the heads wear out and get misshapen you just unscrew them and replace them.