What is the size of your reloading/casting area?

[Jamesconn]

Well I am getting some stuff and starting to pick up lead and brass and I was wondering how big is your space. I have probably a 2x3ft bench in the garage and I have room to build a shelf under it. Will it be big enough? Where do you store your lead?

[fredj338]

My casting & reloading is in the same space in my garage, about 8ftx16ft. The casting is on it's own Craftsman steel bench, 24x48 w/ two pots & a sizer, smelting is done outside. The reloading bench is 14ft long, three presses w/ a bit of room for pistol cleaning/work. The more storage the better.

[That'll Do]

My casting/reloading area is much, much too small for me. It's about 3 ft. x 6 ft. in the garage. I'm buying a house later this year, and I intend on having a dedicated reloading/casting area. My new space will be two 6 ft. long, 3 ft. deep heavy duty workbenches, side by side.

This will give me 12 feet of working space, so everything can have it's own spot. I'm going to purchase 2 large metal storage cabinets to store all the related reloading/casting supplies. It will be a real man cave when I'm done with it! :):drinks:

[Lizard333]

I store me lead in half 55 gallon drums. My casting bench is maybe 2x4. My reloading room 12x12. A bench with a shel wouldn't even come close to meeting my needs. Even with my set up I still spill over into my shop when I tumble brass and clean my guns. The more space you have the more organized you can get. In this case, more is BETTER! Just my two cents.....

[Love Life]

6ft long by 3ft wide should work for your casting AND reloading needs.

[Jim]

Casting is done in an 8 ft. X 12 ft. shed behind the house. The gun room is in a spare bed room.

[midnight]

I use 32ft of bench 2ft deep and 12 ft of bench 3ft deep. This takes care of all my reloading, casting, sizing , gun cleaning, and minor gunsmithing needs. A 4ft fume hood with exhaust is included on the 2ft deep bench. twenty feet of 2 layer shelf storage hangs from the ceiling joists. Drill press & grinder are in the shed. Have to see my brother for a lathe and mill.

Bob

[Shiloh]

3'x6' for reloading. 2'x4' for my casting stuff in the garage.

Shiloh

[casterofboolits]

My loading room is 16'X19" and has one eight foot by two foot bench and three four foot by two foot benches. Three metal shelf units three foot wide with five shelves. And a six foot picnic table for whatever.

Four presses, two RCBS powder measures, RCBS bench mounted priming tool, two Star lube sizers, RCBS case trimmer.

Casting and smelting is done in a former food service building. The front room is 20' X 30' wit two large exhaust hoods. Casting under one hood and smelting under the other.

My first reloading bench was 24"X 24" in the cornor of a spare bedroom with my RCBS Jr Press. I guess things got bit out of hand, but it took 45 years. My eight foot bench has the legs from that first bench.

[btroj]

I cast in the garage. Loading is done in a room in the basement, probably about 12 x 12. Nice to have a room to myself.

[cbrick]

Just getting started the bench you described will probably suit you well. The longer you do this the more things will spread out and the more room you'll need. Use what you have, you'll know when its time to expand.

Rick

[runfiverun]

when i started i used a closet for my reloading. i built a bench in there.
i have had casting areas that were 20'x24' and a bench 18"x3'.
i have made them all work.
a shelf 3-4' wide and 4-6' tall will hold a lot of stuff.
a cookie sheet, some wing nuts, and a little imagination will go a long ways.
now i have a gun/reloading room, a casting garage, a basement for storage of wads & hulls, and an upstairs storage room for gun boxes and cases.
things kinda spill around.

[wallenba]

That's plenty big enough. This is mine. I just posted this recently in another thread.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=116459
Post # 4 that thread. Keep clicking on the pic to get it larger to see details.
The vent is a cheap bathroom exhaust fan mounted on threaded plumbing pipe. It has a four bolt flange attaching to the table top, a 90* elbow that allows it to swing out of the way of the pot. "U" bolts attach the vent fan to the pipe, and dryer duct out a hole cut in the door.
I added a larger plywood top to the one that came with it, and covered it with aluminum sheet. Then cut some thin aluminum angle stock and screwded it to the edges.

[geargnasher]

My casting bench is 22" deep and 2' wide. My reloading area is 14' of 22" bench.

I'd suggest checking into PatMarlin's RockDock mounting system, with some shelf space, you can store various presses, boolit sizers, and even your casting pot on the shelf and have a one-station bench, just swap out the tool you need at the time. I lived for several years in a 16' bumper-pull travel trailer (college) and I cast on the stove and reloaded on the 2'x3' dining table with a single-stage press and hand primer. Not fancy, but it worked for me.

Gear

[gray wolf]

As Clint Eastwood said " A mans gotta know his limitations "
Use what's available to you,
if you have the space use what you need and plan ahead for expansion.

[44fanatic]

You have lots of experienced and begginer casters and reloaders on here, their requirements and access to space and materials will not be yours. Look at what you have and use what you have available.

Bench: Can be plywood setting on sawhorses or cinder block/bricks. Great thing about plywood, you can use one side for reloading, flip it over and use the other side for casting or smelting ingots. Just depends on how portable you make it. My reloading presses are mounted to 3/4" planks that I use bolts and wing nuts to mount to my work bench (this makes it easy to remove them if I have to use the work bench for something else)
http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy353/44fanatic/DSC00851.jpg
One thing to take into consideration, the smaller an area you have, the less cluttered you must keep it, it makes organization and storage essential.

As for storing your lead, ones you turn your WW and scrap into ingots, it will be easy to stack them in a corner. If you have a small qty of lead on hand its not difficult to keep your ingots in a 5gal bucket, wooden box, stacked under your bench, in the corner, etc, and still be able to move it around if need be. Once you start getting more lead on hand, store it outside in covered 5gal buckets.

Be creative, look at what you have and use what you have available. Look to future expansion.

[pls1911]

My workspace size is variable... Flexible by design.
To allow me to work standing, my reloading and casting equipment is set upon, or stored in, a bar height serving bar on locking casters. The top measures 24" x 72". Permanent mounts are on the ends and side, and include a Dillon 550, RCBS bullet luber, and RCBS powder measure.
Casting furnaces, flux, scales, molds, and other supplies are used on top then stored below.
The whole operation can be rolled into the middle of the kitchen(HAH!!), garage or barn, then neatly against one wall for storage.

[-06]

Using the end of "moma's" kitchen table while we are remodling the "office"(man cave, junk room, ammo storage rm, some quick grab survivalist stuff. She is getting tired of my taking over her table--lol. All the presses are mounted on 2Xs that are boltable onto the large desk(weighs about 4-500 lbs). Wingnuts can be quickly removed should we need to BO. Just took them to the last gathering for a reloading class. We keep several large "C" clamps handy for attaching the presses to most anything-pickup tail gate, bench, etc. When finished the reloading table is about 4' deep and will have shelves/cabinets mounted on the back-with plenty of lighting inside and out. Looking for one of those desk lights with the built in magnifier. Dang that grabbing a hand light and mag every time I want to inspect something.

[tomf52]

I am a lucky one. Casting and reloading area is 28'x58'. I got the whole basement. My wife wants no part of it!

[pistolman44]

This is my area fouth of my basement 12'X12'. Also has a work bench with a bench top drill press and grinder. I just added a Lee Classic Cast press to go with the other Lee's.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

go as big as you can then add about 3ft

[mpmarty]

When we built our house a few years ago we included a 36' X 36' three car garage. We walled off the back 12' and that is my play room. All casting / smelting is done outside in a covered area adjacent to my 24' X 96' shop building. Lead is stored in 5 gallon pails and cast lubed boolits are stored in little brass enclosures with some powder behind them.

[troy_mclure]

i have a small 2'x2' table in my bedroom i swap presses on. everything but the powders and primers is stored in the attic, and the lead ingots are on the porch, my casting area is in the garage, i have a 2'x4' work bench i have 1'x1' for casting.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Your reloading space will be workable, but for sure not excessive.

One thing you do not want to do, is fill up your bench top with mounted reloading tools of one kind or the other.

There are a number of ways to prevent this, most of which end up giving you a bench top with groves, holes, slots, cut outs or something else defacing the bench top.

All of which make the bench less then ideal for other uses.

The best mounting system I have seen and used, is by far the under bench receiver system! No holes, cut outs, groves, slots or any such in your bench top!

Not only is your loading bench usable for other things, but the tools are quickly changed.

If your just now building your bench, make it heavy or secure it to the wall or floor to prevent it from walking or shifting during heavy press usage.

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[plainsman456]

My reloading shop is 16x25 and it has an air conditioning unit running all the time starting is spring.
It is set about 70 degrees just to keep dust out and when working there it gets turned down.
My casting setup is located in the barn out of the weather and I have a blower out of a central air unit to create a breeze when needed.

[geargnasher]

Crusty, what's an "under bench receiver system"? Sounds like the berries.

Gear

[dverna]

What we need may not tell you much.

Your area will grow as you add calibers and equipment and it is NEVER big enough.

I started on an old school desk. Anything will do the job in a pinch (and by "pinch" I mean either lack of space or lack of money) . Get started and add as needed.


Don

[W.R.Buchanan]

I started my reloading on a 2x3 piece of 3/4" plywood clamped onto to a B&DWork Mate. Still have the Workmate but now My Bro in law is using the plywood for his reloading stuff. It is 40 years old and doing just fine.

I moved my stuff onto a High School Crafts Desk that has a stack of drawers down the center about 10 years ago.

I have my basic presses mounted to the table but I have my shotgun loaders and Dillon Square Deal mounted on aluminum plates and move them on and off the bench as needed.

My casting is done on a roll around cart that I use as my fab bench in my Fab shop. It is a 3x4 piece of 1/4 steel plate welded to the top of a sturdy wheeled cart. I can move it in and out of the way as needed. I have most of my fabricating machines on wheels so they can be moved to the place where they are needed and then back against a wall when not needed . They can also be moved to clean the area. This gives you the maximum versitility of your work space.

I started casting bullets over my kitchen stove (exhaust fan running) in the condo I rented, with a lead pot, a dipper and a mould in 1976. Still have everything I started with. You could sub in a Coleman single burner stove for the kitchen stove if you wanted to be really portable.

Point is you don't need to get everything at once. You just need to get started. Believe me you will outgrow any space you choose, it is only a matter of time.

We all started small. But like Nancy Pelosi says "go big or go home" just get started you'll get there.

Randy