Loading bench pics

[JesterGrin_1]

Wow you have more primers than any store I have been in.

My mancave.....built this in a corner of my barn. This was shortly after I finished it about 5 years ago. I've added a couple more machines to the bench and a ton more clutter. Maybe when I finish a few projects I'll snap some new pictures.

Bench


Ammo and brass storage

[jr545]

Back then I was shooting a pistol match a week and a 3 gun match per month. It didn't take long to go through a ton of primers but they were cheap and easy to come by compared to now. I scrimped through the primer drought in the 90's and will never be caught short again.
A back injury compounded by arthritis has slowed my comp shooting down to almost nothing, I still run and gun but only in the summer months when it's warm. I spend my winter making bullets and filling all the empty brass shown in the pictures. this winter has been rough as the election in November drew down available components about the time I was buying for the winter. I've got some put back but not near enough.

[LAH]

jr545..................nice barn.........Creeker

[jr545]

jr545..................nice barn.........Creeker

Thanks Creeker, I spend alot of my leisure time out there so I made it as comfy as I could.

[JesseCJC]

Nothing fancy, just a broke college guy

[Dale53]

Jesse;
"Broke" will pass. You have an excellent life time hobby that will help keep you sane in the years ahead.

I was "reading your boxes" and see "no Remington" .45 brass - we are of kindred spirits!!

Dale53

[JesterGrin_1]

I like the saw horses. I just may have to make a few of that design.

And thus far it looks like you are doing just fine.

[canebreaker]

This is what I work with. 1 foot deep x 2 foot wide x 27" high. I hide it in a closet or roll to the tv, whatever. Powder measure is mounted on the left corner. All reloading supplies and tools are stored in lockable box below. I have another lock box in the closet for powder and primers. Same as the one at home, but this one has a wood storage box.

[LAH]

This is what I work with. 1 foot deep x 2 foot wide x 27" high. I hide it in a closet or roll to the tv, whatever. Powder measure is mounted on the left corner. All reloading supplies and tools are stored in lockable box below. I have another lock box in the closet for powder and primers. Same as the one at home, but this one has a wood storage box.

That's better I began with. Happy loading....................Creeker



Dry Creek Bullet Works
Dry Creek Firewood

[grumman581]

[QUOTE=Ricky P;705600]The bad thing about a nice bench with a slick new top is no one wants to drill a hole in it. Sooner or later what ever you mount there will get upgraded or moved to add a new toy./QUOTE]

I made my top out of a bunch of joined together 2x6s and 2x8s. Yeah, it's heavy, but it's not really that much more expensive than 3/4" plywood and it is definitely strong. I figure that if I ever need to fill in the holes, I'll just mix some sawdust and glue together and fill the hole. Sand the patch flush with the surface of the table and then add a bit of paint over the top so it won't be too noticeable.

[PatMarlin]

The bad thing about a nice bench with a slick new top is no one wants to drill a hole in it. Sooner or later what ever you mount there will get upgraded or moved to add a new toy.

That's why everyone needs one of these....




Sorry bout the shameful plug. The shame... THE SHAME...


...

[grumman581]

That's why everyone needs one of these....

I had considered something like that, albeit a bit more primitive... I had though about just having a few 18" square plates of steel or aluminum cut up and having 4 holes drilled in exactly the same place in each of them so that they could match up with 4 identical holes in the table. Then each plate would be drilled to match whatever bolt pattern was needed for the reloading press / object that I was wanting to mount. So far, I don't have more objects to mount than I have available benchtop space, so I haven't needed to resort to that yet... I suspect that you system is a lot quicker on change outs though since with the design I was thinking about, it would require removing and replacing the nuts on the 4 bolts each time I needed to change from one press to another.

But in the end, I figured that since my benchtop is just made from a bunch of 2x6s and 2x8s joined together and painted with Rustoleum oil based paint, a couple of holes won't make much of a difference.

Actually, my benchtop is "recycled" from the desktop that I had created for a queen size loft bed and desk about 15 years ago. The bottom of it has has steel conduit and around 16 electrical outlets along the side and rear perimeter with 2 circuits (regular and UPS). My wife didn't like the loft bed idea for a home office / guest bedroom, so I took it apart, used the other pieces for other projects, but kept the desktop to put across file cabinets for my computer room. Eventually, the computer room became my reloading and computer room and the dining room became her home office.

[markinalpine]

AKA Masonite. When it gets too holy, I can replace it, plus it is fairly smooth and wipes clean easily.
Mark

NOTE: Old picture. More equipment, and lots of clutter added.

[PatMarlin]

My reloading and casting bench is ony 6' long and it's like swiss cheeze with holes. Grain cracks too. Then my biggest complaint was being locked into one area for a press. Depending on what I wanted to do, it regularly became a pain in the rear having to reach over one station to get to another. Then when you get to the point where you own more than one lube sizer- each holding your favorite lube, bench space shrinks and shrinks.

So the ROCKDock™ was born. Once it's intalled you never have to touch the mount again. Slide in the press you want and you're ready. Solid as a rock, even more than the press bolted.

Even nicer is 2 docks. Once you try these, you are hooked. Fishing has been good...

[grumman581]

My reloading and casting bench is ony 6' long and it's like swiss cheeze with holes

No matter how much we want to do it right, our reloading table always ends up as a compromise. I suspect that even if we had a full 2-car garage (20x20) space, we would somehow manage to fill up the space with reloading gear to the point where we were still having to make compromises. Then again, life itself is basically a compromise -- death on the other hand is pretty fixed.

My reloading table is 7'2" (86") long and it's pretty full. There are shelves about 18" deep on both ends, so that just leaves 50" for the main reloading area which is where I have my Dillon RL450B. One end is against a wall, so things get stored from the table top all the way nearly to the ceiling on the shelves on that end. On the other end, the first shelf is high enough that I can have a table mounted powder measure and a single stage RCBS press (i.e. an RS-3). I use the RS-3 for resizing via the Lee resizing dies. I don't really use the table mounted powder measure anymore after getting the Dillon press. I have the table top at basically bar top height so that I can either operate the press while standing up or while on a bar stool. Of course, one of the deciding factors in the height of this was that it needed to be high enough that I could put my beer fridge under the table top also.

For the last few days, I've been casting bullets, so the table top is pretty full of plastic containers of various bullets from the Lee molds that I bought awhile back. I really wish I had bought the 6-cavity Lee molds instead of the 2-cavity ones. I took a few of the TL-401-175-SWC bullets that I had aloxed and fired them through a Beretta 96FS in my backyard today. Used 3.3 grains of Hodgdon Clays. Was hoping for a fairly mild load so that my wife could use it at the range. Seemed like it might be acceptable. I have no idea about the velocity though since I don't have a chrono yet -- that's the next thing on my shopping list.

[Vyrone]

I made a portable reloading bench, which is a concrete block 16x8x4 with my Lee Press bolted to it. I can reload in my office, outside storage area or take on the road with me. I used in motel rooms when I was traveling this winter. The block is heavy enough to go through all the functions of reloading.
The block does not take up any room and can be moved out of the way when not in use. I can reload in my office now when the weather is bad and in my outside storage work area when our Minnesota weather warms up.

[grumman581]

Awh, come on... If you're going to carry around what basically amounts to a big chunk of stone with you, at least it could be a big chunk of granite...

[Vyrone]

If I had a piece of granite or marble, I probably would have used it.
I had the block of cement doing nothing and needed to make up something real quick and sturdy. I don't plan on moving around. Just from my upstairs office to my outside storage shed when the Mn weather warms up. I don't have a basement, garage and my upstairs office works great durning the winter months when I don't want to work in a unheated area. I was traveling this winter for a few months and reloaded in Colorado, California and Ariz. Did some indoor range shooting and had just aquired reloading equip and supplies and wanted to do some reloading. This works great for me. I don't spend all my time reloading and when I have a good supply of ammo I can easily slide and put away and use my work bench or desk for something else. All my reloading supplies are in a plastic file case and easy to get at and store when not needed.

[grumman581]

You might be able to find a chunk of granite at a place that carves tombstones. Polished on the top surface and rough on the edges might look good. On the bottom, a semi-smooth surface (honed) might be best. That way, you could glue some felt onto the bottom and it wouldn't scratch up the table that you put it on.

[RaymondMillbrae]

Oh my gosh...I thought I had seen it all.

In Christ: Raymond