Room on both sides of the press

[Steven66]

I have one of the NRMA benches. I put my old-style Lee turret press near the end on the right side years ago and wound up not reloading for way longer than I'd planned on. I've got more time for it now and have been thinking about putting a Lee bench block in the middle (or about there) to have room on both sides and to be able to swap the turret out for my (also old) Pro 1000. I load for two rifle and two pistol calibers and not much volume for any of them (I probably could get by with one press, actually, but thought I was going to shoot pistol a lot more when I got the Pro 1000).

Since I don't have large production needs, does the middle of the bench make as much sense as anywhere else along the bench?

[rayraywolf]

The middle sounds like a good place for your needs. The only way to know for sure is to try it though. Let us know how it works out for you.

[bedbugbilly]

We moved a year ago in to a condo and I had room enough to put in a 8' bench on one side of the garage. I ended up mounting my Lyman 4 hole turret on the left end with about 12" - 15" from the press to the left end. That gives me room to sit at the press and have a dish of casings and another of boolits as I load (I mount the powder measure to the powder through die on most of my pistol die sets. I mounted it on one of the Lee bench plates so I can pull if if it's in the way or switch and put my Tru-Line Jr. press in its place. To the right of the turret, about 24" and not quite in the middle of the bench, I drilled holes and I can mount my RCBS single stage there - I deprime on it as well as load my rifle cartridges. I mount it with machine bolts with wing nuts. Since I also use my bench for other projects, the Lee bench plate is at the left end and ou to the way when Im working on a project of some sort. So far for me, it has worked out well.

I gave it a lot of thought as to how I do things - you know best how you do things when you reload. If I have the single stage mounted, it's near the middle of the bench but then it gives me close to 3 feet to the right where I can set up my scale and weigh out charges for casings in loading blocks, etc. - at the far right I mounted a 4" bench vise. I can't get along with out the vise - it comes in so handy all of the time.

I have metal wall cabinets (Harbor Freight) above the bench for storage of dies, scales, etc. and that's working pretty well. My only problem is the back of the bench which is against the wall, ends up with things put there such as peanut jars of cast boolits, coffee cans of brass ready to prime for 380, 0mm, 38 special, etc. I have one of the metal 2 X 4' shelf units against the other wall a few feet from the end of the bench - no matter how hard I try, it's a "catch all" and mostly junk I will never use. I think I'm moving that to the basement next summer and putting a 2 X 4 bench in its place with several heavy shelves underneath to hold small totes containing my most used brass, etc. and put a tumbler on the top.

Think about how you do things and how much room you need on each side - it might looked "balanced" being in the center, but nothing says it can't be to one side or the other if that works better. Good luck . . . . it's like anything else, once you do it and work with it for a while, I usually end up saying "I wish I had . . . ". LOL lGlad you can start reloading more if you've been away from it for a while . . . . . to me it's a great way to relax.

[lefty o]

its nice to have some room on each side of the press. i personally like at least a foot on each side. imo dead center on a bench eats up a lot of real estate.

[country gent]

If you haven't done much reloading and question it. bolt the press to a couple pieces of 3/4" or 1" plywood. c-clamp down and try where you think you want them and see how they work out for you and your style. This not only allows you to test ends versus center but fine tune position of the presses. Also keep in mind presses that hang over the bench front may block drawers and or doors from opening.

I have 3 sliding tool mounts on my reloading bench the ones on the ends are for presses the center one for trimmers and other mounted tools.

[Steven66]

Thank you for the replies. I think I'll try fastening the bench plate to plywood and then clamping it in different places on the bench. I can also put a narrow spacer under the cabinet portion and use the front edge of the cabinet base to hold down the back edge of the plywood. That way I can put a press anywhere along the bench.

[Walter Laich]

I also mounted mine directly over the legs--much more solid than half way between them. bench also screwed to back wall studs

legs are 4x4s and 1 1/2 top

distance between legs is 4 feet (truth be known there probably isn't much movement but it make me feel like I have picked the best place to mount them (one above each leg)

[Bmi48219]

I bolted my Lyman turret to end of a piece of 2 x 6". Clamp the turret end to my bench front and use a 1 x 2" kicker wedged against the bottom of my overhead cabinet support to hold the back of the 2 x 6 tight to the bench. A piece of angle iron bolted to the back wall to slip the 2 x6 under would work too. My powder measure and powder funnel get clamped to the fold down door of my die & misc storage cabinet on my left. Scale gets set up at back of bench top between press and cabinet on my left. Most (99%) of the time I load in stages. Pre-prime prepped brass, charge 100 to 150 cases w/powder, set bullets on cases, seat & crimp. As a right-hander having the press on right side makes sense. I don't use the bench top (1 foot+) to right of press while loading because my right hand is usually on press handle if press is in use. It winds up being a catch-all area.
I have a small work bench area (about 6 feet long when cleared) that serves multiple purposes so everthing has to be removable. As other have said, Clamps are the way to go.