Where to reload?

[gwpercle]

Get your self a Lee Hand Press , with it and your regular dies you can reload at a desk , kitchen table , dining room table , sitting in an easy chair , on the bed and at your desk at work. I know because I've reloded in all of these places with a hand press !
I use a scoop to dispense powder .
I can put everything in a gym bag and do a lot of reloading at my office desk. Take it anywhere you want .

The little Lee Hand Press is a nifty tool....you aren't tied to some bench and it takes up little room.
I reload all my handgun and 30-30 rifle ammo with one now .
I found the first one so handy...I bought a second . They are perfect for apartment dwellers and no pounding with a mallet like a Classic Loader.
Gary

[Mal Paso]

Sounds like you want to keep the wife. Hmmm. Find some classy vintage tools and a furniture quality bench and put it in the Livingroom. Mine is front and center until the shop is finished but I don't have anyone second guessing my decorating..

[knifemaker]

As for the casting part. You are next door to X-Treme bullets, about a 20 minute drive from Reno where you could buy plated or cast lead bullets at a good price. Everytime the wife and I drive to Reno for a weekend, I drive over to X-Treme bullets and load up with plated bullets that I might need.

Well that is out, I just checked X-Tremes web site and they no longer allow drive up-pick up bullets at their Carson City plant. All bullets are shipped.

[Went2kck]

Get a lee hand loading press. I used one for starters and still do use it on occasion. Never had a issue with it, worked really good to boot. Nothing to bolt down, just place it back in box until next time.

[country gent]

I have thought about a small enclosed trailer for several uses. I is I would put a bench across the front end for loading at the range along with some tools for repairs and adjustments. It would allow me to haul my all terrain chair easier and out of sight. I could make racks for equipment and gear going to the range. Everything would be inside and lockable this way so if we wanted to stop and eat or shop it wouldn't be as big a problem. At matches it would give me a place to clean and odds and ends. Carried even farther a small air conditioner and heater for comfort.

[jsizemore]

A Lortone 3A rock tumbler is really quiet. Unless your standing beside it you won't hear it. I tumble 50 45acp cases in about 2-3 hours. My portable shooting bench is 2.5'x4' and has folding metal legs I scavenged. The top is a doubled piece of 3/4" plywood. I cast off it all the time. I also bolt or clamp my reloading gear to it so I can do so at the range. Got a piece of 5/4 decking board bolted to the press and 2 C clamps hold it to the bench. I use an RCBS hand prime tool. Rifle or pistol powder measures clamp to bench. I have a folding chair to complete the setup. Bench will fit in the trunk of a full size car with all the other gear. If you have a balcony or patio you can be setup in 5 minutes with practice. I can setup in a motel room, pasture or field and parking lot at the range. Ammo cans hold shooting gear and reloading components. Congrats on your move.

[sigep1764]

I currently live in an apartment and have a Lyman single stage, a Star lubesizer, and a Dillon 550c mounted on it. It is a triangle top bench that is less than 3 feet wide. As long as you only do 3 or 4 calibers, all ancillary equipment can be stored underneath in ammo cans.

May I also suggest a 310 Tong Tool? I love mine and can load just as fast as on my single stage press.

[ThomR]

[RogerDat]

Harbor Freight has a few different grinder stands that some have used as a reloading bench
Notice the stands off to the side for $32.99 and $35.99 as alternatives. The $32.99 one could easily slip into a closet. Board mounted for a surface and maybe mount press on board that bolts to surface using wing nuts. https://www.harborfreight.com/heavy-...tal-68321.html This one is heavy and a bit more expensive.

Thing to bear in mind is the stands would probably continue to be of use even after you get a larger place.

The Lee hand press is ok too, little more work to full length size some brass than a turret or single stage press. Might be a good companion to a Lee Turret or single stage O press. I like the quick change turret disks so dies remain set up. Like the tube to collect primers. Like the ability to remove the index rod and use as a single stage. Useful if you need to size brass and use a trim die. The single stage press can do it all just not always as fast. Again you will find a use for an "extra" single stage press even if you one day buy a progressive. Both the Lee Turret and an O press are not that much over $100 and they should serve for a lifetime.

Lee makes a plate and bracket to mount a press. and Pat Marlins makes a rock dock for the same purpose. Possible store bought alternatives to 4 bolts and wing nuts or a few clamps to hold the press on a stand or table.

Casting - find someone through the forum here. Find someone through the local range or club. Come by spend a day casting. Fill a couple of ammo boxes with cast and you are good for a while. If you cast something they can use to reload with so much the better. Maybe they will be good with some shake n bake powder coating in a toaster oven if it gives them some "pretty" bullets to show off.

+1 on a rock tumbler as a low noise way to clean brass once it needs cleaning.

[ThomR]

I'm going to stop by harbor freight tomorrow and pick up a small grinder stand that will fit in the back of my Jeep. As long as I can mount my Lee single stage press and powder thrower I'll be able to reload.
I'm probably going to do my reloading at the range or off in the desert somewhere. I noticed some security cameras in the parking garage, and actually had a run-in with a security officer. Apparently the roof is off limits because they have had people try to jump off before.

[FISH4BUGS]

I lived in a 550 sf condo downtown and had a cabinet made that sat in the corner of my one and only bedroom. It had a Dillon 550 and a Star sizer mounted on it. I kept bullets and primers and dies, etc. in the cabinet, powder in the closet.
Cramped? You bet. But it worked.

[Mr_Sheesh]

My main two presses are on a Harbor Freight grinder stand in the Kitchen. I do some things with one or the other Lee Hand Presses (have 2) in the bedroom, though. It semi works for now - Planning to do some remodeling then move everything into a bedroom corner. Not there yet though.

As a "cheat" you could attach a Lee Hand Press to the wall or something to keep it in one place, though TRUST ME, if you want to try to do heavy case forming like swaging brass in a serious way, you WANT a backup hand press as you likely will break it eventually. So I do that on the Rockchucker. Lee O ring press for depriming and some seating etc. as it'll do that easily (so I can do 2 things at once, when needed.)

Need to get more of my goodies back and put the RL550B onto that grinder stand some day

[skeettx]

Military footlocker, and bolts and wing nuts for the press

[Love Life]

I used a Buchanan hand press and loaded when I got the chance. An hour here, and hour there, etc. I batch processed the brass so by the time I got to the loading part it was just adding powder and bullet. Doing it this way I was able to comfortably load a couple hundred rds per week.

[bob208]

a collapsible b & d work mate works good too. or you could use a lyman 310 hand tool.

[JSnover]

My setup is a wooden deck running across two rollaway toolboxes. Good storage inside and underneath, between the boxes, enough space on top for two presses and two powder measures plus related stuff. Something like that might work for you, depending on how much space your wife allows and whether or not you have kids.
It works for my one bedroom apartment.
For casting, I pack my stuff up and go camping for a weekend once in a while. Haven't been rained out yet...

[bedbugbilly]

If someone thinks it's a bad idea to reload and cast outside of a storage locker - what is it going to look like reloading in a parking garage? Who owns the garage and if it is city owned, what are the restrictions on doing something like that in the garage - I can't believe it wouldn't raise eyebrows.

To me, a small storage unit would probably be more ideal - get a small one with electricity and a light - set up a bench and lower the door most of the way when you're working in it. Of course, what are the temperatures in Reno? I doubt you'd want to reload in a locker that is hot and uncomfortable. Perhaps a climate controlled unit?

[TaylorS]

If the parking garage is a part of the apartment complex you might be able to build a Murphy shop might check with the hoa or w/e it is. When my dad lived in SLC he was able to do one of these in his parking spot. Basically a big double door cabinet that opened up and your tables and benches folded down had a pad lock on it and all. He also had a Tesla and they put a charging station and some outlets for him as well.


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[Mr_Sheesh]

I have seen people put a curtain up on their storage unit, something that blocks curious (or OVERLY curious) passers-by from snooping. The sounds of loading might tell some what you're doing though, of course. A lot can be done with a grinder stand set up so you can swap the tools on top of it as needed, from a 550 or 650 Dillon progressive to an O Ring press to whatever else you need on there.

[Jniedbalski]

I load in my living room. I got a old school desk. The type you flip the flat top up and have storage under it. It looks like a upside down tub on Legs with a flat melomite or some kind of hard plastic . I drilled holes for my press on the right side and holes on the left for my lee powder measure. It only takes me less than two minutes to bolt the lee press to the right edge and the measure on the left. When ism done I un bolt the press and measure and store it in the desk with all my reloading stuff. I leave it next to the couch and the kids still use it for home work. They just pull it out and put it in front of the couch. This set up works really good.