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Thread: Loading bench/room organization

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy
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    Loading bench/room organization

    As I've expanded my casting and loading operations more and more since I started in the middle of 2020 the desk that I have in my spare bed room on which my presses are located has ended up being a mess. I am not a messy person but I am finding it difficult to organize all the different things that need to be separated. I have increased my yogurt intake significantly to have more 1 qt yogurt cups to put boolits in, I got two sets of plastic shelving (which aren't really heavy duty enough to hold much/any lead, so these are limited to brass, powder, tools and the like), I have nearly a dozen ammo cans full of powder and primers and ammo and such, a bucket full of smaller nested buckets for dirty brass, sorted clean brass, unsorted brass... The tumbler is always getting moved out of the way here and there along with a couple buckets of media. Fortunately my actual casting equipment is not extensive and is contained in the garage. I don't even load but a few different types of ammo. I cast maybe 8 different boolits and have some of them separated into batches of different hardnesses. The main problem is having different containers of the same thing at different stages of preparation, which is of course avoidable if one just does each step to all pieces at once but that isn't always feasible for a variety of reasons. So with multiple cups of each boolit you cast and each type of round you are loading, at least one press, a lube sizer, a powder measure, everything else you are working with, what organization system works for you? I am particularly interested in systems that work for those working in smaller spaces. I have practically a whole small bedroom at my disposal and I am about to move the setup into a different one so I am trying to develop a good plan for getting everything organized as I move it in there. The bedroom is about 10x11. I am thinking some type of sturdy system of small but deep drawers for various bullets, brass, die sets, ect. that are exposed to show what is in them and also removable would be good. Anyone use anything like that?

  2. #2
    Boolit Master


    David2011's Avatar
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    My last reloading room was about the same size as yours. It was a room in a detached workshop; not part of the house. (I moved and am currently setting up a new reloading room.) I had two benches on opposite walls; both 24” deep and 8’ long. One was for progressive presses at a standing height of 42”. There are two shelves under the top. The upper one was 12” deep and stored boolits in 4x4x4 cardboard boxes that I ordered from U-line. That’s the same size that commercial casters use for most boolits. The lower full depth shelf stored brass in cardboard boxes and plastic shoe boxes.

    Cabinets on the walls held dies, manuals and molds. The bench opposite the progressive bench was for single stage presses and associated tools and was at sitting height. It was also 24”x8’ but had a 24”x4’ “L” at the end for the lead furnace and casting stuff. Loaded ammo was stored under the casting bench. Small tools, extra parts and jacketed bullets were stored in a roll around tool box bottom with the wheels removed and a 2x4 base in place of the wheels for stability. The top of the tool box has a piece of 3/4” plywood fitted and bolted on to hold the lubrisizer.

    An open shelf in the corner to the right of the progressive bench held primers and powder. Shallow open shelves over the progressive bench held accessories including extra toolheads. A powder scale was mounted over each bench at eye level.

    The single stage bench has threaded brass inserts in the top to accept any of the single stage tools and presses. Everything is mounted on aircraft plywood or steel plates with matching bolt patterns so any tool can be mounted anywhere on that bench. That includes case trimmers, powder measures, a bench priming tool and several presses. Only the presses need steel mounting plates. The 1/2” aircraft (or Baltic birch) plywood is plenty strong for everything else. I use 1/4” socket head cap screws to mount everything but the powder measures which are mounted with flat head screws so loading blocks can move around without interference. A long T handled Allen wrench makes moving the tools around fast and easy.
    I also found that a clock was a necessary addition just for awareness. I like to have a radio or CD player in the reloading room for when I’m doing simple repetitive tasks like casting that don’t require my undivided attention.

    Make sure that anything you can’t see in a container is labeled with bold, easily read markings.
    Last edited by David2011; 01-17-2021 at 03:30 AM.
    Sometimes life taps you on the shoulder and reminds you it's a one way street. Jim Morris

  3. #3
    Boolit Grand Master Bazoo's Avatar
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    My room is about 6x6. It was just a bench and a shelf in a nook, but closing it in has allowed much more shelving. I use coffee cans for brass, that's in process. I use ziploc bags for brass in a bucket to separate calibers or headstamps. In each bag I put a slip of paper with caliber and headstamp written in sharpie. Bullets I store in various things, coffee cans, small flat rate boxes, Tupperware that lunch meat comes in. Just depends on how much I use that bullet. I generally work on brass or bullets in a batch from one container to another till done and then move on. If there is any doubt I put a slip of paper in the container.

    Powder and primers are on a shelf. My bench is 20x48, but has shelves above. I have a set of sterilite drawers I got from beside the road for items such as moulds and misc equipment, small stuff. I keep my gun cleaning stuff in an MTM shooting range box. Loaded cartridges are in ziplock or plastic boxes on a shelf, or in ammo cans depending.

  4. #4
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    I put two of those HF plastic shelving units in the closet of my reloading room (spare bedroom). One has powder and the other has brass. I set up two of the HF workbench units. On one side is one for general type work, other side is for reloading. Walls behind the workbenches has pegboard. I have a large industrial shelving unit on the opposite perpendicular wall along with a bathroom utility shelving unit that holds all my dies, etc.. Still a work in progress. Both workbenches have extra overhead lighting. Reloading bench also has another cheap HF shelving unit on one side which holds ultrasound, tumbler, etc. and another on other side which hold factory ammo.. Bunch of 50 cal ammo cans for storage under benches and such.. Good luck.

  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy
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    Lots of great ideas here. The boxes from U-line are a fantastic suggestion. I have a few of those boxes that I've bought bullets from Proofmark in but I'd never thought of buying the boxes by themselves to store boolits in. They will fit in the drawers of my desk too. I think a shelf above the desk/bench is going to end up being essential.

    Thanks so much for the responses. Lots of good ideas to consider.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master


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    Good honest work! Congrats!! Ill bet it looks great!!

    CW
    NRA Life member • REMEMBER, FREEDOM IS NOT FREE its being paid for in BLOOD.
    Come visit my RUMBLE & uTube page's !!

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  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Look at the top of this page at loading rooms. Lots of pictures to give you ideas. Everything from tiny to huge!

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by CoolHandMoss View Post
    .... I am thinking some type of sturdy system of small but deep drawers for various bullets, brass, die sets, ect. that are exposed to show what is in them and also removable would be good. Anyone use anything like that?
    If by "deep" you mean front to back, it can work well. If you mean from top to bottom, it won't work well for smallish stuff. "Stuff" laid over other stuff will quickly make it hard to find the stuff buried on the bottom.

    I find that drawers with 1"x 4" sides (3/4" by 3 1/2" actually) and 1/4" ply bottoms up to about 18" square works well for small stuff.

    Larger, bulkier stuff does okay in deeper drawers but so does open shelving.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    Be mindful that molds rust so your mention that your casting stuff is in the garage gives me hives.

    I use a fair number of the HF organizer storage boxes for collets, shell holders and other small tool and pieces and parts.

    My brass in moderate amounts gets sorted by headstamp and phase of use into 3 lb. coffee cans. Cat litter buckets and some of the screw lid cat food containers get repurposed.

    I use zip lock bags for brass in even smaller sub sets. Lots of small notes to self about the status of the brass.

    Boolits go in smaller and sturdier containers to save the back and not bust the bottom of what you store them in. The U-line boxes could be handy but what I hate about them is that they deluge you in catalogs!

    Three44s
    Quote Originally Posted by Bret4207

    “There is more to this than dumping lead in a hole.”

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy
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    Yes, I do keep molds inside when not in use.

    I got my 4x4 boxes from U-line yesterday. What a great idea. Those are so easy to label and stack on a shelf or against a wall.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master
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    Great!

    Another adaptation from HF that I do is for load development.

    I bought their organizer that is long and narrow with fixed dividers and four compartments and a snap down lid. It is roomy enough for loaded cartridges and as I build test loads I place each set of rounds together in each compartment and add a note with the pertinent info with them. As I fire of each set of rounds the info gets copied on my target. The empties get placed back with the note in its respective compartment and when I get back to my cave, I can give the empties one more visual inspection organized in a load block bottoms up with added light and a magnifying glass if desired.

    This replaced all those little zip lock bags ........

    Three44s
    Quote Originally Posted by Bret4207

    “There is more to this than dumping lead in a hole.”

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    stores of casting materials and loaded ammo get heavy real fast.
    lots of 2x4 and 2x6 shelves can be helpful in making sturdy work benches and storage.
    I never did like plastic shelves and don't like to send my money to china through harbor freight.
    ive been using soup and vegetable cans to hold brass and cast bullets on the work bench and it seems you can never have too many 30 cal and 50 cal ammo cans.

  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Do not discount using USPS small flat rate boxes for bullet storage. Cheap and very stackable. I tape mine to hold them together. Easy to inventory as well. I just moved to a much smaller area. Here is my set up:

    Click image for larger version. 

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    I like the In-Line Fabrication QC system and have my RC, Co-Ax and RCBS Bench prime currently mounted. Will likely sell the Dillon 550 strong mount and put the 550 on a QC plate as well. Plan to buy more plates next time there is a sale to mount the lube/sizers, a vice, and other stuff.

    Those blue bins under the bench in the picture above hold brass for my main calibers. For my main rifle calibers there are bins for commercial and military brass in stages of processing...cleaned brass, sized, and primed. For pistol, I only need bins for dirty brass and clean brass as it is loaded on the Dillons. This system will not work if you want to load a dozen or more calibers as you quickly run out of storage bins. But I am a bulk reloader with 95+% of my metallic reloads being 9mm, .38, .40 S&W, .223, and .308.

    BTW, the blue bins on the rack to the left holds loaded ammunition, bullets, and odds and ends.
    Don Verna


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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check