I use 5 gallon buckets.
I use 5 gallon buckets.
There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide. Ayn Rand
I have a few "industrial" type shelving units and the loading stuff I do not use is stored there, I get separation anxiety when I think of selling stuff
Regards,
Gary
I did not read the rest of the thread...I went with this system this year and very pleased with it. You might save few $$ cobbling something up but I doubt anyone has a better way.
I used to have a lot of presses but have downsized a lot. Not only shooting less but retired, and more time to get things done so changeovers are not as much of an issue. I like the In-Line system because I can easily mount other stuff without using a lot of bench space. I have gone from 20 ft of bench space to 6ft.
Don Verna
My Rockchucker is bolted solidly to my ~4' bench, about a foot from the right edge. Everything else is mounted on a 2x6 about 16-18" long.
As my bench is made from recycled 2x6's, I just screw the mounting boards to the top of it with enough screws to keep whatever it is solid. A screwdriver bit in an electric drill helps here. Before long deck screws were common I frequently used a big C clamp.
For storage, the unused tool stays on the shelf under the bench, adding weight and stability.
Everything else is defined as lighter duty presses, a Dillon primer pocket swager, lubrisizer (currently a LAM) and the detested case trimmer.
Robert
My loading bench is a shelf in an-under-the-stairs closet.
With room for only one press on that shelf, all presses are mounted on a common plate, and stored On a narrow shelf.
The common plate is a 6x6x1/4 kitty-corner with a hole in 3 corners but the same deal could use the Lee bench plate system.
I get these 6x6x1/4" thick plates from my local steel yard with the corner holes already in them.
I cut one corner off and mount a press kitty-cornered to get the centerline hole as far back on the bench to eliminate any rocking/flexing front to back.
Common plate on RCBS Jr.:
Loadmaster on loading "shelf/bench":
Some of the other presses waiting for their turn:
Last edited by Kenstone; 02-14-2021 at 11:46 PM.
Size/Prime a few cases when starting off with a progressive and put them aside. You can plug them back into the process when a bad/odd case screws up in the priming station and continue loading.
I hang the presses I'm not using in the basement rafters on big solid J hooks. When I want to use one I just reach up, and take it down.
Dave
We think alike, just built another bench with 2 of the socket/plug locations. Already had 3 scattered across 3 other benches. The benches are different heights to accommodate different machines or to make whatever I'm working easier on my back. Its nice being able to move machines/tools around as the situation changes. I can also keep my helper (nephew) far enough away so we're not rubbing elbows. Tools not in use are stored in a rack, some in a corner and some underneath one of the benches.
Another for inline fab, have 7 or 8 pieces of equipment hanging on the wall, 2 on the bench and a 650 that hasn’t yet found a place.
I store mine..... on the bench. I made my bench longer to accomodate 4 press. but then I bought another. still trying to figure that one out!
Well, you guys take the cake with your presses. I have 8, 5 of which are mounted and 3 are on their sides in a cubby hole. I have a deal for someone here; I have 100 functional typewriters which I will trade for 50 presses. Any takers? You can write books while thinking about reloading. The typewriters don't require any primers.
To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, the trouble with many shooting experts is not that they're ignorant; its just that they know so much that isn't so.
100 typewriters? We gotta see pictures of this. I am certainly curious about them.
I have a wire type wall unit on the wall behind my bench for storage and I used a piece of 2" by 6" lumber to mount each of my presses on, and I keep them on one shelf of the wall unit. I use my turret press for my reloading now and I took a piece of 1" by 10" lumber, drilled 4 holes for each turret for the dies to sit in. I used a spade bit, I think it was 7/8". The shelves hold all of the equipment I use regularly. Although I don't have as much equipment as most of you do, but I have what I need.
I like the 5 gallon bucket with lid arrangement, but you normally dont have enough room to keep the powder hoppers attached. The inlinefab quick change plates are the way to go. But BEWARE inlinefabs plate system is a "gateway drug" and you will continuously buy more and more of them.... Very similar to Garanditis.
I sorta went with the Inline.fab design. I liked their mount and quick change feature, but saw some limitations (expensive parts). I didn't like the idea of the cutouts in my work/reloading bench to accommodate different presses and reloading tools. So I bought a bunch of 3/8" aluminum plate, drilled new holes in the Inline mount to make it symmetrical front to back, drilled the aluminum plates to match the new Inline holes and then installed T-nuts in the work bench to allow mounting up to 9 presses/components for or in 9 locations. I also semi-copied their quick release plate mounting.
For press storage I use the top shelf of a steel shelving unit and put street bolts with large fender washers to jamb the aluminum plates into/under. They are adjusted down a bit so that I have to lift the front up to toggle the back side into and under the bolts. Being under tension there is very little chance of a press working free.
Last edited by oley55; 02-21-2021 at 11:01 AM.
“Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem.” Ronald Reagan
The rock chucker stays mounted in the people room but my decapping press, I just spin the wing nuts off drop out the bolts and lay the press on the shelf next to my work bench. quick to install and just a quick to take off.
My name is Steve, and I am a pressaholic. No, wait, wrong forum!
I have 12 ft of bench top that only has 3 presses and 1 powder measure permanently attached. The other 12 presses are bolted to blocks of 2 layers of 3/4 plywood. Each block is sized to where they can be attached to a corner or the front of the bench with 2 C-clamps. Extra powder measures are all in stands mounted to one piece of 3/4 plywood and can be attached with a single clamp.
When not being used presses are stored on a shelf I made covered with old 'holey' t-shirts to keep dust off. At present time 7 presses and 5 powder measures are on the 2 benches. And before someone asks, no powder stays in the measures, and when I set one up to use, I write the powder and charge on a piece of paper and drop in the tube where it can be read through the plastic. When done, measure is emptied. If I'm going to use that charge again I leave the paper in the measure.
I built a three section shelf, each section is 8 ft long and 8 ft high. 5 shelves per section, that's 24 feet long. I managed to get over 100 presses on that shelf. That's presses that overhang the bench when mounted.
Ken
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 |