Mounting

[Hitman]

Whats the best way to mount your reloading press?


Make it portable? or stationary?

[willk]

Three to four solid bolts into a solid table top makes it work much better with no problems working loose or completing press operations.

The Dillon strong mount seems to run contrary to this advice but it is actually very stable. My Redding Boss that I use for small loading runs, rarely loaded rounds and of course case forming is bolted to the table and it stays were it is supposed to and works just fine.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

The usual way is to mount it to the loading bench with bolts. Not everyone has a loading bench or a place for one. A reasonable alternative is to mount the press on a piece of 2x6 or a piece of 2x8 or a piece of 2x10 about one foot long and then clamp it to wherever you want to use it with a couple of 4-6 inch C clamps. With that arrangement you can attach it to the picnic table, the porch railing or the kitchen table (if you can get away with that), or anywhere else. The idea is that its a lot more of a portable setup although its not as solid as a permanent loading bench. Even on a loading bench that arrangement would let you move it around, without drilling a lot of holes, to make more room for some other related activity such as case trimming, bullet sizing, priming, or other functions. LLS

[mooman76]

You can have both. Mount it to a portable bench. That's what I did.

[burfurd]

The more solid your bench is, the more steady your press will be. I cannot see how anyone can load with their press springing back and forth....just looks like **** to me. Another thing in mounting your press, do NOT use lag bolts, instead use bolts and nuts with large fender washers completely through the bench top.

Just my 2 cents.....burfurd

[markinalpine]

...I made a solid, built in reloading bench, lag bolted (into the studs) 3 2X4 ledgers to the walls of one side of my "Man Cave."
The bench is 2X6's on their sides, fastened to 2X4 braces that were pocket screwed to the ledgers. I used #10 2.5" or 3" deck screws, and covered the bench with hardboard.
The presses are bolted with hex head bolts as big as would fit the holes on the presses, with washers and split lock washers. I also reinforced under the bench with 2X12 from the front of the bench to the back ledger, screwed from the top with deck screws before the hardboard was installed, and pocket screwed to the ledger.
You won't see my Lee Classic Turret Press wiggling around like in Lee's video! :bigsmyl2:

However I do use one of the little, Lee Reloader, open C presses attached to a piece of 2X4 for extra steps, mainly flaring case mouths, that can be clamped by either press.

Mark :coffeecom

ps, my reloading room isn't near as neat as it was when I took those pictures.

[GP100man]

Pat Marlin builds a system to use one mount then exchange tools!!

He`s in the vendor section.

[Ozark Howler]

My preference is to mount presses without drilling holes in my bench, after a while your bench will look like swiss cheese as you change equipment. Pictured here is an RCBS A series mounted using 4" clamps.

I mount all my presses this way, including shotshell loaders....never had a problem !

But, to each their own....

[shooter37]

If you are space limited try MIDWAY USA portable stand (their product number 155-024.
I have a Rockchucker press and an Orange Crusher press mounted on one top plate; I call it my OKIE turret press: the rig will handle full length sizing 30-06 cases with minimal wobble.
Another space saver (also cheap) is a home depot single tool stand. I have a Dillon on one and it works great....
Good luck
Al

[blikseme300]

I have only 3 places for my Lee Pro 1000's. The answer for multiple presses is to use wing nuts. I currently own, and use, 8 Pro 1000's.

Bliksem

[RobS]

As long as the press is mounted solid it doesn't matter what it is mounted too IMHO.........a solid mount leaves less potential for problems. People who have priming problems on progressives presses can many times trace the problem to a weak mount where the press is moving or bowing the table/bench etc. I have read somewhere of a person who cut a hole in his basement floor and concreted in a 2" pipe with a 1/4" iron plate on top and then bolted his press to it. A bit extreme..........yes maybe.......... but he can eliminate any possibility of his press having a flimsy mount.

[Artful]

I'm a mount it to a board and clamp it to a desk, table, breadboard in the kitchen(put a 2x4 leg under it to transfer strain to the floor), black and decker workmate, tailgate (don't forget rags to save the paint job) - I like flexability.

[Suo Gan]

I don't think I would try to mount a reloading press...but my dog, he would probably do it. Saw him mounting a spare tire yesterday, and the cat today. ;)

Ozark Hunter quote
"I mount all my presses this way, including shotshell loaders....never had a problem !

But, to each their own...."

That does sound tempting though!

[dudel]

I mount mine to a piece of 2x6. The 2x6 also has two holes outboard of the ones used for mounting the press, sizer, trimmer etc. These two holes are for bolts that go into the bench and screw into two T bolts underneath.

This lets me undo two big bolts and replace board with another one that has another tool mounted to it. If you can't find the T bolts at Lowes or HD, I suspect a pair of large wingnuts would work fine as well. I have two stations on the bench where I can mount things. I prefer not to have all the equipment out as it clutters up my bench. Use it, put it away, keep it clean. I also have one with cleats to hold the Lee 20# pot if needed (although it normally mounted on a small rollaway tool chest base).

Don

[DLCTEX]

I use a piece of 3/8" steel plate Fastened to the loading bench and drill and tap holes for each of my presses.. I am going to add a second one to the bench (10') to leave two presses set up.

[David Wile]

Hey DLCTEX,

During the course of my working days, I moved quite a few times, and each time I built a new reloading bench in the basement. This left a lot of well built/stick built reloading benches behind for the new home owners, but it also allowed me to make changes with each new bench I built.

In my last home, I had two loading benches, one 16' long for actual loading and another about 10' long that I used more for general work than for reloading. As time went by, I kept adding more metallic and shotshell presses to the 16' bench till I had very little room to do anything but operate presses. I had six shotshell presses mounted so closely it really was a pain to work them. I also had three metallic presses mounted along with other stuff like a Lubrisizer, powder dispensers, and more. All those presses just took up too much space.

In 2005 we moved into our present home, and I built one reloading bench 12' long. Because of my problems with my last bench being too crowded with presses, I came up with the same idea you did. I got two pieces of half inch steel plate about 12X16 inches in length and width. The front of my bench was designed with two wood legs about 4' in from each end. The top of the bench was made with two 2X10s and a 2X4 all 12' long. These three pieces together made the top about 22" deep, and I left a front overhang of 1.5 inches past the front frame of the bench. Two layers of half inch plywood went atop the three board top, and a 1/4" finish layer of plywood went on top of the other plywood. All of the framing and the top pieces were fastened together with wood screws with the exception of the last 1/4" layer of finish plywood which was glued to the under layer plywood with rubber cement. I mounted a number of shelves to the wall above the bench, and I also added a full sized storage shelf under the bench which also serves well to put my feet when sitting on a stool.

Once the bench was finished, I fastened each of the two steel plates above the area where the two front legs were located. The corner of each plate has a bolt going through the plate, the plywood layers, and the 2X10s which make up the bench top. Believe me, the bench and the steel plates are rock solid. After attaching the steel plates, I put each press I owned in place on the plates, marked the plates for bolt locations, and then I drilled and tapped each mounting hole for all my presses. Most of the mounting holes are for 3/8 inch bolts, but my shotshell presses all used four mounting holes, and I reduced them to 1/4 inch bolt size.

I now can mount any two presses at one time just by screwing in either two or four bolts into the the steel plate and using a ratchet wrench to tighten quickly. I have two other shelves mounted on a side wall to hold all my unused presses in close order and taking up little space. With my new two press bench, I can change presses quickly, and I have lots of room to do all the other things that need to be done in the reloading process.

Your idea of drilling and tapping a steel plate to mount different presses is a great idea. I wish I would have thought of it fifty years ago. I guess I am just a slow learner, but I did leave a lot of really well built benches in about nine or ten homes in three different states over the last 40 plus years.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile