reloading bench help

[coyotecreek]

I am just getting into reloading after learning from a friend. I built some loads at his place and now have purchased a setup to get started with 2-3 calibers. I am a woodworker and have the skills to build nice cabinets. What do you find more useful for storage, a door with shelves, or drawers? I won't be able to have any overhead storage because my walls are covered in shoulder mounts. I'll use part of the bench for computer work, building arrows, etc and the other part of the bench will have my press and powder measure attached. I will mention that I have two closets in this room where I can store a few things, but it's mostly full of camping gear, loaded ammo, and meat processing equipment. I'm looking at something like this. It's about 9 feet long and 2 feet deep. My other option is to put my reload bench in my bowbuilding shop outside, but I'll have to deal with dust and humidity. What am I missing? Thanks!

 

[Ram94]

Having them low down like that, you would probably have more usable/accessible storage if you go with drawers deep enough to house powder cans. You could label the tops to keep things easy.

 

[georgiaboy]

Why not do a mix of both? 9' is plenty long enough. I just swapped tables in my loading room and currently am using 6' which is adequate for loading or stuff like mounting scopes. Completely agree on the heat and humidity. Over 80% this past weekend and I sweated through my shirt when I moved my old loading bench table into my shop.

 

[coyotecreek]

Why not do a mix of both? 9' is plenty long enough. I just swapped tables in my loading room and currently am using 6' which is adequate for loading or stuff like mounting scopes. Completely agree on the heat and humidity. Over 80% this past weekend and I sweated through my shirt when I moved my old loading bench table into my shop.

Good idea, that's likely what I'll do and I like the idea from ram to go with deeper drawers to hold powder and label the top. I have the space and would like to have a bench big enough that I can use for reloading, but still be able to clean guns, fletch arrows, and do computer work when I need to. I wish I could have storage above the bench, but it jus won't work in my room.

 

[greaseywater]

My bench is dedicated to reloading. 4 ft by 2 ft, so not a lot of space. But I was able to install shelves. And the back half of the bench becomes the lowest shelf. If i built it again I would make it 30" deep.

One thing I like is the height. Short enough to sit on a tall chair or short stool, but tall enough that I can stand comfortably for decapping or other bulk activities with pistol brass.

 

[coyotecreek]

I wish I had wall space for shelves or cabinets, but I just don't. I have the problem of my walls being covered with deer and antelope mounts! I've made a few changes to my design and I think I'll do something like what I have drawn below. The left side will have two cabinet doors with adjustable shelves. Above that I left open, mainly because I'll mount my rock chucker in that area and won't have to worry about it interfering with drawers, but can still get the cabinet doors open. I made the drawers deeper on the left side to hold 1# powder jars. I left an opening between drawer banks so that I could sit and work on building loads, arrows, cleaning guns, sitting at my computer, whatever. What I don't fill up with reloading stuff I need a little space for knives, and calls, etc. Maybe I should go bigger now that I'm thinking about it!

This ended up being 8' long x 24" deep, x 30" tall so desk height. I have space on an adjacent wall where I can build another cabinet just to store miscellaneous hunting items later, but we'll see what I can fit in here first.

If you have any other suggestions let me know. I hope to start on this next week. I can post progress photos if you are interested.

Thanks guys!

 

[rayporter]

look at what greaseywater did and think a little more

i have cabinets with doors and you dont have that same access as you do to a shelf. and the visibility.
visibility is huge. drawers will soon be piled to the top and you will have to paw through them to find stuff.

 

[coyotecreek]

Makes sense, I could build some organization into the drawers so that I can store dies vertical and be able to read the ends. I could write the type of powder on the lid and store them in drawers, and I could keep bullets in the cabinet or figure out a way to store them on end so I could read the label. I suppose I could just write a new label on top of the bullet box so I could tell what they were.

It's hard to think into the future. I don't plan on reloading much pistol since I just have a single stage press, but it's hard to plan for 10-15 years down the road. I'm thinking of another thread that's going around about how many hobbies you have. I haven't commented on there, but I feel bad for my kids having to go through all of my crap when I'm gone!

 

[Muley Buck]

Do you have mounts all the way down to the bench top? If not, I'd go at least 30"-36" deep on the bench top then you could add 10"-12" shelve(s) on top of the back portion of the bench top. Then you can go as high or as many as your mounts will allow.

 

[coyotecreek]

I thought of that Muley. My mounts don't come all the way down. I've got 20" of space or so above the desk top. I could add shallow shelves on just part of the back portion even. That would help a lot as far as organization and finding things.

 

[Muley Buck]

I highly suggest you do that, I am willing to bet it will prove to be very useful. My bench top is 34" deep, the back shelves/cabinets are 12" deep, leaving 22" for the bench top. I am very happy with the functionality.

 

[Loper]

I wish I had wall space for shelves or cabinets, but I just don't. I have the problem of my walls being covered with deer and antelope mounts!

Too many deer and antelope mounts is a good problem to have.

 

[Terrapin]

Many presses have the handle mechanism well below the level of the counter, which blocks drawers and cabinet doors. I have numerous presses and often struggle with drawer access. I wish I had more clear span area.

Low benches make my back tired during extended loading sessions.


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[coyotecreek]

Many presses have the handle mechanism well below the level of the counter, which blocks drawers and cabinet doors. I have numerous presses and often struggle with drawer access. I wish I had more clear span area.

Low benches make my back tired during extended loading sessions.


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I measured my rock chucker and it will stick about 8.5" below my countertop. I set the top of my cabinet doors at 9" below the countertop so I should have the clearance. I left the drawer openings without drawers for this purpose. I like a 40" tall workbench, but it's not practical in this room. I'll likely do 95% of my reloading while sitting down, mostly because that's the only way it will work fo rmy setup.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Terrapin]

I measured my rock chucker and it will stick about 8.5" below my countertop. I set the top of my cabinet doors at 9" below the countertop so I should have the clearance. I left the drawer openings without drawers for this purpose. I like a 40" tall workbench, but it's not practical in this room. I'll likely do 95% of my reloading while sitting down, mostly because that's the only way it will work fo rmy setup.

Thanks for the suggestions!

I have a hard time sitting down to load... your mileage may vary.

I’ll try and remember to measure the drop on some of my presses. If I were doing blank drawer plates, I would consider those little hinged trays that go on sink plates. I always figured that would be a good place to store little parts and tools.


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[rayporter]

when loading at home and testing i do a lot of standing to get 3 loaded to go shoot.

 

[Muley Buck]

Try one of these, it may fix your height problem. Another one of the benefits besides proper height and bench clearance is how strong and solid they are. I have zero flex when loading with my Ultramount.

UltraMounts™ – Inline Fabrication

ultramount riser strong mount mount stand inline fabrication reloading ammunition ammo hand loading hornady dillon lee lyman redding RCBS ERGO solid storage

inlinefabrication.com

 

[dla]

I am just getting into reloading after learning from a friend. I built some loads at his place and now have purchased a setup to get started with 2-3 calibers. I am a woodworker and have the skills to build nice cabinets. What do you find more useful for storage, a door with shelves, or drawers? I won't be able to have any overhead storage because my walls are covered in shoulder mounts. I'll use part of the bench for computer work, building arrows, etc and the other part of the bench will have my press and powder measure attached. I will mention that I have two closets in this room where I can store a few things, but it's mostly full of camping gear, loaded ammo, and meat processing equipment. I'm looking at something like this. It's about 9 feet long and 2 feet deep. My other option is to put my reload bench in my bowbuilding shop outside, but I'll have to deal with dust and humidity. What am I missing? Thanks!

View attachment 211993

That seems like overkill. I reload indoors using about 30 sq feet total.

Reloading Bench - Christian Ed and Hobby info

Christian education and hobby information

sites.google.com

 

[coyotecreek]

Try one of these, it may fix your height problem. Another one of the benefits besides proper height and bench clearance is how strong and solid they are. I have zero flex when loading with my Ultramount.

UltraMounts™ – Inline Fabrication

ultramount riser strong mount mount stand inline fabrication reloading ammunition ammo hand loading hornady dillon lee lyman redding RCBS ERGO solid storage

inlinefabrication.com

I have seen those mounts and I like the idea. I may look into that.

That seems like overkill

It might be, but I've the space and need the storage, plus it's going to be a multipurpose workspace, not just for reloading, so I can reload on the one end and build arrows or work at my computer at the other end. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[MeatBuck]

You can put all your small parts and pieces in a tackle box. Saves tons of room and is easy to keep things clean and organized. U can put those rust inhibitor things in there too.