Birth of a reloading bench

[Brithunter]

Hmmm I have been reading all this and perusing the Photos. Yes I REALLY need to get something sorted out for my stuff but I am afraid that Davids set up would need to be about three times the size. In the garage where it was put for storage when I moved some 5 years ago is my old goods inward bench that I used for reloading and it's nowhere near big eonugh. There was only just enough room between the presses to sit a few cases. No good. Looks like I will have to build a lean to against the concrete pre-fab garage for my reloading and work "room". It will have to be as big as I can fit onto the space which is not really going to be big enough.

Just measured the space and the best I can squeeze in is 10 feet long and 8 feet wide at the front but only 6 feet wide at the rear. Hmmm Oh well I will have to make it out of a timber frame clad in 3/4" roofing ply then painted with a "pent" sloping roof felted all sitting on a concrete base. Due to rats it will have to have a wall base of one row of concrete blocks for the timber frame to sit on and the cladding to over lap and inch or so. We have a hard wood front door that will be used and the floor inside will be screed to raise it another 1" to stop water ingress from driving rain and provide a door sill seal against water. I'll double skin it covering the inside of the wood frame with 1/2" ply and fill between with insulation.

Light will be a problem where it is soooooooooooo I am thinking glaze above the door the angled section up to the roof. This faces south. and possibly a roof light. Hmm needs more thought and costing too. Electrics can be tapped into in the workshop and I think we still have a small working electric storage heater to keep the damp at bay and make it usable in winter. If not a free standing gas bottled gas heater will have to be used. That's eats into the space though.

Have to consider security so steel weldmesh might have to be used to reinforce the walls and roof and bars made to fit inside the glazing. This is not going to be a five minute job which is why it's been put off. Oh well it NEEDS to be done so will see if this year it can be a reality. I have a spare steel gun cabinet which I could install inside it for temporary secure storage and a racked cabinet of 3/4" ply built to store my powders. Yep they have got silly about powder storage here now and each 1lb tub it seems is supposed to have it's own little cubby hole . Likewise although I could store cast and non expanding bullets out there the expanding bullets being soooooooo dangerous would still need to be locked in steel cabinets indoors. I could move all my presses and dies plus the service/cleaning tools and stuff out there and make some room indoors.

David see what you have started?

Edit:-   Oh yes and I have to sort out somehwere to set up my casting equipment too as with the price of bullets it's making more and more sense to do so. Hopefully I should be getting a nice .303 mould next month.

[davidlt89]

but I am afraid that Davids set up would need to be about three times the size.

after seeing RJ's pictures, and listening to everyone else, I get the feeling that reloading can start to "spiral". I figured I would just load a few rounds and that would be it:D.
Kevin, my room is "bigger" than just that reloading bench. that is just one corner of the room. I have another bench that I do other work on such as cleaning, etc.... I have a ton of clothes and other gear in there also, not to mention all my firearms. I do however have to store things like gun cases and such in another room!
I got my press mounted yesterday and that seemed to be a chore! It took awhile to get all the reinforcing done! Now I just need to learn how to use it all! God bless.

[Brithunter]

David,

Well I reload quite a bit and shoot as often as I can as you know. Mine started to balloon when I had the 577/450 Swinburn Martini. Now as you know I have a "few" rifles and load for them all. Except the rimfires of course. Currently I have a temp set up. Just the Rockchucker mounted to a bit of old MDF counter top and that bit of top clamped to an old TV stand. Old as in 1950's.

The Lee Turret press, Lyman Spar-T are in the garage and I need to clean them up now along with my 4" vice. The Uniflow is in the mobile home in a drawer. As I added in a edit I have to set up my electric lead pot and get the sizers sorted and set up somewhere but that will be somewhere else. Possible a corner of a shed...............yep cold.

If I can get this reloading/work room done it will have some shelves and a bench for doing my cleaning and stock refinishing. I will also make a cradle for use when doing stuff like scope mounting. It will be possible.................... just I believe to do so in the space available. Hopefully I can put my couple of Deer mounts up and finally get the 4pt and 6pt Roe bucks done and up on show. Those two are still raw in the freezer. Another job to get sorted this year.

Edit:-  You see we only have a small two bedroomed Bungalow so room is at a premium. My books etc are in a 28ft mobile home outside but heating it in the winter is too expensive.

[davidlt89]

I hear ya!!! I don't expect to get many more rifles though. I will load for the 7mm mag, 25-06, and probably the 30-40 krag. then maybe whatever the boys decide to get someday, of course, they will be taking those rifles with them. I am certainly not a collector. My 7mm mag shoots everything I hunt. I like using one shell for bear, deer, and moose! my main purpose for reloading is to actually always have bullets on hand, also of course, to have as accurate a bullet I can get. I already have a place to mount scopes, redo stocks, clean etc.. in that room. I also have all my mounts, many pictures and lots of clothes neatly put away.

[Brithunter]

I hear ya!!!I don't expect to get many more rifles  though. I will load for the 7mm mag, 25-06, and probably the 30-40 krag. then maybe whatever the boys decide to get someday, of course, they will be taking those rifles with them. I am certainly not a collector. My 7mm mag shoots everything I hunt. I like using one shell for bear, deer, and moose! my main purpose for reloading is to actually always have bullets on hand, also of course, to have as accurate a bullet I can get. I already have a place to mount scopes, redo stocks, clean etc.. in that room. I also have all my mounts, many pictures and lots of clothes neatly put away.

 
:laugh: Now there is a man in denial :D " I don't expect to get many more rifles  " Ok we believe you.

  I'll bet most have said that at some point then while mindign  our own business we stumble across and nice rifle and well it just seems to follow one home. Of course some are more effected, like me, than others of course I can stop any time I like :laugh:.

[davidlt89]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I ain't against buying another rifle! I usually sell one to get one:D
I had a request for a picture with the press mounted so here it is. The bottom one is the reinforcement I put in.

[Brithunter]

Well David that should hold it although you will find that over time the new wood will compress slightly so keep an eye on it. meanwhile it's time to get the rest sorted and some loads made up :grin:.

On another note:-

Well I broached the subject of my building a work/reloading room work shop with the Old Dragon and she thinks it's a good idea. It would tidy up a bit of dumping ground. She has even said I can take flowering shrub out so I can go back a bit further so I will now have to work out the size so I can clear the ground shutter it up and get some concrete priced up. We are thinking ready mix for this one.

The pad will be larger so it will form a path between the workshop/room and the mobile home.

We discussed it and having the rear wall and wall adjacent to the pre fab garage of concrete block and the other two walls timber. Having the block wals will allow for secure fixings for some security features like a steel cabinet and sheling/racking for storage but this will mean losing about 10" on the width .

I have worked out how to get natural light into it and the pre fab garage still. It will require a sort of dorma sky light and secondary glazing might be an idea to help keep it warm enough to use all year round.

Not sure about using the casting stuff inside of it though even though I could put an extractor in?

[davidlt89]

meanwhile it's time to get the rest sorted and some loads made up

Hoping to something soon, but it is really not shooting weather right now, been below zero quite a few days in a row. won't really be good until april. I will however start reading my manual and probably gathering materials. Got a friend who wants some 22 hornet reloads, and one guy with a .270 WSM looking for deer rounds. God Bless.

[JaDub]

" the old dragon"..........  
 
          I refer to   mine as "the war department"..............  :grin:

[Brithunter]

" the old dragon"..........
 
I refer to mine as "the war department".............. :grin:

This is the "Old Dragon" at rest in her den. Taken August 2002.
 

 
yes the Old Dragon is Mother and she knows it too.

[kombi1976]

Wow, amazing work there, Dave.
Wish I'd seen this before.
I now need to get on top of my act.
BTW, mine is the Dept of War & Finance.

[davidlt89]

Soooo, it has been a little over a year since I built the bench and got going. People said stuff would "pile up" and I have indeed acquired some more stuff!!! in the initial picture of the set up, there was room for everything I had right on my bench!!!!

Now there is only room for bullets, brass, dies, and primers on the bench. I have dies for guns I don't even have.


powder has migrated to its own shelf also.


ammo needed two shelves!!!


I believe it is impossible to stop acquiring "things"!!! God Bless.

[drinksgin (deceased)]

Snicker, snicker!

;<)

[gitano]

I have dies for guns I don't even have.

What's your point?

:D

Paul

[RatherBHuntin]

Nah, You have dies for guns you will have some day!