Reloading Bench

[SakoAlberta]

I'm planning my new bench and, having quite of bit of experince, I have a good idea what I want, however, I'm looking for any ideas of that you might have or a layout/plan you really like.

[packhuntr]

Hey Sako. I dont reload yet,,,have been wanting to get into it for years now, but am just getting rigged to the point where im ready to get at it without any hassles etc. We just got into a great acreage about 3 years ago now, and ive pretty well got my room set up the way i want it, least i hope so come time to start loading. The room is set up perfectly for everything else i do, though in the pics ya cant see all of it. Heres a couple pics of my bench. The right side is to stay set up for gun work, maintenance etc, and the left is for arrow fletching and reloading etc. Prob some nicer benches out there, but this is about the best i was able to come up with,,,,im no carpenter, nor do i have a very creative imagination, it is what it is though i suppose..... Never mind the mess...

keep a strain on er.

[slopeshunter]

Here's an interesting article. I like how he built the inserts so that he doesn't have assorted presses bolted to the bench at all times.

Reloading Bench Design

[Rusty P. Bucket]

I bolt my press to a maple board with 50 holes drilled into it to hold the cartridges I am working on. That gets clamped into a vise which is mounted in turn to another board which bolts onto my bench. All my reloading junk is kept on seperate shelves. My work bench is huge and allows me to spread out during an ammo production run and then everything can be quickly unbolted and stowed away and the bench turned back to carpenter duties when my bench is covered with saws and drill presses and such junk.

For me personally, the dedicated reloading bench is a waste of space and time.

[triggerpress]

Sako:
Here's how I did my reloading bench after addressing some of the same issues as you. This is working well for me, so far.

I built a top by screwing and glueing two layers of 3/4" plywood together. Nice birch on top, D grade fir on the bottom. Edging is oak strips. I built nice white cabinets with oak doors as well, but that's not necessary; you could do this on sawhorses....



Look at how each tool is mounted. They all have a seperate 3/4" oak plywood plate and then only the tools you are using are put on the bench. the rest go back against the wall or for the "overhanging" designs, on a mini-bench which is up against the wall.

When I took this pic I only had one press mounted on the bench and still more than what you see in the background. The key to making this work is T-nuts. These great little devices lock into the plywood from the bottom and stay in place semi-permanently. No nuts and washers to drop or lose. Here's a look from the bottom.



Note the pattern. I laid everything out so that the spacing of the holes will work for a wide variety of plates. When I built the system I made a ton of plates. Now, when I get a new tool I just pick the best plate and drill and mount the tool on it. I know it will fit somewhere.

Here's one of several case trimmers I use, ready to be mounted to the bench.



I put a T-nut on the bench so you could see what they look like, but in practice they never move from their spot in the bottom on the bench. Note the wooden plugs. I made these from dowels and drop them into the unused holes so that the benchtop is smooth and flush. That means you could use the space for other purposes. I don't, I just like to have elbow room.

The case trimmer in the photo is easy to mount on a plate, just a couple of short screws. But for tools that need bolts, just use more T-Nuts. Here's a plate with a tool mounted on it using bolts, looking from the bottom. A Forstner bit cuts the holes for the T-nuts and they fit below flush so the plate sits nice and level. Easy!



Moving presses and tools on and off the mounting spots is quick and easy and I suspect the tools are more solid than the slide in method mentioned previously in this thread. An added bonus of both methods is that, if you want, you can take your press(s) to the range and C-clamp it/them to the shooting bench, working up loads on the spot.

Let me know if you need any more info, and I'll add to this post.

triggerpress

[SakoAlberta]

Thanks guys. I knew there would be great ideas here.

[Slannesh]

Originally Posted by triggerpress

Sako:
Here's how I did my reloading bench after addressing some of the same issues as you. This is working well for me, so far.

I built a top by screwing and glueing two layers of 3/4" plywood together. Nice birch on top, D grade fir on the bottom. Edging is oak strips. I built nice white cabinets with oak doors as well, but that's not necessary; you could do this on sawhorses....



Look at how each tool is mounted. They all have a seperate 3/4" oak plywood plate and then only the tools you are using are put on the bench. the rest go back against the wall or for the "overhanging" designs, on a mini-bench which is up against the wall.

When I took this pic I only had one press mounted on the bench and still more than what you see in the background. The key to making this work is T-nuts. These great little devices lock into the plywood from the bottom and stay in place semi-permanently. No nuts and washers to drop or lose. Here's a look from the bottom.



Note the pattern. I laid everything out so that the spacing of the holes will work for a wide variety of plates. When I built the system I made a ton of plates. Now, when I get a new tool I just pick the best plate and drill and mount the tool on it. I know it will fit somewhere.

Here's one of several case trimmers I use, ready to be mounted to the bench.



I put a T-nut on the bench so you could see what they look like, but in practice they never move from their spot in the bottom on the bench. Note the wooden plugs. I made these from dowels and drop them into the unused holes so that the benchtop is smooth and flush. That means you could use the space for other purposes. I don't, I just like to have elbow room.

The case trimmer in the photo is easy to mount on a plate, just a couple of short screws. But for tools that need bolts, just use more T-Nuts. Here's a plate with a tool mounted on it using bolts, looking from the bottom. A Forstner bit cuts the holes for the T-nuts and they fit below flush so the plate sits nice and level. Easy!



Moving presses and tools on and off the mounting spots is quick and easy and I suspect the tools are more solid than the slide in method mentioned previously in this thread. An added bonus of both methods is that, if you want, you can take your press(s) to the range and C-clamp it/them to the shooting bench, working up loads on the spot.

Let me know if you need any more info, and I'll add to this post.

triggerpress

Not to totally necropost, but I built my reloading bench over the weekend and just wanted to say thanks to everyone who put pics up in this thread. You made my job a lot easier.

No pics yet but I happily stole ideas from a lot of guys especially triggerpress.

Pics will be forthcoming once I get all my construction junk out of the way.

Thanks again guys, i'm excited to be getting into reloading!