Show me your small to medium sized reloading bench.

Moved to a new house last summer and I'm still trying to figure out how I want my next reloading bench to be. I don't have as much room as I did in the last house, so I'm needing more of a small to medium(ish) setup. I also wondered about putting a wooden top on a rolling tool cart. I like the idea of all the drawers to keep things organized and out of sight, but I don't know how sturdy they would be when using a press. I only have two presses, a Dillon 550 and a single stage. I have no plans of upgrading or adding additional presses. Thanks and look forward to seeing everyone's setup!

 

I built my bench based on plans from this website: http://www.eaa1000.av.org/technicl/worktabl/tablefig.htm

I reduced the measurements down to 48-inches wide x 27-inches deep x 36-inches tall.

The bench is very sturdy (it is also mobile with a system of hinges and wheels) and the design uses mostly face joints, eliminating the need for screwing into the end grain in the critical strength joints. I made the bench when I first started woodworking. I covered all the screw heads with spackle and painted it to match my Craftsman tool box. If I had to do it over again, I would rip the curved edges off the of the 2x4’s and glue the 2x4s together. At the time all I had was a chop saw…

 

Small? Here's my Illinois hillbilly micro portable bench, admittedly not my primary loading set up but effective and actually pretty darn good. I weight it down with bullets so it doesn't move around but I've been known to put my legs up on the back if I'm just doing some decapping on the back porch while my kids run the backyard.

APP is highly recommended. Fiddly to set up but fast and produces concentric cartridges . it's fiddly. I mostly decap on it but have completed cartridges on it, also sized bullets and done some heavy duty "resizing " on it too.
-i got the chair from the side of the road and it even had hearts drawn all over it, that saved me time making it pretty!

 

Small loading bench in process.....Something we were throwing in the scrap bin at work, bought it for $20. Has 3/8" thick steel tops, all welded steel with adjustable feet (not pictured). Must weigh 200 lbs so it won't be going anywhere. Only photo I have at this time, has been cleaned up, painted and drilled/tapped for press. Will get some pics of the finished project later.

 

52" butcher countertop from big box store and old steel book cabinet w/ wheels. I did the woodwork with a trim router and circular saw in about 90 minutes and bolted it to the top with 6 bolts.

Top- $108
Cabinet- repurposed
Wheels- free from old tool cart.

 

I built my bench from scraps of wood. I don't have any pics of it on my new PC. Im out growing it too lol. I have an island bench i set up now in the middle of my room.

 

My other sh-medium bench from a summer ago or so.

 

We just had one of these threads on the shotgun forum I'm on. Here's the pics:

This is my metallic reloading setup. It has it's own (very) small table; it used to be a microwave stand.


My MEC is clamped to the table with C-clamps because it is also my gunsmithing table. Behind me are my hulls in totes like in the pic below, I store wads in the red tote in the lower left corner here, it's an old dog food rolling container. You can see where I store my flats, I need to find more space for them. That is my last box of 209's so once they are gone, I'll be done loading shells for a while. One more view:


OK, I admit, just wanted to show of my 16 ga. Sauer. Here you can see the wads (Downrange DRXL1 1/8 in this case) in the rolling bin under the AA's . The steel cabinet top middle is where I store primers, bullets, and brass that will not be worked for a while and odd brass.

 

I have a small bench that I use to put my scales on and clean rifles on.
It uses countertop material which I cannot recommend enough. Add a piece of 3/4" plywood to the underside and bolt it to a frame of your liking.

 

I have a modest set-up using a Husky rolling tool cart. I attached a wood surface that is +4" inches (L and W) than the cart top, making for more work area. I finished the surface with white (for visibility), 18" x 18" adhesive floor tile - very durable. Between a metric tonne of lead in drawers and two locking wheels, it has proven to be sturdy and steady. Pay attention to drawer capacity (lbs) to avoid problems.

 

Is that a Uniflow hiding under a golf club cover ?

 

Here is my little 9mm and 45 acp set up. Dillon 550c and Lee APP is all I need.

 

I bought a Gorilla rack from Sam's club and set it up as 2 separate 4' sections. Each has two shelves below to hold all the lead, powder, ammo, etc. The tops are made from (1) 3/4" sheet of plywood cut and doubled, glued and screwed together. One is for shotshell, the other for metallic

 

I don't have a reloading bench or a reloading room, I have reloading stools I can take anywhere with little effort. I store my supplies in a store room - along with various woodworking and metalworking projects, tumblers, books, gun safes, ammo cabinets, drill stands and presses, jeweler's lathe, rolling tool carts, powder cabinet, projectiles and cases in individually-labeled boxes... etc. When I want to reload, I bring out the supplies and perform one operation, start-to-finish, on a batch (decap, size, and prime are separate operations but charge, seat-crimp and box are one operation). On the left is the Lee APP and on the right is my single-stage RCBS Partner. Behind are a pair of 45-long gun safes.



In nice weather I will sit on the front porch and perform an operation that humidity won't harm - decap and resize, for example - but charging and seating-crimping are always done in the A/C.

 

My ‘bench’ is my Lay-Z-Boy. Lee hand press, thousands and thousands reloaded.

 

I made my setup to mount in my vise. The vise raises the press to a comfortable height for me and the whole setup is very rigid.
If I’m not reloading I can just move the whole thing out of the way.

 

Back when I was woking I was working from home for a while. The storage shelf I’d been meaning to make ended up also being a standing desk. Now the space that was the standing desk space is going to be for reloading.

 

Beware The Lay-Z-Boy Dimension (a.k.a. cushions) where all things fall and no thing returns...

 

Yeah, if you're anything like me the floor around your recliner would be covered in dropped primers, spent and unspent, and spilled powder everywhere.

 

Ah yes the bottomless pit aka The Recliner. I do have my powder measure clamped to a sturdy table in front of it, my ‘Command Center’ so powder only gets dropped under that. Primers though, well...