Your reloading area

[Icky The Great]

I am looking to buy a house soon. One consideration I have been taking is the need ofr a dedicated area for firearms. The reasoning is between the gunsmithing, guns, cleaning and reloading I have enough stuff to fill an apartment.
What considerations, layout, organizational tips and trick do you folks use?

As it is now, I have my spent cases tumbled and put up in Rubbermaid containers. Unfortunately many have out grown there confines and I now have them in a odd assortment of Gladware and ziplok bags. I was thinking of going with 5gal buckets but haven't seen decent ideas on how and where to store them. When I load them they go into steel .50cal ammo cans and placed on a shelf. I guess what I am really looking for are ideas on how to organize a gunroom or maximize space for storing all the bits and buckets.

 

[RainDodger]

This is a huge subject! I could write a book on putting together a dedicated reloading shop. I built a separate building for a workshop on my property and I designated nearly half of it for reloading and other gun work. Benches stretch along an entire 30' wall and each section has a separate purpose. All my benches are built in-place and anchored to wall studs.

Since other parts of the shop have woodworking equipment, there's a good bit of wood dust. I put in a woodworker's vacuum system, but I also made detachable fronts for all the reloading cabinets that are as dustproof as I could make them. I suggest this for sure - there's nothing worse than getting sawdust all over your delicate equipment and supplies.

Think about the type of finish on bench tops where you're going to work, think about the bench-top overhang if you're going to mount multiple presses, think about the height of the bench if you're going to do 'smithing work.... and especially the lighting. My benches are at a couple of different heights for different purposes. Build in some vertical racks to set rifles against if they're not on a bench.... there's about a billion things you can do. It's all fun.

Build your shelves with lots of support - 500 or 1,000 .45 cal bullets are not light! I use a lot of the shelving UNDER the benches to store loaded rounds... they're heavy and they contribute to making the bench very, very stable. Be sure everything is level and square.

So many things..... but above all, have fun building some kind of dedicated area!

 

[PJSprog]

The Missus and I have discussed this at length as well, and have decided to build a separate building for our workshop, similar to what RainDodger has done. I don't like the idea of having to share space with something like reloading equipment and components, but I can't justify two separate buildings (unfortunately). My current setup is a dedicated corner of the basement, with no interference from any other work spaces. I definitely want to try to maintain that kind of separation at least.

 

[MtnCreek]

A few years ago I reorganized mine. The biggest improvement in space management for me was building a heavy duty shelf that kinda serves as a partition in my loading room. It’s 4’W x 8’L wood framed with heavy/rigid shelves and has cabinet backing that runs the length down the middle separating the shelves into ~2’ x 8’. I put some thought into shelving spacing based on storage containers, powder kegs/bottles, … Brass and ammo boxing materials on one side and powder and bullets on the other. The top is around shoulder height and is kinda a mess right now. I’m bad about laying stuff on top of it that I intend to put up later…

My benches are simple wood framed, 2’W x 8’L in an L shape with 2 on one wall and 1 on another. Open storage and cabinets are built above the benches.

I have some store-bought shelves that I use for other items, but will build something a little better one of the days.

 

[mgmorden]

When I bought my house the previous owner had already divided the garage into two rooms (and they added a vent to the innermost one). Since using the garage as a garage was out unless I tore the wall down, I just dedicated that half of the garage to "gun stuff". All my reloading gear and such is in there.

I do still tumble in the outermost half of the garage though (which I use for general storage of the lawnmower, bicycles, etc). I just don't like running the tumbler in any area that I'll be spending any significant amount of time in.

 

[gahunter12]

I have half of my garage setup for reloading, and gunsmithing. I am going to the county Monday about permits/laws on building a 16x16 building on my property. I live out in the country so my plans are to have it set up with a lean to roof on the back that will act as a shooting cover to setup a bench rest. This will be my reloading/gunsmithing man cave.

 

[Icky The Great]

As it is now I have the entire backroom occupied. Unfortunately the landlord is a ****** and will not fix the garage or basement (both are swimming pools during the rain). So I have had to move several things around to save them. My gun room has spilled out into the rest of the house. My backroom is kinda the storage room now. My basement shelving takes the overflow but I am running out of space there. All gunsmithing takes place in the dining room and the gun cleaning takes place either in the basement or outside on the porch. Believe it or not but I am fairly secluded and have only one neighbor and 3 acres to play with. Not bad for being within the city limits. Anyhow, the basement shelving is built using 2x6s 14" apart with 1" red pine (hardwood) across the top. They are 10' and 12' long tied into the stairway and 4x4s at the other end. I also have some industrial shelving there to handle everything else.
I have 5 presses I use with one more to come (hopefully very soon). I have a Hornaday Ammo Plant for all handgun loads except the hunting loads. They and the rifles are loaded on a Lyman T Mag II turret and the match loads on a RCBS Rockchuck. I also have 2 shotshell presses but I intend them to be changed out depending on which shells are getting loaded. The other press I am looking to get will be one to handle extra long cases. I need to find a serious press for loading .50BMG, .408 Cheytac. I have a friend doing some research and we are going to make one.

I figure I could have one bench for shotshell and keep all that stuff underneath along with removable presses. I also figure it will work well for cleaning and such. I figure it to be about 6-7' long and 30"+ deep. I am hoping to find cabinets to use for it and place a counter top on it as shotshells do not require much force to load.
The main reloading bench will have pistol at one end and rifle at the other. I have constructed my new bench and it's in my father's basement currently. I made it of Unistrut with an old countertop on top of 1x10 pine boards. It has a 3" backsplash and is about 11' long by 32" deep. I left the one end slightly long thinking I may have to trim it to fit a room.

After rereading all this I realize I need a warehouse with a cot, not a house...hmmm....

 

[Reloadron]

Guessing PA?

Buy a house with a full basement with finished basement preferred. Occupy the basement and expand as required. Pay attention to climate control as you don't want a wet humid basement. You want a cool and dry basement.

Option #2 would be buy a house then expand it but I like the first option better.

Ron

 

[gonoles_1980]

I have mine on the back porch.

My loader is tied down with wing nuts so I can bring the loader and equipment in the house, I have a drawer and a book self in my computer room for everything. The table can double with a table cloth for eating out on the back porch.

 

[cfullgraf]

The last four houses that we have bought or built, a reloading area was a major consideration. The space ranged from a bonus room over the garage, a spare bedroom, and two basement areas.

Our current house was built with most of the basement reserved for my hobbies including a fab shop and reloading. The wife gets the top two floors.

 

[kerreckt]

I am most fortunate in that I have an entire walk out basement (approx. 900sq. ft.) complete with bathroom and shower that is my reloading/gunsmithing area. This room has a concrete floor which I think is most important. Outside the door there is a patio that I use when I melt down lead and such for casting. I have a berm built up that I can test fire firearms. The distance is not great enough for a shooting range but it works nicely for the occasional discharging of a firearm. Inside I have metro shelving and a large work table 36"X72" that I made by laminating 3/4" maple flooring to a piece of 3/4" plywood and then making legs from 3-1/2"x3/4" plywood glued and screwed together. I added a bottom shelf to make the whole thing rigid and for storage. My presses and powder dispensers are all mounted to 1"x6" hardwood boards that I clamp to the table when using. My biggest lesson has been that the more room I have the bigger mess I will make. I am very fortunate and not a days goes by that I don't give thanks.

 

[grubbylabs]

You should check out the picture thread on rooms and benches. Their are some great ideas in there.

Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2

 

[MtnCreek]

I have an entire walk out basement (approx. 900sq. ft.) complete with bathroom and shower that is my reloading/gunsmithing area.

How often does your wife get to see you?

 

[jmorris]

My reloading room is the smallest room in the house, so I built my bench pretty narrow (18"). To keep it stable I did make it L shaped and put a lower shelf on the bottom for storage. Gives enough room for a desk and workbench up against two other walls without banging in to something every time you turn around.

 

[dickttx]

I have had my reloading equipment in a lot of places over the years. You kind of have to make do with the area you have.
This is where I have been loading the last few months:


This is what I am moving into:


Not our furniture shown. I will have my 72 x 40 safe in there, as well as two reloading benches, computer table, an entire wall of books, easy chair and ottoman and a 62" TV. The double doors are to a six foot long closet with four full length shelves.
The single door goes to the garage where the temp is about 110 right now. I will keep extra brass and bullets out there, as well as my casting bench and equipment.

It will take some time to get there as right now there are about 25 moving boxes of books stacked against the wall, and I haven't even contacted anyone about building bookshelves.

My main goal is to not screw up the space.