Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Lack of space and Reloading

I'm looking for some ideas on constructing some sorta portable reloading area... Grandaughter snagged the man cave and my shop is not reloader friendly, yet..

Gotta find me a cubby hole, cabinate, or some sorta portable reloading area.

Ideas and pics(especially) would be real cool..

Thanks all
Shag

I keep some of my stuff in old tackle boxes with hand presses. I use it for pistol loading and neck size rifle cartridges (I have to FL on a mounted press).

I use my computer desk. I mount my press with C-Clamps and and soft back book (Men Who Can't Love, my ex girlfriend gave me that, it's pretty useful). I also mount the powder measure with a C-clamp. Nothing else needs to be mounted. But I only use a single stage press and load rifle rounds in low volume.

Not much extra space here either.

There were a couple of fold out cabinet reloading tables designs out there a few years ago. Don't know if they've been published lately.

I got a metal frame with wheels used to make a moving table. I put a wood top on it. I have the ram mounted on one side and the powder dispenser mounted on the other. There is a shelf toward the bottom and in a plastic bin I put all my reloading devices and tools. I have a lockable steel cabinet various and sundry things and I keep my powder and primers in there. Wheel the table into the room out of storage, set next to a table, set locks on the wheels so it doesn't move and set things up. Slick. Use it put it away. I have made some really accurate reloads for my 30-06 and 6.5x55. If I move I can take it with and I am set up as soon as I want to use it. Buckfever 1

I use a portable bench (WorkMate) with the press mounted to it so I can load wherever I like. I keep my tools and supplies in kitchen cabinets and drawers. My brass gets cleaned in the dishwasher. I lay my rifles on the sofas. I put the muzzles over the sink when I clean the bores. My scale lives on a countertop. Who needs a dedicated reloading facility? Ask me if I'm married.

Just throwing this out as an option. From reading the description it comes apart and you can hang plastic bins off each side, so I'm guessing it would fit into just about anywhere when not in use.

Portable Reloading Bench

But this is right behind it.....

Whe I first started reloading, I mounted my press and powder measure on a piece of 2X8 and would use C clamps to hold it on the dining table while loading - fairly quick and not much space needed. This worked fine until I could build a bench.

30 years ago I used a Black & Decker workmate as well. Some days I miss it Russ

I like that workmate.. Nice custom top you got on it. Pretty slick.

Works like a top and when I go to my sisters I can fold it up throw it in the truck and work loads as I shoot. Little difficult at the range but would work. Heavy enough with every thing but the 7MM RUM it's no problem, that's why the rock cruncher is on the heavy bench. Top is a piece of 3/8 aluminum plate I had laying around.

+1. This is the set-up I use. The Frankford Arsenal stand and top have worked well for me. The picture looks exactly like my set-up except that I also have 2 presses mounted on opposite sides of the stand top. On the bottom C-clamp jaws (used to secure my case trimmer to a bookcase), I use padding between the clamp jaws & the bookcase. On the top jaws I use padding between the clamp jaws and the piece of 2 x 4 on which I have mounted my trimmer. I also use the top of the bookcase for using the powder scale. Not real fancy but it gets the job done. Needless to say, I also have very limited space to reload.

How stable is the Frankford? Pics?

I use a portable shooting bench (the Bogger Bench) and C-clamp a 3/4 in piece of plywood to it which has my Rockchucker bolted to it. Take down and setup time is under two minutes. 28" x 40"

Shag, I use an old truckstop cafe table base that is similar to the frankford stand. Steel 'X' base tho, instead of round. When they remodeled and bought new furniture, I went out back and stole one of the old tables. Trashed the chrome-edged, round formica top and replaced it with a scrap of 1/4 inch steel plate. It holds 2 measures, 3 presses, trimmers (all wing-nutted and removable)and misc trinkets. It is real solid when screwed to a wood floor, but on carpet it has some wiggles and jiggles. Not bad, but just enough that the scale has to be on a shelf, dresser or table. I'm used to the movement when sizing and seating, so it don't bother me none. I built this when I was young, and moving from ranch to ranch and job to job. It has met my needs for all these years, so I never saw the why, to upgrade. I still haul it to the ranch to work up loads. Set up in the shade of a cottonwood, makes for a relaxing time. And I can fiddle-fart around, as long as I want.







scale shelf....

I found it to be very stable, even before I mounted another press opposite the main press I use. The main press I use is a Forster Co-Ax, which is almost effortless for the reloading I've done to-date. So, with the Forster I've not had any "top heavy" balance problems. I need to state that to-date I've yet to do much case resizing (I've done just a few to get the feel of it). I have so many new cases that I'm still working on those and I have not yet had the need to resize those. However, the few I have done, the stand/top were stable. One thing I found is that, while the idea of removing the top and storing that separately from the stand would seem to save space, in reality it doesn't. The press sticks out below the top and you'd have to lay the top with the press horizontal to store it. However, so little room is taken up by the stand and top that for me this is not really an issue.

Regarding pics, a previous poster in this thread has a link to a pic of the stand/top sans press.

Huntsman, Retsof

Thanks for the info and pics. That and the workmate look to be about perfect and what I'm looking for.

Appreciate it!

Mounted my press on a grinder stand I got at Harbor Freight for $20, seems real solid, top & bottom comes off so can break it down if desired. Plenty of room for more than the press, seeing some of the pics in this thread give me some ideas to improve.