How about some pics of your reloading benches, trying to get some ideas. Would like to have something portable maybe due to limited space

Mine is compact and portable as I move a lot. An old truckstop cafe table base with a scrap of 1/4 inch plate on top.....

Ive got a nice setup but it is far from easily moved.

Heres mine. 2 Cabinets with 1 counter top spanning both of them. Casters all the way around so I can roll it if need be, If you want something smaller you could just use 1 cabinet.

All drawers and doors are functioning on these cabinets.

Organized!

My main reloading bench is a butcher block topped baker's table from the unfinished furniture store. My rollaround loading bench is a butcher block topped microwave cart from the big box home center. Both feature strong thick tops with plenty of thickness to bolt presses and accessories to and sturdy legs. The microwave cart has locking casters, I can roll it where needed and lock the casters and I'm set-up ready to load in minutes. When done unlock the casters and roll it back where it belongs.

What about these, I know that they are not as stable as a actual bench but you did ask for portable. The first two are Frankford Arsenal, the third one is a Lee product.

I think that I have seen similar to the last one, at Harbor Freight, for putting grinders on. miles

nuthin special....somewhat organized......in basesment..

heated & cooled is nice....use two solid core doors for the tops

left side is for storage...barrel changing..spare shootin' table

used to hold guns while cleaning..mounting scopes...not shown

My first loading bench was made from a solid core door, it worked very well. When I bought something else my Dad cut it down to make a workbench that would fit in his garage.

Nice.
What are some dos and don't to set your bench or what would you have done different?

do make it solid....heated/cooled.....keep kids out....locked door

I store 8# jugs elsewhere...only 1# bottles on bench...only one

bottle open at a time....one brick primers out at once...of each

flavor...good lighting is a must....decent chair/stool....pay

attention to what you're doing...NO distractions ! quiet area of

your house/garage....keep powder/primers cool/dry/stable temps

Do something different eh?

Well, as soon as one of the kids moves out, my loading bench and guns are moving out of our bedroom and into a spare bedroom.

Nice sign you got there

It came from a job site in Maine. One of our guys traded a hat for that sign with one of the on-site security personal.

Some security!

Some cool ideas. Mine is pretty compact as well. Just finished up a table top for my belt/disc sander for grinding recoil pads and working on guns too. I also like the steel lockboxes for storing powder and primers:







I like having plenty of cupboard space for my reloading stuff as well...

It's usually not this clean and now has a row of blue bins under the cabinets







Brass in plastic shoe box bins on top of the cabinets



This picture shows the un-full row of blue bins under the cabinet...it's full now

I see another fan of the square peanut/pretzel jars, nearly all my brass and bullets are stored in these jars. I have similar tall ones for tumbler media. I used to use the Folgers coffee containers too, but have now put everything in the clear jars. Blue bin boxes reside on the bench shelves under my pistol loading press with my most used bullets. Cleaning supplies reside in a Plano plastic ammo can and there are separate range boxes, one for rimfire and another for centerfire.

What products in a store near you....use these square plastic containers?

Planter's peanuts & H.K. Anderson peanut butter filled pretzel nuggets are what I use.

Might not be exactly the same.

An overall perspective of my reloading/gun room.



I have three benches in my room. One for centerfire rifle. It is equipped with a Lee classic cast turret press and also a cheap Lee press that I use for priming only:



The beauty of the Lee turret press is the ability to set up all your dies once and then change out in seconds. Here is a rack for my turrets:



One for bulk centerfire pistol - I now have three Dillon SDB's. My goal is to have one each for all the pistol calibers I load for. There are two dillon's hiding under the white T shirts. For small runs of pistol ammo I'll use the turret press. Storage underneath. Also hiding under there is a PW 800B 12ga press and a thousand or so empty AA hulls.



My work bench for cleaning and scope mounting. I store all my gun digests and all my cleaning materials under this bench.



All my components - primers, powder, bullets, manuals, etc are stored in this wood cabinet I built.


The whole setup lives in my basement. My primers and powder are stored in a cool, dark environment.

I have gone to mounting all my presses, etc on 2X6 boards and using C clamps to clamp to the benches. My dad and I built the grey cabinet in about 1975 and made an elaborate steel tapered dovetail to interchange presses but it turned out to be a PITA. The other two benches are built of solid core door as the top and 2X4 legs and skirting, with 3/4" plywood shelf. One I used mortise and tenon, one I used Simpson brackets. Both work. The tops are 1/4" masonite lamited over the doors.

I started reloading in 1962 and have gone through several different reloading benches.

Absolutely the best one is the NRMA designed bench.


I believe that plans are still available.

Mine is over 30 years old.

It is super strong, but what I like most about it is that it is a simple takedown into several components by removing the 3/8 inch carriage bolts that hold it together.
This makes transport a lot simpler and getting through doors a breeze.
I flew helicopters for 26 years, and moved quite often. Having this bench really was a boon to my reloading.

Besides my two Dillon presses I have three MEC presses, a Pacific single stage press, a cast bullet sizer, and several other bench mounted tools.

Only using one tool at a time was a problem until I modified the bench with a key system for mounting the tools when I rebuilt the bench about 20 years ago.
(I had originally dyed the bench a dark walnut stain. This turned out to be a poor choice because it hid dropped powder and other small dropped objects.)
To alleviate this when I decided to modify the bench about twenty years ago, I simply added a ¾ inch maple laminated plywood sheet on top.
Before I installed the new bench top I cut out the key slot.

The largest tool footprint is my MEC Grabber, so I designed the key to accommodate it, and thus all others.

I ended up with an 11 x 11 inch ¾ inch thick key block with ¼ inch holes set 1 inch from the edges in each corner.
I glued an additional 11x11 inch piece of a Hemlock 1x12 on top of the plywood key to give the mounting bolts a little more material to work with.
The ¼ inch holes were drilled through the bench and the underside was relieved to accommodate ¼ wing nuts.
These were secured using fiberglass rifle bedding compound and are totally solid.


This is a picture of my bench with a key installed that allows the full use of the bench without having to work around any mounted tools.



Here is a good look at the key slot showing the modifications I made to allow shotgun primers to drop into a catch jar mounted under the bench top.



The cutdown Plastic Jar with spent primers.
Lid is screwed to the underside of the bench

I cut down a plastic jar and reassembled the halves to provide a low profile catch system that has a reasonable capacity.


Shotgun Primer catch jar installed on the underside of the bench
Also shown is how I installed the ¼ in bolt wing nuts.



One of my MEC 600 Jrs. set up for 20 GA. showing the modification for the primer drop.

To Be Continued

Steve's Reloading Bench Part 2


Here is how the MEC Grabber fits the key.

All of the presses are mounted using the appropriate size countersunk screw from below and lock nuts on top.
This makes for a very solid mount.
I have no trouble swaging small bullets.


Here is the bottom of my Pacific “O” press showing the countersunk screws.


This is the Pacific press mounted and ready to use.
This is an old press. Pacific was bought out by Hornady in the late 1980s.

Note: all the 22 rimfire ammunition was for a test of modifying the bullets.
Several machinist/gunsmiths offer tools and or dies to form several different configurations and diameters to improve accuracy and performance.
Due to the 22 rimfire drought, this test was put on hold.


Close up view of one of the key mounting bolts.


Here is my 650 mounted and ready to go through another batch of 500 brass in an afternoon.

I reload 29 different metallic cartridges, most of them on the Dillon 650.
When I want to change tools, change out is simply pulling the four ¼ in lug bolts, lifting off one press and setting the other into the key slot.
Then tighten down the very same lug bolts and I am ready for the next job.

Note the swing arm lamp.
I have attached one to each corner of the bench cabinet for best illumination of my reloading process.
When not needed they are simply moved out of the way.

To Be Continued

Steve’s Reloading Bench Part 3


My reloading scale is mounted on a fold down shelf on the cabinet.
Note the shorter support chain on the left design allowing better access to the scale tray.


Mounting the tools offset to the right gives better access to the scale.

As to bench height, I chose to make it comfortable to stand while reloading.
The addition of a bar stool, allows me to sit if I want to.

It is not necessary to build as heavily as I did.
But the key system works very well for me and could be adapted to a smaller bench.


Steve

Do a search. Through the years your post has been repeated multiple times. Some threads have 8 or 10 pages of posts and pictures.

Nice setups

Bob, If your post is relating to me, I only have a total of ten posts on this forum.

I have posted about several subjects on a few other sites, Survival.com, the High Road,etc., but only have been a member here a couple of weeks.

Steve

He was suggesting to the OP to do a search as this topic has appeared many times over the years with a bunch of pics that may not be posted in this thread.

When you built the cabinet portion of the NRMA bench, did you run screws into the ends of the shelves and dividers? Just curious as I'm thinking about building with these plans this winter and haven't had great luck screwing into plywood ends.

Where did you get that picture you sent me of that reloading room?

I like that..

Awesome, I like that. Thanks for sharing. I also mounted a jar under my progressive shotgun reloader to catch the primers. Some great ideas there...

I've no idea what thread it was from. I just right clicked on one of shrapnel's posts and copied the image location like below.

Here, but there aren't many bench pics in the thread.

The cabinet section of the bench is screwed and glued together.
I always drill pilot hols when screwing into plywood.
I find that is really worth the extra effort.
The sliding doors and interior shelves on both sides are removable.
It is held to the bench by 8 #10 Wood Screw.
The back behind the lower shelf is screwed on with wood screws. Everything else is assembled with carriage bolts.
My bench breaks down to the cabinet, both sides (Contain the legs), bench top, 1/4" lower shelf back, and lower shelf.
Each piece of the assembly is single man portable.
Heaviest is the bench top.
I can assemble the bench by myself, but two people make it easier.
Steve

I built mine from that old set of plans. I modified it a bit to fit where I wanted and built it 4 " taller. At first I thought it was going to be too high. But it is just right. It is very solid and easy to build. Because I'm surely no carpenter.

After 17 years at reloading, I still consider myself a duffer. However, I am quite happy with my reloading cave.

Here is a link to its description along with a bunch of pics.

The shamanic Reloading Cave