Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles A question about reloading benches

I am slowly putting together a new reloading bench. I posted a thread here back in February asking for advice on how to mount a press for easy interchangeability. I think I have settled on a method, specifically using T-Nuts and 3/8" bolts with fancy knurled handles to secure sections of hardwood that, in turn, will hold the presses.

I've gone the last 16+ years reloading on a workbench that was left behind by the house's previous owner. It's starting to get a little rickety. The overall plan I've picked to replace it is a simple 2X4 members on 4X4 legs. My next question is regarding the top surface. It will be an odd dimension 55" Long X 28" Deep. I built the current reloading room around the current bench, and I really cannot change the dimensions. I can pick the top surface. That's where I'm looking for help

Since evisioning the new bench I have acquired a new Hornady LNL AP press. So I expect to have it and the existing Rockchuker alternating at one station and a gun vice, my trimmer or something else on the other station . I went to Lowes and priced out various surfaces for the countertop. Sanded Oak 3/4" plywood is the most expensive. There are other choices of plywood that are less. I'm wondering about melamine as a possibility. I figured I would put down a layer of 3/4" particle board and then laminate something on top. What are y'all's thoughts?

Right now, the existing bench had 5/16's plywood on top and it's painted battleship gray. That surface has worked fine for 16+ years. I'm wondering what your preferences are for finish?

Spar Varnish on natural wood?
Paint like I've got now?
Melamine?
Something else?

Shaman,

I used melamine on mine because I got a piece free from work. I put it over the top of a piece of 3/4" plywood. It works fine. I like the white surface and it cleans up easy. I think any of your ideas would work great. It just depends on your preference, the appearance you desire, and how much work you want to put into it. Melamine wouldn't require any painting/staining so would save you a step there. Laminating over a piece of particle board or plywood gives you a thicker, sturdier surface on which to bolt things.

I have to say the price of melamine is tempting, about half of plywood. What I might do is face it with a 1X4 to protect the front edge. Appearance? You should see my gunsmithing bench. I built it out of oak skid runners and 2X6 pulled off a packing crate. The legs for this reloading bench are white oak 5X5X16' that held down some 2 ton spools of wire. The one thing I miss from the job at the solder factory is the scap wood. I still have a barn full of it.

I used a old microlam beam sandwiched between two pieces of signboard(MDO), finished with a clear waterbased fast drying floor sealer. I used engineered 6x6 posts for legs. The top is around 5'x3'. I think it will hold an elephant with no problem. I just used wood bolts to attach all my presses, lathe etc.

Whatever you choose, be sure it has the integrity to withstand those T-nuts from pulling out when you stand on a reloading press handle. My gut reaction to Melamine is it doesn't have the strength for that- I could be wrong, it's been known to happen.

I made my bench top out of solid 1 1/4" oak- 6" wide pieces epoxied and biscuited together, with a trip through a thickness sander to even everything out. Heavy and hell for stout.

I would recommend hitting a local cabinet shop and scrounge some plywood off-cuts and laminate them together to make an inch to 1 1/2" thick surface. Added points if they fix you up with Baltic Birch plywood, which is about as stable and strong as any plywood product out there. If aesthetics is a concern, cover the top and edge surfaces with laminate like for on kitchen counters.

Don't skimp at this stage. This is something you will live with for a long time.

What I've been doing is using Pinterest, Google and Bing to bring up pictures and descriptions of other people's reloading benches. What I've found is a wide range of surfaces. One fellow used melamine over plywood over OSB. Another used Plywood over particleboard.

The solid oak idea is a good one, and I have the material squirrelled away to do it-- a 6 foot high stack of red oak skid runners. However, I'm waiting for my dotage to use them. Actually, I'm hoping this a reloading bench I'll have to live with for about 5 years. That's about how much time I've got left in this house before I retire full-time to the farm. If it isn't up to scratch, I'll leave it behind. The red oak is already at the farm, and don't want to ever have to schlep anything I make from it. Of course, I said that sort of thing over the gunsmithing bench, and it's been with me for over a decade.

You bring up an interesting point about the particle board. It's stiffer than plywood, but that comes at a cost. I used to fill in for a portable disco operation. The speaker cabinets were 3/4" particleboard. They were heavy and solid, but you could not get them sit in water and if you hit them the right way, you'd knock a huge chunk out.

If I go that route, I'll back the press mounts with 3/4" ply scraps underneath and use hardwood for the mounting blocks. Altogether, there will be a sandwich of about 3 inches of material underneath the press. Online, there are people crowing about their reloading benches with half as much material.

I mixed and matched 2 x material to get the right width. Pick out straight ones so you don't have gaps but the seams cause little grooves between them that stop bullets and cases from rolling away.

InLineFabrication.com has a quick change system for reloading presses......I'll be putting one on my new bench.

You'll find in a search here pictures of mine where I have cutouts to slip in any of the 6 or 7 presses and other equipment into my bench top.

But the question you asked about top material, I used 1/4" HDF, glued down to the top. Idea being that as the bench is used and you have spillage of one thing or another, you can very cheaply and easily replace the HDF.

It's easy to overbuild a reloading bench, and isn't needed if you're loading normal, everyday stuff. 30/06 on my RCBS is easy on a standard bench build. Don't underestimate the strength of 3/4 in ply. It's all in the span and support.

Formica top is hard to beat and easy to stick. Lasts forever.

I'm using their stuff and love it.

I made my current bench out of a Baker's Table from the unfinished furniture store. It has a butcher block top and I made my own quick change system fro mounting presses and accessories long before they were available commercially.
For a seat I got a high back swivel bar stool from the unfinished furniture store. I have two other presses mounted on a microwave cart from the big box home center, it too has a butcher block top and locking casters. A two shelf book
case for bullet and prime storage completes my reloading room furnishings.

I'm not near that fancy.

I picked up a sold wood dining room table from a garage sale, and topped it with a sheet of 3/4" 4'x8' sheet of ply wood. Press is secured with a pair of C clamps so I can move it when I want. Cheap. Simple. Effective.

The thought hit me over the weekend that the problem here was not so much HOW STRONG SHOULD I MAKE IT? Everyone can make a strong reloading bench. The question is really HOW STRONG DO I NEED IT? Pardon me for being perverse, but I used to work as a Quality Assurance Manager. The definition of Quality is simply: DOES IT CONFORM TO SPECIFICATION?

Given that premise, I went to my scrap bin. You have to understand that I have a scrap bin that is larger than most people's houses. 16 years ago, I started squirreling away scrap lumber from my job at the solder factory. My scrap bin is a tobacco barn, and it's mostly filled despite having been gone from that job for almost a decade. Before I do any project, I see what I've got in the barn.

I came back with enough lumber to at least begin the project. I did not bring the 5X5X16's. What I found was some oddball white oak that will make decent legs. It's bigger than a 2X4 and heavy as hell. I also found enough 2X4 to make most of the structural members. I also found a bunch of 1/4" plywood and several partial sheets of particle board.

My plan is to use what I have to make as sturdy a frame as possible. My guess is that with lag screws, deck screws and Gorilla Glue it will be half way to awesome before I start to top it. From there, I'm going to layer plywood and particle board until I get the thickness I need. My first pass will be 1/4" ply on the bottom then 3/4" particle board and then 1/4" ply on top. Additionally, I will reinforce the press attachment points with 3/4" plywood and then use hardwood for the mounting plates If the first pass is not enough, all I have to do is add a layer of plywood to stiffen it up. I will see what works and report back.

Your setup is much more mobile than mine but I finally have dedicated gun/reloading room so mobility was not on my radar. I've used setups like yours before and it works well. I've even used a government Steel Case office desk which works very well.

UPDATE:

I have an update for y'all. It rained this weekend, so I gave Ed, the guard, the day off and got the alligators secured, and went to work on the reloading bench. I'll have pictures later, but here is what I did.

1) The frame was pretty much as I described it. 2X4's with legs that were bigger than 2X4, but still smaller than 4X4. I used 3" deck screws and Gorilla glue to put it all together.

2) I had an 10" wide plank of 1/2 inch plywood that I sunk into the top going across. After the glue set on that, I glued pieces of it at three hardpoints going across the front so that where the presses attach, there will be an extra inch of plywood underneath.

3) On top of the frame, I put down 1/4" ply and then laminated a 3/4" chunk of particle board and then put 1/4" ply on top of that. I had planned on using 3" bolts to hold the press, but I'm going to require 3 1/2" bolts instead. That should be enough, n'est pas?


After the final gluing, I loaded 100lbs of lead ingots and some economy packs of 12 GA on the surface and turned the lights out. This morning it was all rock solid and ready for final sanding and painting. I was digging for the stain and varnish, and found the paint I used on the old bench. There was more than half of it left, So I'm going to go back to the idea of painting it. Battleship Gray on the top and Forest Green on the bottom.

The good news is I only had to use 1 new 2X4. The rest were all scraps, mostly from packing crates.

The other good news is #3 son, Angus helped with the project. He's 19 and been working since graduating high school at an HVAC fabrication plant. He has turned into an awesome worker in the past year.