Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Ultimate Reloading Bench

Thank you - I've been lucky over the past few years. What I don't have is any whitetail horns....

Well, I guess I am late to the party but I just reorganized things this past weekend and felt I would snap a few shots and share before things got messy again. Sorry for the poor pics, they were taken with a cell phone and the low hanging flourescent lights really gave a hazy appearance.

I didn't have a lot of room and the best location for my set up was a little 10'x10' shed out back.

Here is the bench and work surface:



And a shot of the storage facility:

The shelf mounted on the wall works good for holding my brass boxes and the cork board beneath is pretty neat for keeping little things (like spare decapping pins) from getting lost.



A little more detail of each:

I built the work top tall enough to roll my tool chest under it and just clear the top. Until just recently, this tool chest's bottom drawer is what held all my powder and die sets. Then I demoted an old gun chest and added it to the storage section in the picture below this one. The entire bench was build out of salvaged wood that was once a handicap ramp leading into my house. The first weekend after moving in, the handicap ramp was torn down. The second weekend after moving in, the bench was built.



Bullets in the bottom left drawer, primers in the bottom right, ammo boxes in the upper right...don't remember what is in the upper left. Main compartment works pretty well for my dies, powder, moulds, handgun boxes, a few miscellaneous items and my tumbler--turning that thing on and shutting the lid really keeps the noise down when I am in there working.



Of course, every busy looney needs a little helper. Baby_Eagle decided to stop by...



Don't worry, she and Mrs_Eagle didn't stay long... (I was just showing off after cleaning up anyway )

I have eyeballed the Lee turret presses a time or two and this just struck me as pretty damn neat, sir! Very neat!

Works for me!

Thank you - a 3" hole saw and a drill press are all that's required. The beauty of the lee turret press is that all the dies get set up once and stay that way....

Now we're talking! Nice bench and nice audience....

O.K. I took some new picures of my updated reloading factory. There is order in this although it may not look like it, You will notice Hi_Vel's scope alignment tool on the nicely cleaned bench...













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Very nice setup. I got started building my bench saturday. I am going to get a dillon XL650 to put on it. Pic will follow shortly

I finally got my bench put it and I am working on finishing up the floor and all the trim pieces. I will post some pics when I get it all complete

I'll throw mine in the mix. Its an 8ft section of Bowling alley deck, 2 1/4" thick laminated Maple I happened to find at a local garage sale.
After sanding I refinished with some polyurethane then built shelves to fit.
For lights I decided on Can Lights, Easy to install if one has any attack space above. Larry.

Very nice! ^ nice and organized... I'm needing another bench right about now.

Thanks Tanner, Larry.

I like the old bowling alley floor for the top. It looks great.

+1 on that, makes for a good looking work surface.

my problem is i aint got a cute little blonde helper in penguin jammies to help me keep my shop organized like war eagle does.

then again, my boys are both around 6'2/250#, if i can find some 1 piece penguin jammies for them, wonder if they'll volunteer? bettin they wont,the ingrates.

took some pix of my setup last time i moved stuff around, but never did get any of the bench after i had all the other presses mounted up. now has 3 shotshell loaders, 2 rockchuckers, 2 powder measures, and a trim station so dont have as much elbow room. benchtop is 10' long...took a pair of steel work desks each 5' long, and bolted together, and reinforced the back edge where the bullets get stacked with 4 4x4 posts.


dark cabinet on the right holds powder singles & dies.


8-pounders of powder go on a shelf down low, bulk bullets go in some heavy gauge clear containers on the floor.


boxed bullets go on this kinda cheesy shelf of 2x6's and bricks.


cabinets for storing ammo boxes, and a place to pile the loading manuals.


bulk brass storage....got a bunch of plastic gallon sized flip top containers & they stack good, and dont have to keep up with the lids. got hem all labeled up so i can keep brass sorted by calibers, best thing i ever did in getting everything organized so i can actually find stuff when i want it.

Thanks fyrepowrx. WOW! That is a very nice set up. Larry

Thanks Ranchhand02. Larry

I'm not smart enough to post a picture of my bench but I can describe it pretty well. I went to the local high school metal shop and talked to the instructor. We figured out what height of table would be most comfortable for me so I can work with my elbows at about a right angle. The bench is about 5 feet long by 30" deep. I ended up making the legs out of 2"x2" square metal tubing and put a horizontal square of the same tubing around the top of the four legs and another horizontal square of the same tubing about 1' up from the bottom of the legs. On the bottom of the legs I had adjustable screw in foot pads installed so you can level the table. Then for the top of the bench I had a 3/16" plate placed on top of the 4 legs and upper "square" and had it spot welded all the way around. I had the legs drilled and tapped about every 2 inches and put in 3 shelves of 3/4" plywood held with an inch or two of "all thread" to hold each shelf at the height I choose. 1 sheet of plywood sits on top of that lower "square of tubing and that is where all the heavy stuff goes and all my components/dies/tools/scales/ etc go on all the other shelves. I love it and wouldn't change a thing!!

Some of you guys are entirely TOO ORGANIZED!!!! Part of the fun is going on a treasure hunt in your loading room; you might find that box of bullets or tool that you forgot you had.

I've been in stores that aren't stocked as well your shop! Nice!