Thinking about reloading--A question

[MikeGoob]

How much SPACE should someone set aside for reloading? Im limited right now and im wondering how much of a sacrifice Id need to make to get a small reloading setup going. Something small for maybe 100 rounds in an hour, pistol calibers mostly but would like to eventually do shotshells and .223 perhaps.

Is it possible to have a large chest with equipment, bring it out for an evening of reloading, then pack it all away without too much hassle? Or does it need a permanent home?

Any ideas?

[TexasSeaRay]

My very first reloading setup was a Pro1000 on an old, old coffee table that I'd bring into the living room of my little two-bedroom house. I kept the tumbler in the closet on the floor when running to help keep noise down--the house was small enough that you could hear anything that happened in one room in all of the rooms.

I kept a Sears Craftsman plastic toolbox and that held all my components--I stored the primers and powder in my coat closet.

So yep, you can do it on a small scale.

Matter of fact, the "student" I'm teaching right now lives in an apartment and we're fabricating a small, portable setup for him. Soon as we're done, I'll post pics.

In the meantime, go over to The High Road (www.thehighroad.org), click on their "handloading/reloading" forum and keep scrolling until you see a thread titled something like "Show us pictures of your reloading bench."

One guy has a NICE setup--and it's in his CLOSET for crying out loud. Another reloader set himself up a small, very space efficient bench in one corner of his spare bedroom.

And so on.

Check it out. Great ideas over there.

Jeff

[MikeGoob]

That encourages me greatly. I was thinking I had to invest in an elaborate basement shop setup.

Admittedly Im pretty ignorant as to how it all works.

[BigJimP]

You don't need much room at all.

When I lived in apartments / small homes years ago - I mounted my loader to a plank ( 2" X 18" ) or so. Just bolt it down / recess the holes a little on the bottom of the plank - using wing nuts or whatever to lock it down tightly.
Plywood flexes too much - in general - but a 2 X board will not flex much.

You can bring it out and set it up on something as easy as a piece of plywood on a couple of saw horses / just clamp the plank your loader is on down to the surface. Fill the powder hopper, etc - load up 15 or 20 boxes and clean all the excess powder out, etc - put it away in a closet or on a shelf. I used to use a pillow case to cover it and keep the dust out of it in a storage area.

If you can't find a 2 X 18 - get some 2 X 10's and put them together ( but get them flat ). You can do this with a machine as big as a Dillon 650 without a problem / MEC shotgun loaders, etc .

[the_right_reverend]

my first reloading bench was a black and decker workmate with a old shelf screwed to the top and a rockchucker loading 223 in the living room of a 10x40 m0bile home

[CPTMurdoc30]

You can do it in as little space as possiable or as much as you can think of.

I have seen relaoding set ups that take up a complete 5 car garage, and I have seen some that would fit in a small closet. It is all on how much stuff you have. I have just about outgrown my reloading bench but it is what I have for now. When I move in 3 or 5 years I will have a bigger house with a basement. In the basement I plan to take at least 100 sqft maybe even 200 and use that for nothing but reloading. If I get what I want I will have a small shop to store the tractor ( I want at least 20 acres), if that happen then all the reloading stuff will be in it. Then I can add a minilath and minimill along with some other stuff that will be fun to have around when needed.

[zxcvbob]

My current reloading bench is a 60" metal folding banquet table. (I don't know if they still make those, all the new ones I see for sale are plastic.) It is very sturdy, especially with a hundred pounds of bullet boxes stacked against the back.

I'm setting up a portable reloading bench using an old unusually-stout wooden sawhorse that I built a few years ago. I may loan it to a guy that wants to learn how to reload -- along with a few lessons.

[Edward429451]

My first setup was a single stage rockchucker press mounted on an apt size kitchen table which would just barely go into the closet in our bedroom and let us close the bi fold door. I'd pull it out on weekends and setup in the livingroom and put er away sunday night.

[azredhawk44]

My first setup would disassemble and be stored inside of a rubbermaid under-the-bed tote. When set up, it would briefly monopolize half of my 4-seater dining room table that I got at a garage sale for my first apartment.

I wasn't doing 100 rounds an hour with it though... more like 50-60.

My current setup is permanently installed in the garage on a 4ft long workbench. It is starting to sprawl a bit.

[btefft]

I use a Sears five-drawer work bench. It's table top is 2' x 5'. I use shelving to stack, bullets, powder, etc.

Hack

[T. O'Heir]

"... invest in an elaborate basement shop setup..." There's really nothing elaborate involved. My bench in a 1 bed room apt is 21" x 4'. A Black and Decker Workmate will do though. The strength of the bench is more important than its size.

[Sevens]

Yep, me too. While my first setup was a dedicated room and bench, my next setup was a plank of thick wood c-clamped to the corner of my water bed when I needed it. That was in my own small room of a rented college party house with 6 or 7 roomates. (depending on which month it was!)

Quality of my ammo: Fine. Speed? Less. Comfort? Compromised.

Do-able: Absolutely! But as you get hooked on the hobby, you'll likely want to expand your footprint. I'd go nuts if I was still cramped like that. But if the situation demands it, not a problem. Wing nuts and c-clamps are your friends.

[Ifishsum]

Since my oldest just moved out and freed up a room for me, I've built a permanent setup - but for several years I had my press mounted to a 3X3 piece of 3/4 inch plywood and quick-clamped it to the kitchen table when I wanted to load. The rest of my equipment was in box nested into an old laundry basket. I also had a Lee Load-all for shotshells mounted in a similar way. It wasn't perfect but it worked just fine and I loaded thousands of rounds that way. Packing it all back up when I was done was not really a big deal, though it is nice to leave it all on the bench now. You will eventually find a way to expand your workspace, but it can be done just about anywhere if you put some thought into it.

[TexasSeaRay]

Originally Posted by btefft

I use a Sears five-drawer work bench. It's table top is 2' x 5'. I use shelving to stack, bullets, powder, etc.

Yep, me too. My wife bought it for me back when we lived in that small two-bedroom place some eighteen or so years ago.

I have a 240 square foot detached workshop where I do my reloading, but I still have that Craftsman workbench as the mainstay. In fact, I just recently put a new 3/4" cabinet-grade oak top on it so I could expand its depth by another four inches--made a LOT of difference in the amount of workspace I have. Plus, it really stiffened things up for the presses.

It's just too efficient, too handy, too stout and too useful not to. Five drawers to keep dies, components, ammo boxes, loading trays, miscellaneous tools, etc, and the cabinet on the other half is great for keeping bullets and whatnot.





These things are a great solution to limited workspace areas.

Jeff