Guys, my reloading bench is in an unheated shop that's too bloody cold for comfort in winter and not easily heated. Anyone have ideas or plans for a simple, strong, stable stand that is light enough to lug around and can be set up nearly anwhere for an hour's reloading session? Thanks. I'll get my graph paper out ...

I have presses bolted to a length of 2x6. That and a proper sized C clamp or two and your press can be mounted anywhere. You might want to use pads before attaching to the kitchen table though...

Yeah, I have my presses lug screwed to a length of 2 X 12 and C-clamp it to the bench.

I also mounted my case trimmer on a length of 2 X 4 and hold that in a vise that's mounted on the work bench in the shop.

This way I'm able to set up loading operations fast, but also have clear room on the work bench for other projects.

If you're going to set up on the dining room table, pad under the board -- cotton towel works well. Also, so you don't get strung up, pad the working end of the C-clamp with a wood block so you don't dig into the underside of the table.

I use a standard, plastic top, folding "cafeteria" table for reloading. Costco, Lowe's, Home Depot sells these for about $50, and they go on sale fairly often. Mine were on sale, and I bought 4 -- they come in handy for BBQ, cleaning rifles in the shop, computer tables, project tables.

While we're at it --

Costco sells a "Parabolic Dish" radiant heater -- looks like a small satellite dish. This aims the heat at you rather than having to heat the whole shop, garage, whatever. If you're sitting/working in one spot these heaters solve the "heat" problem. $59.95

Set up your work area near a wall and aim the heater on you, with the heat being reflected off the wall. That way you get "toasted" on both sides. And you're not heating the whole shop.

We have one we stow in the closet at our gun club rifle range shack...when a member wants to use it, he just takes it out to the line with him....or in the winter to a table over near the stove. (They usually set it up next to a table or a shooting bench, so they have a place to put their brass, bullets, beverage, etc., while loading)

It is an old car wheel, with a female 3" pipe cap welded to the center of the wheel. Then a 28" long section of 3" steel pipe is hand screwed into the pipe cap, whenever a person wants to use it. On top of the pipe is welded a piece of flat 5/16" steel stock. (If a person wanted to be able to completely break the whole rig down in between uses, he could weld another female pipe cap to the bottom of the flat steel top, and thus be able to unscrew the top from the 28" section of pipe.)


The flat steel top can be bored with holes for whatever presses, lube-sizers, etc., one might want to put on it. The one at our range has a donated RCBS Rockchucker bolted to it.

For an even more stable platform, a guy could use a larger diameter wheel, or just a big piece of steel flat stock...or he could weld short legs to the bottom of the wheel sticking out at 90-degrees in all four directions. That would make the base rather unweildy, though, so I don't recommend it. The one we have works just fine.

Someone right here at AR, had mentioned using a Black & Decker "Work Mate" for a Portable Bench. It folds up and you could either mount directly to it, or fix a custom Board to fit it.

I've not tried mine for that, but it is fairly stable when holding Boards in the middle of it. I do believe I'd fix a "Real Board" with some of the Attachment Bolts and use it in place of the Press Board stuff though.

I suppose you could C-Clamp it to like the other folks mentioned, but that Press Board is not designed for "stress" in that direction.

Best of luck to you.

I use the Work Mate and C clamp a 3 x 3 foot piece of 3/4 inch plywood to it. I have my press and powder measure bolted to the ply. When I am done reloading (which I do in the bedroom), I take it apart, fold up Workmate and store it in the closet along with my folding chair.
Pete

Sinclair International sells one already made up for about 68 bucks IIRC.

Geronimo