I have an empty basement that is in desperate need of reloading equipment. I would like to hear from anyone with any ideas on floor coverings, bench plans, layout designs, shelving ideas, or any storage ideas, etc.

In other words, if you had a blank slate to start with, how would you organize the ideal reloading room? I’m starting with concrete floors and unfinished stud walls. The actual area is 10’-3†x 27’-10â€.

Thanks for the help.

David

Run a search on reloading benches and I believe you`ll find quite a few past threads on planning a bench or room. The topic has come up often.

I did exactly that here.

I used 8' of wall space and installed a heavy 1.50 thick plywood top (2' wide) and put formica over it and four inches up the back.

I installed oak cabinets above the bench and cabinets under except where my press is and there it's open for my legs to get under!

My shotshell loaders are on boards and can fit under the bench where I keep lead shot, wads, hulls etc.

Thr cabinets above hold primers, powder, and mnanuals and misc equipment. Bullets are underneath because they're heavy!!!

Install outlets and lights under the upper cabinets for obvious reasons.

I once had an octagonal bench in the middle of the room with a loader on each side...a great srt up but it consumed the whole room and this new setup allows for more things I can do here...like play poole!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Ol` Joe:
Run a search on reloading benches and I believe you`ll find quite a few past threads on planning a bench or room. The topic has come up often.

Thanks Joe. Nothing like pointing out the obvious to those of us who are sometimes blind. There are indeed a large number of threads.

David

Thanks Vapodog.

Would asking for a picture or two be out of line? I like the sound of the oak cabinets above the bench.

David

Linoleum (sp?) on the floor.

Sam's Club sells a beautiful powdercoated steel bench with a 1.5" varnished maple top for $200.

1000lb weight capacity.

I think its tought to beat for a workbench/reloading bench.

My suggestion is don't go too big. If you are like most IF you have the room available then you will use all the room you can and it will become cluttered. My bench is 5 ft wide and I have 2 presses on it and all the other stuff and it works great. But at the same time it has no extra room for doint other stuff.
I have a seperate table for working on guns that is about the same size or maybe a bit smaller.
It helps keep me organized.

quote:

Originally posted by ShopCartRacing:
Linoleum (sp?) on the floor.

I thought about linoleum, but it tends to get holes poked in it when I drop small, heavy items on it. Don't know how it would hold up over the long haul.

Do you know if the Sam's bench is made by the "gorilla" outfit that makes the shelves?

If your floor is moisture or mildew free get yourself some indoor outdoor carpet and a shop Vac. A STURDY 6'x28 to 30" top 34 to 36" high,depending on your hight and comfort,bolted to a wall and or floor. A quality grinder and drill press are almost a must but neither monted on you loading table. A machinest tool box cabinet combination on rollers is really handy. Get a lot of shelves and metal cabinets. Some sort of gun rack or gun cabinet for work in process.Table mounted gun cleaning mounts or holders; at least 2. A powder storage cabinet.

A lot of this stuff will happen over time but will not be as well done if planned for and executed in advance. If you have the luxury do it all up front. roger

bartsche,

Thanks. I thought about carpet also, but have had problems here in the dry climate with static and didn't think carpet would help much. I guess the flooring doesn't really matter, I just wanted to have something other than painted concrete that was easy to clean up, looked good, and was easy on the feet.

David

quote:

I just wanted to have something other than painted concrete that was easy to clean up, looked good, and was easy on the feet.

I learned a new skill....and layed down ceramic tile....1' squares.....it takes a little education but I really like it.....bought the squares for $0.87 each.....makes a real easy to keep clean floor and looks great as well!

Paladin 56, as I'm sure you are discerning, a good sturdy top on your bench/table is essential. I used some maple laminated tops from Grizzly Industrial, they are a little spendy but awesome, and will last several lifetimes.

One thing that is a little tricky, and I could have done better is the lighting. I had heard that flourescents could cause issues with digital scales and other equipment, so on the side of my shop where I actually load cartridges, I went with Incandescent and Halogen lights. Halogens get DAMN hot if you have to be near them at all--well they get DAMN hot anyway, but if you have to be near them you won't want to be.......I put in the ceramic lighting bases (keyless they call them) that were rated for up to a 300 watt bulb, and that is what I have in them--they put out a lot of light. I would probably put in a few more fixtures, and plan on getting a couple of lamps that I can position as I wish, especially on they table where I clean my guns and mount scopes etc. Lot's of little screws and stuff in that area.

A nice feature a buddy of mine built into his reloading room is a half wall of 'cubby holes' where he can put boxes of bullets. He keeps quite a few on hand, as I do, but it is easier to keep them sorted out with his setup than mine, which is just plain shelves.

Depending on your situation and access/availability to kids or what not, it is pretty smart to think about an oppurtunity to lock up powder, primers or sensitive stuff, like maybe loaded ammo. I have a closet of sorts that works really well, I've seen those metal locker type cabinets used too, they work well.

Good Luck with your setup---Don

Take one end on the 10' 3" side and get 3 old solid core doors from a construction site or buy birch slabs, 1 3/4" thick ones if you can get them. Cut one up and make solid gussets from the bottom of the bench to the floor. Put one right under the center joint and mount a vise there. Make the bench a little higher than usual, mine is at 40". The doors don't have to be 3' wide unless that is all you can get. 2'6" is plenty.

On the back wall get some slot board and cover the wall with it. Put some good screws and liquid nail on the back. They make all kinds of attachments for the slot board like clear plastic boxes and shelf holders. Set the first shelf at eye level, it is useful to have it there for trickling powder. Other shelves up above for additional shelving.

Place the press about 12" from the right hand side. The additional space to the right is great for tools that you can use at the press and drop right back in place on the right of the press after use.

Keep the left side of the bench clear for setting gun cases or loading boxes etc while working on them.

It's amazing how little space reloading can take up if organized.

Bang away, you won't be able to hurt it.

For the floor, I have epoxied concrete. Epoxy paint takes mixing 2 parts but you can pick your color and it is tough and easy to clean.

I scabbed decent kitchen cabinets out of a remodle for free. I re-enforced the cabinets with some 2x4s for cross memebers and glue/screwed two piece of 3/4 in ply for a top. I put 2 inch angle around the front to dress it up and keep things breaking the edges of the ply. Put about 10 coats of spar varnish on it. I doubt I have 200 in the whole 9 yards. I have beat on it, full length resized, necked up and down. Spilled all kinds of copper removers on it. Holding up great.

Vapodog,

Just the kind of info I am looking for. Cheap tile can make nearly any place look good, and a reloading room exceptional. That I will look into.

Thanks.

David

Fish30114,

Good leads. Again, the kind of ideas I’m looking for. I have made several types of benches/tops over the years that have worked well, but with all the effort I’ve put into them, I think the laminated maple sounds like the way to go.

Lighting is something too often overlooked, I believe. I know it’s one of the last things that comes to my mind, but very important in that lighting can affect my attitude. A poorly lit working area is depressing, and a flickering florescent is aggravating, at best.

Another good idea is the built in “cubby†hole storage instead of shelving. Again, something I hadn’t considered, but will incorporate into the room. What roughly, are the size of the “cubbies� Has he found whatever size his are to be just right, too big, too small? Anything he would change? I see no point in re-inventing the wheel if not necessary.

Thanks for the help and good ideas.

David

Woods and blueprinted,

Thanks for more good info. I like the slotted boards behind the bench and the cabinets under the bench as well. I have quite a few components and such that require a lot of storage, so cabinets under the bench with the cubby holes on one wall, and slotted boards for shelving, along with good lighting will make a big difference from what I’ve had in the past.

I’m starting to get a pretty good idea of how I want to put the room together. Thanks for the help.

David

I have a 12x13 room. I positioned two 4 foot florecents over the bench and two on the back of the room. It will about give you a sun tan. Get a lighted magnfier. Like fly tiers use. Works great for inspecting brass

Just went back to Sams today to buy another.

They are made by an outfit called Seville.

72" x 25" x 38"
1.75" thiick maple top
1000lb capacity
Leveling Feet

Awesome bench, almost too nice to work on.

I have a 12ft x 20ft room. I built an "L" shaped bench 12ft x 8ft.The 8 ft leg is where I set up my reloading stuff. The other leg is used for gun cleaning.and other misc. stuff that does not interfer with the reloading. I used 2x4 for the framing and 2x6 and 2x12 for the top. Then I put electrical grade 1/8 fiberglass sheeting on top of the wood. My benches are 30in deep.. One thing I would reccomend that I did not do is put a couple electrical outlets on the front of the bench, very handy for clean up time, and the cords won't bump into anything on the top of the bench.

I built one similar to the one in this link.

http://www.bghi.us/index.php?x=bench

I then saw a pic of this one and decided having doors on the front of mine would be usefull. Mine is still unfinished, as the doors are still a work in progress. I'm also going to do another layer of 3/4" ply on the top (total of two 3/4" pieces) for extra strength. (the one pictured isn't mine, I believe it's owner is forum member Joecool)

getting good advice any chance of getting some pics of these benches

mine is probably of little use to you (cause right now i load for 46 different things) but I find that a U shape is the most handy. at the moment the U is 12'x8' I used old bowling alleys for bench tops (2" thick hard maple) and anchored to the floor with steel tubes and plates. I find that a piece of indoor outdoor carpet works well on the floor, cause when i drop things (frequently) they don't go bouncing elsewhere.

This is the loading bench:


And this is an old desk that is now my cleanig bench:


I have an electrical enclosure that I store powder and primers in. My safe is next to the cleaning bench.
The room was going to be a bedroom for the family that was here before. The closet has some shelves in it that I keep more stuff on.
The floor has a very short tight weave carpet that can be swept, or for more excitement vacuumed to find the live primers. (only did that once )

Paladin, the 'cubbies' in my buddy's setup, are about 6x6 I think. 3 boxes of SGK's in .277 or .30 caliber will fit side by side in one of them, and about 3 high as well.

These are what I have for my tops:
Maple tops from Grizzly

My benches are such a mess right now I'm too embarassed to shoot a pic of them, but maybe I'll get motivated this weekend and get my stuff together and clean them up and shoot a pic....

Thanks to all for the info and the pictures of the really nice benches with the cubbyholes needed.

I don’t have a Sam’s close by and couldn’t find the Seville bench online, but did find quite a few others. I’ll try Sam’s online and see if they list the bench. I tried COSTCO online and they had a nice looking bench for about $300, so drove an hour and a half to find they didn’t have any benches in the store and didn’t know anything about them. Geez, they didn’t even have Internet access so I could show them what I was looking for. I suppose I will have to buy online and have it shipped in. Or maybe make a bench with the maple tops.

I did see the Grizzly tops and think they would do well, but are spendy like Fish said, but figure they would be worth it. Will have to see. Don’t know how custom I want to get building a reloading room. I like the cut and paste idea of buying pre-made and sticking it together. Just can’t seem to find reloading furniture like you can living room or office furniture.

I thought about short nap carpet being a good idea, but wondered about getting spilled powder up. Hadn’t thought about the exhilaration of finding primers with a vacuum.

A lot of good ideas here, many I hadn’t thought about. Nothing like combined experience to shorten the learning curve. Who knows, I may end up with the perfect reloading room.

David

Smedley, after looking at the pic's of your reloading room, I'd say you are from Southside Virginia. Am I correct.

This is my reloading/gunroom. It is 12 X 20 AC and heated. There is a 12ft X 8ft bench. The reloading is done on the 8ft side. The guns are in an electrical enclosure with a HD locking system. Not fire proof but most safes aren't anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by Lin Pope:
Smedley, after looking at the pic's of your reloading room, I'd say you are from Southside Virginia. Am I correct.

Nope!!

NW Washington. (fish out of water more or less, redneck on the left coast )