I finally had my garage built and now can use my old outdoor shed for a reloading room. I put a new steel entrance door on and removed the old crummy shed type doors. I want to do all my reloading and maybe even put the gun safe in it also. Now what I need is some ideas on how to put this room together.

I need to build a reload table and it needs to be very sturdy. The table top is a question. How do I put this together? I remember a guy that had a plan on tables, but can't remember the site.

Any suggestions on this project will be greatly appreciated. The room/shed will be year round. It will have air in the summer and heated in the winter when I am in it. I live in Virginia and the winter shouldn't be too bad. It is humid in the summer and am thinking of putting a dehumidifier in the shed to suck the water out of the air when I don't use it. Don't want to damage the equipment and supplies stored in it. Do ya think dehumidifier is a good idea? Or is it not neccessary?

Thanks,
Raf

Insulate and dehumidify!

What are the diminsions of your shed? Where are the doors?

What wallyw said;:

It may be cheaper to run ductwork supply/return (especially if any exist behind a garage wall) rather than run a dehumidifier year-round.

But you should certainly dehumidify.

A sheet of 3/4 BC plywood ripped and glued together will make fine benchtop.

Completely agree with Steve.
Gun equipment and especially open canisters of powder don't like water very much.
Dehumidifying is a must, try to suck out the most water you can.
Oh and a 3/4" plywood top glued and screwed will last you forever.

-Spencer

Rafsob,

I live in a very hot humid climate, unfortantly I do not have the luxury of AC in my garage, but maybe when I rich uncle gets out of the poor house.

As far as humidity, an AC unit either wall or Central will knock a lot of water out of the air. If you get one sized for you sq ft/solar factor it should get the humidity down in the 50's. Thats dry enough, if you want to get a dehumidifer you can, but I do not feel it would be necessary to run if you had ac running. Maybe spring/rainy season. I've been storing powder/primers in sheds/barns/garages etc on the texas coast for long time, havent had any problems yet, but would welcome AC in a heart beat, its hot has hell and very humid on the South Texas Coast.

My main reload table is built with 3/16 thick formed angle iron legs and top support with cross braces and foot rest....the top is made from a solid core commerical door and has worked for 15plus years.......my older bench was a store bought "work bench" with lighter stamped steel legs and bonded particle board top....sold thru home supply stores.......to the other suggestions I add LOTS OF GOOD LIGHTING.....long 4ft shop type lights with diffusers and good cross lighting will pay off in less eye strain and better conditions for case inspection and reading the gauge or tool markings......lots of narrow shelves and/or peg board for equipment-dies that need to be close at hand but out of the way....avoid deep shelves for the often used items......and make sure the ac/heat has a good size-easily replaced filter system for the shop......enjoy the design and then years of fun use.....good luck and good shooting-loading!!

If you put your gun safe in the Shed/Reloading room be sure to put a Golden rod in the Safe and keep it plugged in all the time. If you don't you will have a lot of rusty guns in a short time.

During the summer heat your air conditioner should dehumidify your shed just fine. Most dehumidifiers produce a fair amount of heat, they work great in the spring and fall for getting the moisture out and for a source of heat. During the winter I would run the dehumidifier only if the humidity is high, to dry is not good either. Get a hygrometer and hang it on the wall, keep your humidity between 35 and 45 and your will be in great shape.
As for the bench, mine is 3/4 plywood on top of a 2x4 frame. I put a 2x4 along the back wall and one on each side. On the front, I glued and screwed 4 2x4's together to make a form of header. My plywood hangs over these stacked 2x4's about 1 inch. So when I mounted my press I had to drill through the plywood and the 2x4's, This made for a very solid mount for the press. I also put peg board along the back wall so I have a place to hang all my stuff. Above the bench I have used kitchen cabinets and under cabinet lighting, the more light the better. I don't know what you have for electrical outlets etc, but you might want to install a few oulets above your bench for your tumbler or whatever. And don't forget a good chair. I was lucky enough to get an adjustable leather office chair for Fathers Day. It was supposed to be for my computer room but,well you know.

Hey Guys,
Thanks for the replies. My shed has cement floor that I will cover with linoleum and the shed runs 12'x16'. The shed was used for my work shed. I will move all that stuff to the new garage. The shed will be large enough for now, I hope.

I use a Hornaday Progressive reloader, have a lubrisizer and a rock chucker. I will have enough room for three tables in the shed. One for reloading and one for the lead bullet work. The last table will be for gun work and cleaning.

I talked to one fella that said he had a safe in his shed. I haven't called my insurance co. yet about this action. As of now I have the safe in my garage. It has been there for about five years. I use a golden rod in the safe. I want to know if the safe will be covered in the shed by the home insurance. Does anyone know about anything about this area?

I like the idea of the hygrometer, never thought of that one, great! The shed is about twenty feet from the house so I don't think I can run a duct to the shed. I will use the dehumidifier around the clock in the summer when not inside. I will turn the air on when at work. The shed will have a window unit, 5000 btu that should do it. Home Depot had Maytags on sale for $55. I got one.

Still don't know about the safe though. Will work that when I am ready to move in.

One last thing. How high do you guys have your work benches? High enough to stand up at or sit at with a high stool or as high as a normal desk???

Thanks,
Raf

Rafsob - I would for sure set the height of my loading machine where I could LOAD sitting down. If you load for long periods of time, standing can get mighty old. You might wish to put the rest of your bench space at a different height.

I agree about the plywood bench top. When I built mine, I glued and bolted two layers of 3/4 plywood together. You and me both could tap dance on top of it without a quiver anywhere.

Best trick I ever learned for mounting a reloading press is to place a piece of flat steel under the press....say 12" by 12". Then when you bolt your press to the bench down thru that, you have spread the load WAY BIG, plus incorporated the steel into the equation. Talk about SOLID! Just get a scrap of steel at the junk yard.

Whatever you do, don't forget CABINET space. You can't have enough. Get doors for the cabinets if you can. Another great addition is an old file cabinet if you can find one. They provide dandy storage in a reloading room.

Don't take anyone's word here about whether your safe will or won't be covered by your insurance. Get that from the insurance company...preferably in writing. You may want to even provide them with a list & serial #s of what's going in the safe. Insurance companies can get pretty slippery when a clain is due.

I like lots of storage so I went to HD/Lowes & bought cheap kitchen base cabinets. A couple of 2X12 glued & doweled together or old solid core doors also work well for a top. Put all your goodies below & some shelves above & your aset.

That's a good-sized room.



Consider doing what I did and curtain off the short wall about 4 feet. You could slap up a wall but curtains are cheap (I used colored flat bedsheets), quick and give good airflow.



That would give you a nice 4'x12' reloading area and 12'x12' for a sitting area with TV, trophies, wall hangings, bookshelves, gun cabinet, etc. A gentleman's "study" if you will. Where the door is will dictate.



I call mine The Testosteroom.

I am still going through this very thing myself! I just had a 8'x14' shed built in my yard to use for reloading and storage of my hunting stuff. I wired in outlets above the bench rather than at the regular close to the floor, except for one. Insulated the walls and ceiling. I hung a 4' shop light above my bench. So far I'm pretty happy with it. I wish I had enough room to have one bench for cleaning, repair, minor gunsmithing type stuff, and then the loading bench. Right now I have my press at one end and clear away enough room to use it as a work bench when needed.

My bench is a modified version of the plans on Ricerdilli's pages. It's solid. I used the 2x8 reinforced front edge idea for mounting the press. It is fitted into the legs so the top plywood sits on one plane across the width of the bench. I didn't make the upper cupboards yet, as I'm still not sure I like them. I may use something similar though.

My safe is still in the house as of now but a dehumidifier is NEEDED in a safe!

Also it's very dry here so humidity isn't an issue. In fact I'm using a swamp cooler in there when it's hot. I put an attic turbine on top and vents on the bottom to get some natural circulation.

It's worth every penny spent to have my own little space to go hide in!

If you do put in the upper cabinets I suggest some good under-cabinet lighting. The cabinets may reduce some of the light on your work area.

I am guilty also of wanting more space. I built a 14x28' building. French doors, 4 windows, fully insulated and 24 4 prong plugs in it. The inner walls and the outer walls are T111 and it has an R30 in the ceiling and R19 in the walls. I also had laminated wood flooring put in . The heat pump is a GE and rated at 17500 BTU runs on 220.I put two drop down stairs and floored in the attic for storage of gun cases etc. At the east end is two pairs of bins that hold all of my brass. Also on that end are two gun safes the H/A unit a 32" TV with surround sound.On the south side are my benches and are two craftsman work benches that I replaced the tops with 2.5" maple 7'x2' for a total of 14ft of benches. Above the benches are wall mounted shelves that I put my loads on. The top two shelves are for the various powder containers. To the left of one of the benches is a small rack system to put various factory ammo on. Next to the rack is a drill press. On the right side of the bench are my two presses, a Bonanza and a Ultramag. Another small rack system holds all of my reloading dies.I have quite a lot of them. On the west wall are three industrial racks holding all of my bullets, bulk powders primers power tools and gun working supplies.On the North wall to the left of the French doors is a futon and to the right of the doors is another craftsman desk with maple top for my computer and video editing equipment. Finally in the center in front of the French doors is a small woodworking bench that I use as a work station for guns. There it is. It took about three and a half months and much help from friends and relatives to get it done but it is mine!!!!!!!
Cant put a bathroom in it or it becomes a permanent structure and would not have been allowed.

All I gotta say is, you da man Ib404. About the only thing ya ain't got is a john in there. With a set up like yours who needs a house.

I build some pretty fancy benchs for my reloading room.
I have a "hunting room" in my finished basement 12'x 20' with several loading benches, gun safe, and laminated storage cabinets for accesories and huniting cloths. I laminated those cabinets with a "camoflage laminate pattern".
The shotgun bench has a maple lip around the top (1 1/2" laminated PB) to prevent shot from rolling all over the room. The loaded trap shells drop through the counter into a pullout drawer. there is room for 4 presses on a 6' bench. 36" high seems about right for standing or bar stool work.
The metalic bench I built is 8' long w/ 2 knee holes with upper and lower storage cabinets. The counter top is made from a section of bowling alley which is unique and very sturdy. The nicest design feature is the balance beam scale sits on a shelf @ eye level.
I have photo's of both of these benches to e-mail to any one who is interested.
I built a few more 6' benches w/ upper and lower cabinets and a 1 1/2" thick maple butcher block countertop to sell if anyone is looking for a nice finished bench. All cabinetry is laminated an almond color. Makes reloading much more enjoyable to have a nice clean place to perform your tasks.
E-mail me for photo's and details.

Shane
sandenwood@centurytel.net

lb404

Is it the john or the plumbing that makes it a permenant building? If it's the plumbing it sounds like the perfect application for a composting toilet. No shower, though!

Rafsob: Set your bench height so that when the arm of the press is at its lowest point, your hand can rest on it without having bend your back or bend your knees. If you have to bend, you are going to get sore before you reload very many rounds.

RobertD