Gentlemen,
I'm getting around to building a room for my safe and to set up a reloading bench in. My question: Do you have any recommendations regarding those things that may become obvious after the paint dries;-)? What's convienent and what's not type advice. Your input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Matt in Virginia.

Lots of plug-ins, lots of light (better to have a window for natural light), sturdy bench, small (4") vise with padded jaws, linoleum flooring, chair as well as stool, lots and lots of cupboards and shelves, thick door, no phone jack (maybe a small tv for the Stanley Cup), lots of pictures of bears, elk, moose, deer, gophers, yaks, etc., spare chair for your buddies, if you make the room to gunsafe specs you can hang your guns instead of hide them.

Make it twice as big as you can conceivably imagine you'll ever need it to be.

Maybe three times...

I bought an adustable swing-arm lamp with a 5x magnifying lens. The base was completely Mickey Mouse, but the "stem" on the light was sturdy and 1/2". So I just drilled 1/2" holes in my bench in a few places and now I can move the ligth where ever I need it. Good lighting makes a huge difference in reload quality.

I like a radio, a clock, and a small sink for cleaning tasks like washing case lube off brass.

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PowderBurns Black Powder / Muzzle Loading Forum:

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Matt,

Think about how much room it requires to fixture a rifle on the work surface, then have swinging room for the rod for an extended cleaning session. In practical terms this sets the minimum dimensions of the room.

I was lucky, my basement had a 14x26 foot "panhandle" off one corner. One 14 foot wall and I was in business. Two years later I have to add more stackable storage! I have moved all my backpacking and camping equipment storage into one well-arranged corner.

I use the sink out in the basement, as I don't want water or humidity anywhere around. In spite of the locked room I keep my guns and primers in a locked safe with a "Goldenrod" for further humidity control. Mine is a very dry basement and I've had no rust or humidity issues, but I'm paranoid about it. I was able to cut controllable air registers into the central air vents and returns in the room, in damp weather I keep them partially open even when I'm not in there.

You cannot get too many lights and outlets in your workspace. Paint the walls a light color and either paint or put light colored cheap linoleum on the floor - solvents will eat the flooring.

Design your benches and storage so you can look under/behind everything for that tiny spring or screw that you heard ping off into the void.

Good Luck,
Don

Hello,
In the fantasy future, my reloading room will have a small fridge for the occasional glass of Ice Tea. Right now I have a small, but really sturdy table in my bedroom.

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Load Hot, Shoot Straight
JoeM

Gentlemen,
I greatly appreciate your input. I'll keep you posted. Regards, Matt.

matt in viginia
i'm in the same boat, i just started making my new reloading room. the biggest thing about the room is the door lock so the kids can't get in! other than than alot of lighting and outlets. i also seen somewhere (i don't remember the article) a reloading bench with removable peices that held your reloader on with tongue and groove peices of wood plus wing-nuts. it was neet because when you wanted to change reloaders, neck trimmers, etc. you just slid out one and slide in another, instant solid mounting!
GOOD LUCK
freezerman

Matt -
Be certain that whatever light you use has an impermeable cover. A friend used the old 'light bulb on a pigtail' method, and, sure enough it blew out one night and a spark landed in the powder that was in the pan on the scale. Made things interesting for a time. Fortunately, he had the powder measure lid on, and the lid on his can of powder.
Better safe than sorry.
JMac's right - make it at least three times bigger than you think you'll ever need.
Good luck,
R-WEST

I have my presses, powder measure mounted on 2 X 12 boards. I clamp this boards to the bench with large C clamps (9"). My case trimmer and bench mounted priming tool are attached to 2 X 4's that clamp into a soft jaw wood working vise on the bench.

This way I can move my set-up into configurations that work for specific projects. Saves space / makes space more efficient. I'm able to use the same benches for gunsmithing, wood working, metal working.

Never hurts to be able to reconfigure your space.

Home Depot sells plastic shelves in 18" and 24" widths. These snap together, 4 shelves to a height of 6 feet, about 4' width. $40 for the narrow shelves, $55 for the wider ones.

They assemble/disassemble without tools. Multiple sets can be configured into various arrangements. Ventilated shelves for air circulation. Plastic is easy to keep clean. They're sturdy and lightweight.

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PowderBurns Black Powder / Muzzle Loading Forum:

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you might want to go thru this post

http://glocktalk.com/docs/gtubb/Forum10/HTML/002708.html

& see the pics & description of handcannon's setup

just to tease you heres one pic

Matt,
Lots of good ideas in the replies. Not much I can add. Check out the following site as it has pictures of loading rooms in the photo section. This may give you some thoughts toward organization.
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/reloading

Matt,

Dig through the old posts. There is one a few months old with a lot of info.

Everything in the posts before is great. Just two things that I would like to add. One is make it very sturdy and level. Mine is 2 sheets of 1" plywood top with 4X4s and 2X6s making up everything else. You don't want the scale to move when you are resizing cases or seating bullets. Plus mine is 6 foot long and it is too short. SlimL