The exact same spartan 9' X 11' bedroom with the same rough but heavy duty 4X4 and 2X4 constructed bench and Home Depot storage cabinets I have now, only the window next to the bench which now overlooks a postage stamp back yard would overlook a 1000 yard test range with about 250,000 acres of my privately owned excellent elk habitat beyond that.
Gunnery, gunnery, gunnery! Hit the target, all else is twaddle.
I'm in the process of designing mine now. We will be buying a new home in October, so I can start from scratch.
So far, I have come up with a "U" shaped area, with the top of the work area desk high, so that I can have a nice office type chair on wheels to move around on. On the left side of the "U" will be my case preparation area - case cleaning, neck turning, primer pockets, trimming etc. At the bottom of the "U" will be the press, powder measure and scales for assembling cartridges. I will mount my presses on a 12" square piece of plate steel that slips into a recess in the bench, making it possible to have several tools that occupy one place rather than have three or four presses etc. permanently mounted on the bench. On the right side of the "U" I plan to have my computer and measuring tools so that everything can be measured and recorded.
All of this will be well lighted and have plenty of storage so that the work area will be bright and uncluttered.
One justs has to look at the opening picture. That is a dam nice one.
Mine is 10x12 I could easy use another 10 feet so 10 x22 or 20 x12 would be nice. Lots of bench top and storage, I figure one needs about 2 to 3 feet of bench top for each press or loader one has plus some extra for misc. things. I have 16 feet of top and need more.
Posts: 19835 | Location: wis | Registered: 21 April 2001
"I don't know what there is about buffalo that frightens me so.....He looks like he hates you personally. He looks like you owe him money." - Robert Ruark, Horn of the Hunter, 1953
NRA Life, SAF Life, CRPA Life, DRSS lite
Posts: 12818 | Location: Kentucky, USA | Registered: 30 December 2002
I am pretty happy with mine right now. It could use a few more shelves but all it all it works rather well. I placed mine in my basement. The room is temperature controlled and I have a dehumidifier installed in the room set up to drain into a floor drain with trap. Constant flow and no sewer gas. I built my bench using 2X4's and it is rock solid anchored to the floor and concrete walls. It is 3 foot deep with 2 shevles under the work bench to organize my dirty and clean brass. The work top is 2 foot deep of work space with 1 foot deep shelves beyond that. My shelves are three high. This allows plenty of space not to be cramped yet allow organization space too. The bench is "L" shapped and achored to both walls. All in all it is about 32' long counting both walls. My gun safe is built in and I have two closets to hold rifle cases, backpacks, hunting cloths, etc. All my dies, brass, bullets, powder, scales, primers, and loading manuals are within easy reach from the loading station. My brass cleaner and media separator are located in another area just to ensure the vibrations do not affect the powder scale. This allows me to be loading for one caliber while cleaning brass for others.
The best thing I did was draw my room out several times on graph paper and then tape off the floor. Then walk through how things would flow. One thing for sure. You can never ever have too many shelves.
I have a whole separte bench and bench area for gun cleaning located next to my safe with a virticle rifle rack attached to the wall. The butt rests on the bench top and the barrel rests in slots. This way I can remove several guns in order to get to the one I need and still have a place to keep them safe while working or cleaning on any particular one. This also keeps any oils and solvents away from my loading area.
Posts: 513 | Location: MO | Registered: 14 March 2003
The whole room to be alike a safe so that all rifles could be on the rack like in a store and Dillon 1050's set up for each caliber you like except for the ones that would not fit of course, then I would have all my own bullet making equipment as well and an indoor 100 yard range etc.
Posts: 7505 | Location: Australia | Registered: 22 May 2002
Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "...holy crap...what a ride!"
I almost shorted out my laptop by slobbering all over it looking at Hammer's set-up. I'd be afraid to shoot off my Lott there in fear that it would wake me up from my dream.
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Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "...holy crap...what a ride!"
When I was a happy batch of 24, we had a pretty good loading room.
An old farmhouse in the country had an upstairs hall facing the rear of the house. It was about 14 feet long and about 8 feet wide. It had two windows flanking a door leading to the flat porch roof.
We put a 14 foot bench on both walls, one for rifle, the other for shotgun. On the porch roof, we built a shooting bench and had targets at 100 and 200 yards out.
On inclement days, we'd just open a window and shoot out of them.
The thing I like most about mine and that I would insist upon when creating the ideal set-up, is to be able to step outside of your reloading room and sit down at your shooting bench so you can fire away at 100-200 yards. The conveneince found when you can make your loads and then test them immediately can set apart your room from others. It's easy to build a room in which to reload, but it's the location of that room that I would say helps make your overall setup "ultimate."
Posts: 1445 | Location: Bronwood, GA | Registered: 10 June 2003
Cement floor. Cinder block walls. Put rubber interlocking pad over for the floor comfort. Benches framed in steel square tube and angles bolted to floor and walls. Thick plywood flooring material for benchtops. Maybe two layers of ply glued together. Put linolium on benchtops for clean look. Put trim on the edges to prevent stuff from rooling off. The whole room would have wall cabinents lining all the wall space possible. Base cabinents under the bench wherever possible. Put in tons of storage. Steel security door. South facing window if possible, with shade. The shooting port idea is great. I would try to have one with a bench.
I would have a built in safe as a seperate attached small room. Find a bank vault door for the built in gunsafe. Walls of the safe would have two sets of vertical racks for long guns, one at floor level and one starting midway up the wall. I would make storage space for ammo, powder and primers in the vault. 12' x 14" vault? Maybe bigger. I love the idea of a true vault for all the guns and valuable stuff. One could sell it as a wine cellar if the house was ever sold.
If the "gunroom" was built in to the side of a hill, the temperature would be consisitent winter or summer. It would also just be very cool to have a hidden away play room. Not sure about humidity issues though. Air conditioning if necessary would also help to dehumidify.
I do not care for flourescent lighting. I would put recessed cans in the works spaces for direct lighting where needed. Maybe a couple of flourescents for general lighting. The guns room would be seperate from the main house.
Liberty safes sell vault doors and frames for about $2,400
Frank
"I don't know what there is about buffalo that frightens me so.....He looks like he hates you personally. He looks like you owe him money." - Robert Ruark, Horn of the Hunter, 1953
NRA Life, SAF Life, CRPA Life, DRSS lite
Posts: 12818 | Location: Kentucky, USA | Registered: 30 December 2002
Originally posted by 1894mk2: My room would have a series of robots for case preparation.
Didn't think of that. Upon further reflection, mine would be Hooter's girls.
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Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "...holy crap...what a ride!"
