Greetings all. I was wondering if anyone knows of someone who makes a table strong enough to mount a reloader to? My work bench is metal, but not sturdy enough to take the stress of a reloader. I've looked at Dillon's and Midway, but didn't see anything.

The table I have in mind would be about waist high and 12 inches square. The base side is immaterial because I would bolt it to my floor.

Any ideas are appreciated.

Well, w/ requirements like that (especially the space) I'm thinking you're going to be building your own. Get some 2x4's, laminate a few 12-13" lengths together to make your 'top', and then make a frame out of some more 2x4's. Put some weight in the bottom, and have fun. Might be a bit wobbly, though.

Just out of curiosity, what are you doing that you anticipate all these stresses during loading? Plenty of good lube, like Imperial Sizing Die Wax, but not too much ( don't want dents in the cases!) and most of my sizing goes pretty easy (.223-3006 size cases).

My current bench is a Sears Craftsman workbench, w/ a 1-1/2" MDF top. bolted to the sheet metal frame. Heavy, solid, and very smooth. Only gripe is if you spill something liquid on it (like I did) it tends to swell up something terrible. I'm thinking the next evolution is going to have a removable 1/4" hardboard top, so when I've boogered up that, I can just change it out and leave the 'meat' behind untouched.

HTH,

Monte

I seem to remember that Midway has a reloading "stand" for about $50 (maybe more or less ???) that might fit the bill.

I use both a Sears Craftsman bench with the MDF top, and a home made bench from a (very) heavy fire door reclaimed from a commercial space remodel, covered (counter sunk dry wall screws ever foot or so) with a 1/2 inch sacrificial MDF top, all over a 2X4 frame. Heavy, and nearly immoveable. I coated both MDF tops with about 3 coats of good polyurethane varnish to seal them, and make them impervious to moisture. I would never pass up the varnish step, as I am constantly putting down wet cans, bottles, and coffee cups. Not to mention the inevitable spills in any well used shop. I drill the tops for my presses (RCBS Junior, Redding T7, and Dillon 550B) and put tee nuts on the bottom. That way I can remove and mount any press I need within a few minutes. I use 3/8 bolts for the Redding and RCBS presses, and 1/4 for the Dillon, as it has a strong mount.

I would make it out of 1" square tubing [OD] and 1/4" plate for the top. Braced. Shouldn't be hard to find a welder to do that. Paint it and it will last forever. IMHO a wooden table that small wouldn't be stable, unless you take a chainsaw and use a solid tree trunk

Plans for a reloading bench can be foudn at:

http://stevespages.com/table3.html

Don't use expander balls, and forces on the reloading bench and your groups will both get smaller.


I put my presses on a board, and clamp the board to a bench at home or a table at the range.
pic of 5 pressed mounted to a board.

The Rockchucker does the resizing [sans expander ball] and has the most downward force, so it is on the end, and the moment on the board is not to twist, but lift the entire length.

Thanks for the replys everyone. 510Wells, that Midway stand looks like just what I need.

I guess I'll go ahead and post a picture (once I figure how to!) here of the reloading/portable shooting bench design I've developed over the last 10 years or so.

Post deleted by sonofagun

just click here

your doing it right, far as I can tell.

I think html must be off for some reson.

Thanks - apparently it is - who can figure these GD computers!



Bench (without shelf unit) doubles as a portable shooting(&reloading) bench.

Funny how this same question comes up time after time. I just finished building a table today for reloading; I think this is the sixth bench that I have built.

Actually, I built it about 3 years ago as a craft table for my girlfriend. This weekend it became a reloading table, so I put the shelf on it and added a few wood screws to secure the shelf to the table.

The top is formica in a light oak flavor. The table top was free and it came from a conference table in a computer grahpics company some time back. One of the legs broke and they were tossing it, so I scarfed it. The top is 2 inches or so and made from MDF.

I rebuilt it using 2x4 for legs and 2x4's for a square frame underneath. Rather than just nail it together, I used Simpson Strong ties and secured those together using hardened deck screws instead of nails.

The legs are two 2x4 each and are at right angles in each corner to support a 3' by 7' table top, thus there are eight 2x4's supporting it.

About 6 inches above the floor, I built a shelf to hold tools, presses, etc. Now that has a 2x4 frame and 3/4 inch plywood on top.

1/4 inch bolts tie it together, so it can be disassembled and moved when the need arises. In spite of how sturdy this is, it comes apart real fast and goes together real fast, too. Total cost was about $225 or so, as I used premium wood and studs.

RobertD

Portable bench for tweaking loads at the range:


Home bench for handloading chores:


MtnHtr

Well MtnHtr, thats a nice home bench.