Gentlemen,
I am living in a fairly small house right now, and the garage is too cold and too insecure to use as a loading station. I am capable of building any size reloading bench, but only have room in the house for a small one. What do you all use, and what is your recommended minumum size? I know that bigger is better, but I have to start somewhere. If it helps, I have the RCBS Master kit, and load for three or four calibers currently.
Thanks for the help,
Regards,
Graham

OOPS!! My bad!
Can one of the moderators or someone move this to the RELOADING forum. Sorry about that.
Graham

The size does not matter so much as long as it is heavy and does not turn over when sizing. You don't necessarily have to have a designated permanently mounted press. I use my computer desk since it is much cooler indoors than the garage. You need a very sturdy 6" wide by 7" long by 2" thick piece of wood mounted to the RCBS press. Toward the rear of the piece of wood drill two holes. Pick what ever sturdy bench you like and orient the press so that it is comfortable to use and outline it. Drill two holes in the desk larger than the bolts you plan to use and get 2 T nuts at the hardware store and install them on the bottom side. Whenever you want to load get the press out of the closet and mount it. When you are done put it back in the closet.
That keeps me cool and keeps my desk clear when I am working at the computer.
If you build a specific loading bench it only needs to be big enough for a comfortable chair and your press but make it sturdy.

Mount the press to a 1 ft long piece of 1x6 or thicker board and C-clamp it to your counter top or table if it is stable enough. The press can be stored in a closet until needed and quickly set up. I did this with my shotshell and RCBS rockchucker when loading 308 and handgun ammo in an apt I once lived in.

Thank you, Gentlemen.
I had not thought of doing a temporary mount like the C-clamp trick. I am an Apprentice carpenter, so finding a scrap piece of wood is a non-issue. Thanks for the ideas! That is a lot cheaper than the bench I was envisioning. I load for a 30-06 and a .308 Win as of now, and will be loading for a 6.5x55 and a .22-250 in the next little while. I don't see these as being demanding to load for as far as actual bench pressure goes, so the benchtop idea will probably work great. Thanks again,
Regards,
Graham

Rule #1 - your possessions expand to fill the available space. The larger the bench, the more unputaway stuff will accumulate and the longer it will take you to put it away once you get a round toit. When I see pictures of neat benches, I don't know whether I should envy them or pity them.

M70, maybe a different thought, as I tend to be overly analytical sometimes, but....

Whether you go with a temp setup to 'tie in ' to an existing counter or table, the space you would need might be looked at like this. You need enough space to be able to prep brass, size and charge cases, and of course seat bullets. The sizing ops and seating just need enough space for your loading tray to sit, and your press to be up and functioning. I would guess you nees around 3 square feet minimum for the loading tray and press. If you prep brass on the same table, you would need about the same amount of space over and above the area the press occupies. or about the same if you were to prep your brass, and then put those tools away, and change to powder charging and then seating. As M Pursell stated though, the more stuff you get the more you will want on you bench at a given time. Keeping your various components in 'tupperware' containers, and then putting up/getting out the appropriate gear on an as needed basis, you can minimize the amount of space you need.

Good Luck--Don

I totally agree with the concept of clutter expanding to just overfill the available space. I am down-sizing from a beautifully solid 3'x5'bench that my Dad and I made. I just don't have room in the house, and hence the predicament. I do value organization, though, and will not find it a major issue to keep things put away when not in use.
Graham

Cabelas has a kit that uses 2x4's and plywood. The kit contains the legs. I bought two of them and they are great. You can make any size bench up to 4'x8'. It is in their reloading catalog and costs about $70. I think it is on their website. Worth a look. The nice thing about these is that you can redo them in the future to make a bigger or smaller version.

You can also go to Lowes or HD and look in the storage area and find a lot of heavy plastic totes that will accomodate all your loading tools so you can put them in the closet all organized in one container and then pull them out and sit next to the table you would on a temporary basis and have a blast. Nice and neat and no clutter and no lost items. That way you can't blame your wife for misplacing your stuff.