reloading room do's and dont's , would like some advice

Suther said:
For the carpet, you could get one of those plastic mats designed to allow office chairs to roll nicely on carpet.

As for the sheet metal, I would think no. Wood doesn't spark or conduct.
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LOL, i just finished telling my wife i need to pull the carpet out of 1/3rd of the family room down stairs and put in a 3ft high 8 ft long dividing 'wall' and some laminate flooring or lino down...... she is not happy with me right now LOL yeehaw here we go :D

roger that on sheet metal might be a bad idea hehehe
 
it's been a heated debate the last couple hours at my place LOL
we've compromised and looks like i'll be putting laminate flooring in the spare room and not sectioning off the family room hehehe
I'm looking forward to adding pics of everything in the reloading bench pics thread when I'm done.
thanx for your responses so far :D
 
I use LED strip lights meant for undercabinet lighting over my bench. Attached to the underside of an upper shelf. Costs almost nothing to run, and puts out a lot of light, right into my case mouths in my loading tray. I watch youtube while I load, some say not to have any distraction, but I am not worried about it as I visually inspect each case for powder, weigh each case when done before they get moved to storage. I have only ever had one not get powder, and I caught it when I weighed it and pulled the bullet.
 
jaytwo , my thinking too :D
I've got some different LED lights that I was thinking I would add for right around and above the press
 
As much bench room as possible.Really good to have an area with a good vice etc for cleaning firearms and doing other projects without disturbing your loading gear. So nice to have different stations set up and able to leave them that way.If you have lots of presses, maybe Lee or Pat Marlins quick change press plates would be cool.saves space, as presses can be mounted up on a shelf above the bench for storage, and installed for use or changed out quickly.I do this with two .75 inch plywood plates laminated together with common located/sized mounting holes on each press for multiple press use in the same space.The store bought ones are what I would like, eventually.Lots of shelves and cabinets, and plenty of lighting.A good radio or sound system is a must, as T.V. is just a bad idea while reloading.I enjoy podcasts or sat radio while reloading.I just built my new loading setup last year, and upgraded from a single 5ft. Wide, 3ft. deep bench to having almost triple that length bench space.Very worthwhile.
 
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well... I'm thinking , the closet door is coming off. will fab up a 2x2 x1/8 angle frame, 2"x1/8 flat bar across floor. expanded metal and a sheet of 16guage satin stainless , some lock sets and the powder and such vault is complete.
installing a smoke alarm in ceiling.
steel frame in the rooms door like the closet and replace door with something much better ;)
being a steel fabricator in the past I can build what ever i'll need to secure things.
I'm working on some bench plans ....... hmmmm I have a buddy 5 hours away with some 12 foot long 18" x 3" rough cut cherry....... hmmmmm :D
 
45ACPKING said:
well... I'm thinking , the closet door is coming off. will fab up a 2x2 x1/8 angle frame, 2"x1/8 flat bar across floor. expanded metal and a sheet of 16guage satin stainless , some lock sets and the powder and such vault is complete.
installing a smoke alarm in ceiling.
steel frame in the rooms door like the closet and replace door with something much better ;)
being a steel fabricator in the past I can build what ever i'll need to secure things.
I'm working on some bench plans ....... hmmmm I have a buddy 5 hours away with some 12 foot long 18" x 3" rough cut cherry....... hmmmmm :D
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IF you like to follow regulations look up the storage regs for powder and primers. You will find that storage of these materials in anything other than a wooden box is not allowed. I believe The bench thread you referred to earlier has the specs.
 
tomo333 said:
IF you like to follow regulations look up the storage regs for powder and primers. You will find that storage of these materials in anything other than a wooden box is not allowed. I believe The bench thread you referred to earlier has the specs.
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If memory serves that's been rescinded..
 
Keep your loading area clean. Clean up ANY spilled powder promptly.

Check and double check your charge weights.

NO two or more powders on the bench at one time. [Vital!!]

Put powders away promptly once finished with them.

Good lighting.....very important!!

Clean floor regularly.

Fire extinguisher or water close. [Remember, CO2 fire extinguishers do NOT put out powder fires!]

Keep others out while reloading [Or any other distraction]

Don't load when very tired, or (obviously) under the influence.

Enjoy! :) Dave.
 
lots of good info guys, thanx for taking the time. I've been checking out the various threads on different sites featuring pics of people's reloading benches. so many good ideas :D
I'm going to set the room up for safety and ease of operation. i'll set up in the spare room for the reloading...... hunting trophies, fishn n hunting pics, flytying and rod building down stairs in a 1/3rd of the den. LOL
 
45ACPKING said:
it's been a heated debate the last couple hours at my place LOL
we've compromised and looks like i'll be putting laminate flooring in the spare room and not sectioning off the family room hehehe
I'm looking forward to adding pics of everything in the reloading bench pics thread when I'm done.
thanx for your responses so far :D
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FWIW I've been reloading for over 20 years and it had almost exclusively been done in a carpeted room. This far my #### has yet to drop off. I think that there are way bigger issues for you to concern yourself with than carpet.
 
BigUglyMan said:
FWIW I've been reloading for over 20 years and it had almost exclusively been done in a carpeted room. This far my #### has yet to drop off. I think that there are way bigger issues for you to concern yourself with than carpet.
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Carpet can be a contributing factor towards static electricty, while you have been lucky, it would be wise to avoid any potential source of ignition.
 
NavyCuda said:
Carpet can be a contributing factor towards static electricty, while you have been lucky, it would be wise to avoid any potential source of ignition.
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ha! yes, this is why I asked about carpet :D
I know that I am constantly zappin the dog when I go to pat him on the head LOL
air gets dry up here..... even the clothes make visible blue sparks sometimes especially in winter.
is static a real concern?
 
45ACPKING said:
ha! yes, this is why I asked about carpet :D
I know that I am constantly zappin the dog when I go to pat him on the head LOL
air gets dry up here..... even the clothes make visible blue sparks sometimes especially in winter.
is static a real concern?
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I would imagine an extraordinary set of events would have to occur for you to have a static discharge close enough to powder to get it to light. I don't even know if it would light the powder or not, but I wouldn't want to find out either.

A simple option is having a earth grounded grab handle that you could discharge on. Kind of like touching the case of a computer before touching components to get rid of any built up charge.
 
ya, I think I'm gonna go with a roll of lino..... easy clean up and if it's a lighter colour will brighten the room and make dropped items a snap to see and recover.
I got shot down on the cherry wood for building my bench, seems my buddy has already sold it to a cabinet maker :(
 
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