Hornady LNL AP Ammo Plant Real Estate?

[sixty9santa]

Hello all!

So I'm in the process of planning out a reloading bench, not big by any stretch due to limited space.
Size wise it will be 24"×36" bed frame angle iron.
How much real estate does the Hornady LNL AP ammo plant take up?
How much height, from the tabletop, will I need to account for?
I ask since I want to incorporate aluminum swappable press plates into the tabletop.
This would allow me to mount different presses into the same spot.
Would I be able to mount it onto a 10"×8" plate?

 

[OldDude]

The angle iron I've seen used on bed frames may be marginally light for a reloading bench. You definitely don't want the bench flexing / twisting on you under load.

BTW, the manual at ht tps://www.hornady.com/support/user-manuals#!/ has mounting dimensions. I didn't read through the whole thiing to see how tall the complete unit is.

 

[DILLIGAF]

Get the inline fabrication mount and swap between plates faster. This is mine with nothing on it and it takes up more room then expected. Inline also makes storage racks for all the dies and other parts

 

[VinnyQC]

21'' front
44'' high
How deep is a little harder to define. From front to back it's 21'', but about 6.5'' is in front of the bench.

All my stuff rests on two 2x8 that are 16'' long.

The smallest possible footprint would be 6'' (deep) by 9'' (front). I guess you would be ok, but tight, with 10'' by 8'', but make sure there is some clearance around it, the footprint is rather small compared to how big the buckets for the bullet and case dispensers are. If you need to drill holes in the corners to insert bolts, I would feel more comfortable with 12'' by 8''. The 12'' is the front measurement btw, 8'' is the depth.

 

[VinnyQC]

Get the inline fabrication mount and swap between plates faster. This is mine with nothing on it and it takes up more room then expected. Inline also makes storage racks for all the dies and other parts

Where do you install the bullet feeder on that setup?

 

[DILLIGAF]

I have yet to set up my press unfortunately. Hopefully ill have it done for summer...lol.

 

[VinnyQC]

I have yet to set up my press unfortunately. Hopefully ill have it done for summer...lol.

The case feeder bolts to the press so no problem there (except maybe for height, it ends up about 1.5 feet higher than the powder dispenser), but the bullet feeder is made to bolt somewhere behind the press, on the bench. I don't see how it will work with the IF mount.

 

[sixty9santa]

Frame will be reinforced, fully welded and heavy thus I'm not worried about flex.

The interchangeable mounting system I'm planning will be a dovetail setup combination of these two:

Think of it as a dovetailed Rockdock!

 

[sixty9santa]

21'' front
44'' high
How deep is a little harder to define. From front to back it's 21'', but about 6.5'' is in front of the bench.

All my stuff rests on two 2x8 that are 16'' long.

The smallest possible footprint would be 6'' (deep) by 9'' (front). I guess you would be ok, but tight, with 10'' by 8'', but make sure there is some clearance around it, the footprint is rather small compared to how big the buckets for the bullet and case dispensers are. If you need to drill holes in the corners to insert bolts, I would feel more comfortable with 12'' by 8''. The 12'' is the front measurement btw, 8'' is the depth.

Thank you for the details!

 

[OldDude]

Frame will be reinforced, fully welded and heavy thus I'm not worried about flex.

The interchangeable mounting system I'm planning will be a dovetail setup combination of these two:

Think of it as a dovetailed Rockdock!

If I were doing that, I would contemplate some way of locking the plate in place - a bolt through the plate into the bench comes to mind as a Q&D way to hold the plate in. Otherwise, seems like a good method.

 

[sixty9santa]

So overall consensus is 12"×8"×1/2" thick aluminum should have me covered with some room to spare, right?
I was thinking of using two quick release pull pins such as this:

 

[VinnyQC]

So overall consensus is 12"×8"×1/2" thick aluminum should have me covered with some room to spare, right?
I was thinking of using two quick release pull pins such as this:

The plate should be large enough, my concern would be if there's any play, everytime you're gonna pull the lever, the plate moves even a tiny bit, it'll be annoying as hell. I think that's why OldDude suggest a bolt to keep it solidly into place. A pin is secure, but doesn't fix things solidly if there's some play in the dovetail.