As mentioned, I've got them from Lee Valley, I used 5/16". Fixed them in place using Gorilla glue and screwed them down every 12". They have proper t-slot bolts which slide better, but suitable bolts with regular hex head work as well... At first, I planned to use those plastic thumbscrews but later realized they require more space so now I'm using simple wing nuts...
Reloading bench ideas.
- Thread starter SwL_Wildcat
- Start date
As mentioned, I've got them from Lee Valley, I used 5/16". Fixed them in place using Gorilla glue and screwed them down every 12". They have proper t-slot bolts which slide better, but suitable bolts with regular hex head work as well... At first, I planned to use those plastic thumbscrews but later realized they require more space so now I'm using simple wing nuts...
Newbie Reloading Benches
The long thread on benches is up in the stickies, for those wanting to dream.
I am currently helping a friend, good shooter, take his first steps into reloading. Here in no particular order are some ideas.
1. Don't be intimidated by the super trick setups shown with tracks and multi levels etc. They are not necessary to start out. As you get more experience, you can change things. Where sitting is OK for a single stage press, you may find standing advantageous to run a progressive.
2 Your powder scale needs to be on a bench with ZERO WOBBLE, and as close to level as possible (they usually have feet to fine tune them). What is important, is to check your surface with a small bubble level. Start with a decent balance beam scale and plan to keep it for life. There are many threads dealing with fluorescent lights and other issues regarding electronic scales. In my opinion they are not the best way to start.
3. Full length resizing is where strength is required of a reloading bench. If circumstances force you to reload in temporary locations, (e.g. rented apartments), having the press separate from the bench, such as the stand arrangement Lee sells, will get you going. Other operations such as priming, lead bullet sizing, and bullet seating can be done with your press C-clamped to less fancy table tops.
4.And speaking of C-clamps, if you are just starting out, until you get a system working your way, being able to move things around is instructive. After 45+ years, I still prefer to C-clamp my powder measures so that I am positive everything has been dumped out when changing powders.
5. Looking at the pictures, one sees vacuum cleaners and compressed air. Luxuries, but you will come to understand why they are there! I went to quickly reload 10 rifle rounds the other night, charged my cases, then while setting bullet depth on a dummy round my sleeve caught the edge of the green RCBS loading block and flipped it just enough to scatter powder on the bench, and possibly added to the neighbouring cases. Of course when this happens you dump the cases back into your powder dish, or hopper, clean/vacuum and start again. Homemade blocks from 2x4's and 2x6's have merit.
6. If your old kitchen cabinets have particle board shelves, they may not take the WEIGHT of multiple die boxes and bullets. This is where a strong, deep, bench surface (3 or 4 feet) can be handy. You can have the dies and bullets facing you. Some will find this cool, others, cluttered, to each his own.
7. Regarding humidity, the salt block containers work very well for me, but we rarely see over 55% in the house where I live, 45% is usually tops. As well you could have an old fridge with a constant light bulb inside for primer storage (welding rods too).
8. I need to end this, but your reloading space should be lockable, so that NOBODY but you can access it. It does not need to be huge. In one place I had, my bench was under a staircase. I opened the door, backed in and sat on a small swivel office chair. The press was on the down side and I turned around to get stuff from the shelves on the upstairs side. Necessity is the mother....
The long thread on benches is up in the stickies, for those wanting to dream.
I am currently helping a friend, good shooter, take his first steps into reloading. Here in no particular order are some ideas.
1. Don't be intimidated by the super trick setups shown with tracks and multi levels etc. They are not necessary to start out. As you get more experience, you can change things. Where sitting is OK for a single stage press, you may find standing advantageous to run a progressive.
2 Your powder scale needs to be on a bench with ZERO WOBBLE, and as close to level as possible (they usually have feet to fine tune them). What is important, is to check your surface with a small bubble level. Start with a decent balance beam scale and plan to keep it for life. There are many threads dealing with fluorescent lights and other issues regarding electronic scales. In my opinion they are not the best way to start.
3. Full length resizing is where strength is required of a reloading bench. If circumstances force you to reload in temporary locations, (e.g. rented apartments), having the press separate from the bench, such as the stand arrangement Lee sells, will get you going. Other operations such as priming, lead bullet sizing, and bullet seating can be done with your press C-clamped to less fancy table tops.
4.And speaking of C-clamps, if you are just starting out, until you get a system working your way, being able to move things around is instructive. After 45+ years, I still prefer to C-clamp my powder measures so that I am positive everything has been dumped out when changing powders.
5. Looking at the pictures, one sees vacuum cleaners and compressed air. Luxuries, but you will come to understand why they are there! I went to quickly reload 10 rifle rounds the other night, charged my cases, then while setting bullet depth on a dummy round my sleeve caught the edge of the green RCBS loading block and flipped it just enough to scatter powder on the bench, and possibly added to the neighbouring cases. Of course when this happens you dump the cases back into your powder dish, or hopper, clean/vacuum and start again. Homemade blocks from 2x4's and 2x6's have merit.
6. If your old kitchen cabinets have particle board shelves, they may not take the WEIGHT of multiple die boxes and bullets. This is where a strong, deep, bench surface (3 or 4 feet) can be handy. You can have the dies and bullets facing you. Some will find this cool, others, cluttered, to each his own.
7. Regarding humidity, the salt block containers work very well for me, but we rarely see over 55% in the house where I live, 45% is usually tops. As well you could have an old fridge with a constant light bulb inside for primer storage (welding rods too).
8. I need to end this, but your reloading space should be lockable, so that NOBODY but you can access it. It does not need to be huge. In one place I had, my bench was under a staircase. I opened the door, backed in and sat on a small swivel office chair. The press was on the down side and I turned around to get stuff from the shelves on the upstairs side. Necessity is the mother....
I am using tracks for standard 3/8 bolts. These are strong enough to secure the reloading presses and heavy vises and also you can easily find bolts of any height to use with the knobs. Powertec is a good option, but not the only one.
POWERTEC 71119 Double-Cut Profile Universal T-Track with Predrilled Mounting Holes(2-Pack), 36" here is the link https://www.amazon.ca/POWERTEC-7111...r_1_5?keywords=t-tracks&qid=1588096318&sr=8-5
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If it's bare a sealer and floor paint will aid with sweeping up and generally reducing dust. Concrete as poured and finished in most houses LOVES to create dust for years and years. Polished concrete is a different story but that's not a typical (high dollar) finish for most house basements. And as an upside sealing and painting any exposed concrete is that it will have the added advantage of limiting the passing through into the house of any radon gas from the earth below.
I love the multi level benches where you can do the fussy or longer repetitive work from seated and other jobs from standing.
I'm a big believer in using ALL the volume of any furniture. And I've found that the best way for under benches is with drawers. Or if drawers are not an option using storage containers as make do drawers to aid with separating and avoiding a tangled clutter. Ikea in particular has a modular cheap line of containers under their SAMLA name. One could build up a good sturdy 2x4 structure as seen in a bunch of the posts here and just space the multiple legs such that wood or plastic slide rails could be included in the design such that SAMLA boxes of various sizes would act in place of drawers.
If any of you do it this way I'd say keep the lower "drawers" as slide on floor units and that way you can put the really heavy stuff in them without worry about the containers imploding... .
And yeah, one of the little compact compressors is a nice option for both some detail cleaning around the press as well as cleaning on firearms. Not essential but sure nice to have.
Sorry for no picture from me but I have not bothered with a hosting outfit since Photobucket.
Another hint... if you're looking for a cheap but durable bench top that is easy to clean and would be somewhat liquid proof look around at cheap closeouts on interlocking plank engineered flooring. In particular the vinyl floor planking. It's tougher than nails and if you do mess it up badly it's easily replaced. You want a front lip for the edge to press against and at the back you want to make up some spring clamps from ABS or PVS pipe that spring the flooring forward but still allow some expansion and contraction.
On my bench tops for the wood working and gunsmithing area I have around 74 square feet of surface done in a nice tough easily cleaned flooring that I put in for around $1.30/sq ft. The flooring is laid over 3/4" MDF that is sitting on top of kitchen style lower units that are all done in drawers with full extension slides. So the whole thing is strong and stiff enough to park a large truck onto it. And it looks great for very little money. And being a nice smooth surface it's easily kept good and clean.
Whatever you do though I learned years ago that the best "tool" that any work area can have is lots of well organized storage. Shelving is better than floors and a system of boxes that fit the shelves neatly so you can use the volume is better than stuff just piled on the shelves. But by far I've learned from my last shop is that kitchen style drawers below and wall cabinets above with good under cabinet lighting is by far the best of all.
So I see some nicely made benches here but done with a lot of volume below them shut away. Some of that volume could be given access with drawers in place and the gain in storage would be significant. We can't go wrong with more storage.
I thought about T track on my work top but realized that it would be a home for dust, powder and spent primers in short order. It's still a great idea but it DOES demand that a vacuum be kept handy.
I went with a little different option in the end. 5 inches in from the edge and spaced at 6" increments I've got holes in the top with 5/16" top hat nuts below. And all my presses and powder measures and even a couple of other odd ball things are mounted to plywood plates that bolt down to these points. This makes it easy and fast to bolt press, measure or case trimmer in place wherever it's handy at the time. And it was pretty cheap to do it this way.
Stuff is bolted down to these sub plates using more top hat nuts inserted from underneath. A Forstner bit makes a shallow round recess to accept the flange of the top hat nut and the bolts used to secure the items are picked or cut and dressed so they don't stick down lower than the bottom of the plywood.
I went with a little different option in the end. 5 inches in from the edge and spaced at 6" increments I've got holes in the top with 5/16" top hat nuts below. And all my presses and powder measures and even a couple of other odd ball things are mounted to plywood plates that bolt down to these points. This makes it easy and fast to bolt press, measure or case trimmer in place wherever it's handy at the time. And it was pretty cheap to do it this way.
Stuff is bolted down to these sub plates using more top hat nuts inserted from underneath. A Forstner bit makes a shallow round recess to accept the flange of the top hat nut and the bolts used to secure the items are picked or cut and dressed so they don't stick down lower than the bottom of the plywood.
I have a small DeWalt vacuum that sucks anything fall in the tracks. As well, Lee Valley actually sells strips that will temporarily seal the track flash with the bench.
