reloading bench, lets see it!

[scout]

Everyone's circumstances are different, and not everyone has space for a sprawling gun/reloading room nor would want one if they did. Those who are just starting out probably have heard about guys that load ammo at the kitchen table with a Lee Loader, and the minimum room requirement is what encouraged them to jump in. That was me in my teens, so I've been there, done that, have the T-shirt, but I quickly recognized the limitations of that and slowly, over time, took on shares in RCBS. Interestingly though, I recently obtained a small arbor press and a set of Wilson dies for my SAKO .222 Magnum, so its almost like going back to a Lee Loader without the hammer. This little outfit could be easily taken to the cabin when I wanted to work up loads out there as I was shooting. Of course, now I have to buy more die sets. Every now and then I'm tempted to take a big gulp of the Dillon Kool-Aid, which is not space friendly, and would require a major restructuring of my current loading room. And I'm looking seriously at bullet swaging, which will probably require expanding to the hot room in the garage.

LOL - some good flash-backs here with your comments - I started with a Dillon 550 in an apartment that was mounted to a small bench (study carrel from the university - now those babies are solid!). Setup in the basements had the 550 in the smaller reloading room I designed beside my wife's larger quilting room. Buying the motorized 1050 for case prep had us swapping rooms (the 1050 sits on the carrel now).

 

[ivo]

IVO I love your setup. Where did you get the plastic nuts for the T Track?

You can get the T Track and nuts at any woodworking shop(Lee Valley, Canadian Woodworker, Busy Bee...) I actually found a T Bolt/nut kit at Princess Auto as well.
I researched for months before starting to build anything. I think that all the research paid off, I'm very happy with how the room functions and how much storage I have.

 

[Gatehouse]

Boomers post reminded me of my starting set up. I had the press, powder measure, case trimmer all mounted on a rough cut 2x8 that I slabbed out using my chainsaw mill. I would take the 2x8 and clamp it to the kitchen counter, and churn out the ammo by the hundreds. I'd do all the brass prep I could in advance, then get to it. I loaded lots of rifle ammo and thousands of 45 ACP ammo on a RCBS ROckchucker.

Now I've got an 8ft main bench with 3 layers of 3/4" plywood, a smaller bench, lots of shelves full of powder and bullets and dies and brass....And a progressive press that I use for 223 and handgun ammo. Plus all the other stuff one needs.

 

[Scooter Money]

Here's what I have so far. The room is a bedroom in my townhouse. I got the table at the second-hand store and is heavy duty. There is a shelf on the backside of the table under the top. I am setting up for .40 S&W. Once I get things organized, I will post photos of my cabinet with aluminum checker-plate sliding doors.