Building the Perfect Reloading Room

And done. Not woodworker at all but it's level, doesn't move and most importantly was sturdy enough to remove the PSA barrel....


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I bought a portable building 10x24 and insulated the crap out of it. Climate controlled with a large window unit/heat pump. Very cool in summer and toasty in the winter. I got the wood for the inside from an old privacy fence and metal from an old barn at my parents place. Floor from Lowes. Built a stout table and mounted my press. Still doing final touches. Its got a couch, recliner, TV with WiFi. Cool little man cave for sure!!Screenshot_2019-01-20-22-19-22.png
 
I bought a portable building 10x24 and insulated the crap out of it. Climate controlled with a large window unit/heat pump. Very cool in summer and toasty in the winter. I got the wood for the inside from an old privacy fence and metal from an old barn at my parents place. Floor from Lowes. Built a stout table and mounted my press. Still doing final touches. Its got a couch, recliner, TV with WiFi. Cool little man cave for sure!!View attachment 7008541
Innovative and very nicely done ??
 
Yes they are, two of them side by side, with a 3/4” 4x8 sheet of ply ripped down the center and then laid on top of each other. Then fastened to the bench from the bottom side. Very sturdy so far.

I looked at those benches too. Did you reinforce the shelf over the lights at all? I wondered if the weight of storing several boxes of bullets was an issue. I found that some things from HF can be a little flimsy - not that things aren't more fimsy in general these days...
 
My wife has always been my hero but she was especially so today. We moved her elliptical out of the gun room so I have sole possession. With coupon in hand I headed to Harbor Freight for a second Yukon workbench. Also stopped by Sam's Club for another 48" LED shop light. The second workbench is dedicated to the annealer, tumbler. storage of the drier and associated paraphernalia. The original Yukon workbench will be used for gun maintenance, cleaning etc... The reloading bench can now be used exclusively for what it was built for. A place for everything and everything in it's place. My OCD is soothed...for now...




My OCD is NOT!! Those case are not lined up or even facing the same direction, left front wheel is not in line with cabinet...shit sorry, I actually HAVE OCD!!
 
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I bought a portable building 10x24 and insulated the crap out of it. Climate controlled with a large window unit/heat pump. Very cool in summer and toasty in the winter. I got the wood for the inside from an old privacy fence and metal from an old barn at my parents place. Floor from Lowes. Built a stout table and mounted my press. Still doing final touches. Its got a couch, recliner, TV with WiFi. Cool little man cave for sure!!View attachment 7008541
I'd be interested in hearing more about this. I grew up in the North and when I started reloading I had my stuff in a basement. Now that I moved back down South (was stationed down there), the wife and I just bought a house and basements aren't a thing. Right now I'm taking up one of the upstairs bedrooms, but soon enough I know I'll get kicked out. I had planned on using space in the garage or adding on a 3rd bay, but neither one is an ideal option. Purchasing an outbuilding and insulating/climate controlling it was the next best idea. How does the powder and primers fair? Any corrosion on the parts?
 
I've been dual utilizing my work bench in the garage as my reloading bench. Not ideal, but I make it work. We are getting ready to downsize, and then in 2-3 years move to a different state (MT or WY), so I'm saving all of the great ideas you guys have shared until we get settled in a few years.
 
I'd be interested in hearing more about this. I grew up in the North and when I started reloading I had my stuff in a basement. Now that I moved back down South (was stationed down there), the wife and I just bought a house and basements aren't a thing. Right now I'm taking up one of the upstairs bedrooms, but soon enough I know I'll get kicked out. I had planned on using space in the garage or adding on a 3rd bay, but neither one is an ideal option. Purchasing an outbuilding and insulating/climate controlling it was the next best idea. How does the powder and primers fair? Any corrosion on the parts?
I have had it for about three years now. No issues with corrosion. Powders and primers are still good. Realistically its no different than being in the house. The window unit/heat pump works great. The ac pulls moisture out in the summer, its shaded pretty good in the summer. The heat pump for winter works well also. Like I said its very insulated. I will get more pics up also.
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I have had it for about three years now. No issues with corrosion. Powders and primers are still good. Realistically its no different than being in the house. The window unit/heat pump works great. The ac pulls moisture out in the summer, its shaded pretty good in the summer. The heat pump for winter works well also. Like I said its very insulated. I will get more pics up also. View attachment 7037019View attachment 7037022View attachment 7037028
That looks great. We have just over 1.5 acres, mostly wooded. Unfortunately its all down a huge slope from the house, but I have enough room that I could probably add something just a little bit shorter than that on the garage side. Ideas are forming and its definitely cheaper than building a 3rd garage bay onto the house.
 
That looks great. We have just over 1.5 acres, mostly wooded. Unfortunately its all down a huge slope from the house, but I have enough room that I could probably add something just a little bit shorter than that on the garage side. Ideas are forming and its definitely cheaper than building a 3rd garage bay onto the house.
Its great. Inside dimensions are 10*20. There is a sandbox in front and a swing set for our kids now. I can load and hang with them. They will watch cartoons out there while I tumble and sort brass. My kids are 2 and 4, they think its the coolest place!!
 
"I know a guy" who is working on improving storage for his stuff, and he started with 'cabinet rails' that he got from IKEA. He just used them in a different way, to mount plywood panels onto the wall.

This way the panels are both held securely, 'invisibly', and removable. They can be removed so that they are adaptable/changeable as well as when the layout is finally finished, they will be covered with a "speaker cabinet fabric".

I'll see if I can get a few pictures, next time I'm there.
 
"I know a guy" who is working on improving storage for his stuff, and he started with 'cabinet rails' that he got from IKEA. He just used them in a different way, to mount plywood panels onto the wall.

This way the panels are both held securely, 'invisibly', and removable. They can be removed so that they are adaptable/changeable as well as when the layout is finally finished, they will be covered with a "speaker cabinet fabric".

I'll see if I can get a few pictures, next time I'm there.

I'm very curious about what you are trying to explain. Pics would be nice.
 
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man what some nice reloading rooms. i had a metal top desk and some shelves from sams club in my old shop. i tore it down and am upgrading to a bigger shop. they just showed up with the metal yesterday. have been trying to figure out what to do about a reloading section in my shop. will be 50x50 with 16 ft eaves. So ready to get all my stuff out of storage
 

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I'm very curious about what you are trying to explain. Pics would be nice.
Here's a few pics I was able to get:
Just a wall with two of the 'IKEA struts mounted'
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Wall Panel with 'short pieces' of the strut attached (upside down) on the back
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Panel wall hanging
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More pieces to be attached to more sections of the plywood. When it's all "said-and-done" the plywood will be covered with some sort of 'speaker-cabinet fabric'. The plywood gives freedom and license to mount/locate anything anywhere, and he has a number of plans as to what he's going to do.
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I don't get over there much, hence the delay in pics. He also didn't want anything to be in the pictures either. He's quite paranoid about security and whatnot, understandably.
 
I finally finished my 4th bench in my reloading room which is a dedicated gun building bench. Just needs to be stained and cleared but that will have to wait till spring when I can leave the windows open.

1. Dillon XL650 bench
2. Co-Ax / Chargemaster bolt rifle bench
3. Roch Chucker depriming and brass prep bench
4. Gun building/cleaning bench

I went with Inline Fabrications Ultramount with Quick Change baseplate system. Its an amazing setup!! I have 5 baseplates with different tools mounted on each. They have a huge drop down of pre made plates for all kinds to tools, trimmers, presses, vises, etc. Waiting on a second shipment from them with my wall mounting system. Also have a nice sturdy old dinning room table as kind of a 5th bench for whatever I need it for.










You’re basement is bigger than my house in the bay, lol. Nice setup sir. I can only dream!
 
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My current reloading room setup since I moved last year:

Two Dillon 650s, one set up for small primer, to load 556, 300BlkOut and 9mm. Other Dillon large primer to set up to load 45ACP, 308 and 458SOCOM. Have a Redding T7 that I load precision rounds, 30-06 and other small batch runs and test ladders with LabRadar.
 

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Here is my very first set up, have never reloaded before. Just finished it last night, it's nothing special but I'm happy with it for sure.

Looks great! Especially for a new reloader. I actually prefer a smaller bench like yours for reloading. Keeps you from having to much crap on the bench.
 
starting to put my new shop together, decided to have all my gear in one place so i bought a 10x20 security cage and will have two 80 wide body safes bolted down inside with a cabinet and shelf for my parts, reloading and ammo storage. started installing the cage, will set the safes in tonight and bolt them down so i can finish cabinets and cage installation.
 

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safe's set in place last night and one bolted in and half of the other one before my back gave out(back surgery). hope to finish tonight and get all my shit under lock and key again. will finish the cage this weekend. have to put together my cabinets before i can put the roof on the cage.
 

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safe's set in place last night and one bolted in and half of the other one before my back gave out(back surgery). hope to finish tonight and get all my shit under lock and key again. will finish the cage this weekend. have to put together my cabinets before i can put the roof on the cage.

Sweet jebus, Im pretty sure my whole reloading area would fit INSIDE your two safes.
Very nice sir! Its going to look sweet when done!
 
Sweet jebus, Im pretty sure my whole reloading area would fit INSIDE your two safes.
Very nice sir! Its going to look sweet when done!

thank you, the boss lady had a fit when i ordered the security cage but i have a lot invested in my firearms and reloading equipment and want it safe. this shop has been 15 years in the making so im doing it right.
 
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This is what I started with about 10 years ago. It was a nightstand we were going to throw away. I reinforced it with plywood on 5 sides. After I built my next bench I put this one in my RV so I could reload on the road and while at work.





You can just make out the strong mount and base of the RL550 on top. The guy who bought my rv wanted it so it's now gone...
 
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I have a 2 3/4 car garage... the last 3/4 bay was designed for a golf car, and is only 9' wide. The back 2/3rds or so is walled off so that there's a front bay that fits the golf cart, then an open space, about 5' x 8', where I built my reloading area, then a door to what was a 6' x 8' storage room. I swapped the door to the storage room for a steel core, put 2 layers of 3/4" plywood around the 2 interior walls with 2 layers of 1/2" hardie-backer concrete sandwiched between them... (the outside is stone and 1 1/2" concrete w/wire mesh and stucco on the outside, so I didn't reinforce that) and made that my gun room. No pics of that process.. but it's as secure as I could make it without getting really crazy...

Next, I built my benches with 4 x 4 uprights in the front, 2 x 4s in the back, screwed into the studs. For that matter, everything except the trim is screwed together, and all shelves have fully 2 x 4 framed bottoms... Shelves are CDX 3/4 ply.

Built this about 7 years ago:







my helpers





Here you can see how the shelves are not notched in the rear for the uprights. I wanted the shelves to be fully supported, so each layer has 2x4s married to the studs, then the shelf sits on top of the 2x4s, then the 2x4 frame on each shelf is screwed to the 2x4s at the back and the 4x4s in front. Everywhere there is a 2x4 meeting a 4x4, I screwed them together with 4", 5", or 6" deck screws. I wanted this thing to be as solid as I could make it.



The bench top is 2 layers of 3/4" birch plywood, first glued together and then screwed together with 1 1/4" stainless screws. I painted the shelves and uprights with white industrial enamel...doesn't stain easily, and easy to clean:




And that's how it stayed for about 4 years... Mounted my first dillon 1050 and my 550, and went to loading and shooting...

 
about 3 years ago, I ran out of room for bullets, presses, and everything else used in reloading. So, first I built another bench @ 90 degrees from the original, along the wall...built just as heavily as the first, but about 6" lower:

On the first bench, I waited until I was completely finished to paint it... pain in the behind to get to the back of the shelves...so here, I painted as I went:





I also finally sealed the tops with epoxy and put 1/2 round on the nose...



And since I was tired or -30 degree winters and 250 degree summers (hey, it's west texas...really cold and then hot, for real) I walled in the reloading room and added insulation and a room ac...





and as it sits today: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZhPiFK5LV8NbQdG48