Where do you do your reloading?

My man cave, which is the converted upstairs gameroom to a home office.
 
Not having a spare room for a dedicated reloading bench I have mounted all of my tools on boards. Pic shows storage in the storage area leading to my attic. When I want to reload I C clamp whatever I am using to the kitchen table. No damage and rock solid. While somewhat a pain to take out and set up, it allows discreet storage and takes up no space while not in use.

 
RE-LOAD LAB

Often you have to make do with what you have. I've done it from the tailgate of a pick up, kitchen tables in small apartments, a basement boiler room, a few garages & finally an indoor mancave. For me the biggie is a comfortable climate control & low humidity room with good lighting, and a solid correct height workbench. After building several benches that you kind of have to leave behind if you move or decide to change rooms, I can't say enough good things about the craftsman galvanized workbench with 8 drawers. It's app the same cost as buying lumber/hardware & the time to build it. Connect it to wall studs, or anchor it to the floor & it is rock steady, just about everything will fit in the drawers or on top, the drawers hold an amazing amount of wt (the bullet drawer), it doesn't take up more room than a desk, and it's easy to move to a different place. MY SUGESTION.
 
Bullet casting stuff, gun cleaning, brass cleaning, in the garage
Reloading in the above ground (yep) finished basement.

Reloading tools and equipment are prone to rusting.
They need to be kept in a stable environment.
IMO quiet is good, no distractions, no TV, no radio, no nothing.
 
In a spare bedroom that has been converted to a reloading room/gun vault. All of my bullet casting is done out in the 16x32 ft. Morgan building.
 
When I got transferred back to Houston, I made sure that I had a room inside the AC-ed house to reload in. I took over the laundry room and it has worked well. I had a bench put in and put a bunch of strong shelves in so it works well. Nice to be in the AC instead of the garage.
 
Bottom Line is that it is extremely helpful to have a dedicated space. How much space depends on your situation of how your home is laid out, how varied and extensive your reloading will be and (if applicable), how easygoing your wife is.
Tht said, you make do with what you have. I started reloading out of plastic containers and a clamp on press set-up in the den some 25 years ago. Took longer to set up and break down than to reload. Today, now that I'm thoroughly bitten, I have the luxury of a basement with a dedicated bench and storage area.

 
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WOW! You all have some great set ups. I am leaning towards building or buying a bench for the garage but keeping the powder and stuff that's temperature or humidity sensitive in my office. The cool thing is my office is directly on the opposite side of the garage wall from where my bench will be located. I have been talking to the Mrs (who is 100% behind this venture) about putting a door into the office from the garage. Well now I'm thinking maybe just a pass-through type door. Something big enough to pass supplies through to the work area. Just a thought.

I see many of you have more than one press set up on your bench, I assume that's for different calibers? Is changing that much of a pia? Also I would assume some are for rifle calibers as well? I also am getting familiar enough to see you have single and progressive type presses?

I'm going to load pistol caliber at first. Eventually I like to load .223 and 5.56 for the evil black gun. I assume I'll need different equipment as far as a press? I'm still doing the recommended research that all you guys post. I'm reading and watching videos to get information so I don't ask too many idiot questions. ;)

Thanks and keep it coming, as always this forum is the best.

BTW: love the pics and links to threads with pics, helps A LOT!
 
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SW_shooter said:
WOW! You all have some great set ups. I am leaning towards building or buying a bench for the garage but keeping the powder and stuff that's temperature or humidity sensitive in my office. The cool thing is my office is directly on the opposite side of the garage wall from where my bench will be located. I have been talking to the Mrs (who is 100% behind this venture) about putting a door into the office from the garage. Well now I'm thinking maybe just a pass-through type door. Something big enough to pass supplies through to the work area. Just a thought.

I see many of you have more than one press set up on your bench, I assume that's for different calibers? Is changing that much of a pia? Also I would assume some are for rifle calibers as well? I also am getting familiar enough to see you have single and progressive type presses?

I'm going to load pistol caliber at first. Eventually I like to load .223 and 5.56 for the evil black gun. I assume I'll need different equipment as far as a press? I'm still doing the recommended research that all you guys post. I'm reading and watching videos to get information so I don't ask too many idiot questions. ;)

Thanks and keep it coming, as always this forum is the best.

BTW: love the pics and links to threads with pics, helps A LOT!
Click to expand...



Your most welcome.

The presses set up above are actually modular. I have four stations with identical bolt patterns drilled out and backed by threaded T-nus. All my presses are then mounted to Plywood bases with matching bolt patterns. This allows me to swap presses out quickly according to my needs ( I now reload 13 calibers and four more in shotshells . It gets busy!) I encourage you to build your bench sturdy ( and fixed to the wall )if you can. This one is bolted in 8 places into the concrete foundation so is "rock" sold. IF you look close, there is a grey metal cabinet to the top left of the picture. This is my (locked) powder and primer storage. I do keep desiccant in there but being a basement, it stays around 60 deg year round.
hth
 
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I reload in the basement now, but for 35 years I reloaded in an unattached garage/shop with no problems. In the Winter I used a space heater for additional warmth and I kept a thick rug under my feet.
 
I reload in my home office. Just a small work table I got from Harbor Freight in a corner with a Dillon SDB mounted and a side table for holding various tools and supplies. Works well for me to load 9mm and .45 ACP.
 
SW_shooter said:
...I am leaning towards building or buying a bench for the garage but keeping the powder and stuff that's temperature or humidity sensitive in my office...
Click to expand...

I do that. It works well.
My process:

1. Tumbling brass (garage)
2. Decapping & sizing brass (garage)
3. Prepping brass (garage)
4. Priming brass (garage)
5. Measuring and dropping powder charges (office)
6. Seating bullets (garage)

I keep the scale, powder, powder measure, primers, micrometer, and digital caliper in the office (where it is climate-controlled).

Everything else happens at the bench in the garage, where my rock-chucker is mounted.

Of course, I'm not hog-wild into it like a lot of the guys here. I only reload .223, .45ACP, 9mm, .38SPL, and .357 Mag. This set up works fine for me, with just the one 24-year-old press.
 
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