Gun room work bench ideas

[mrmarmota]

Sniper,
Unless you have a extremely heavy, free standing bench,Your bench really should be screwed to the wall studs.
A friend lived in an apartment and wanted to build a reloading bench. The room had a closet with standard sliding closet doors.
He built a study but very basic bench in the closet ,fastened it to the wall studs. Stowed his stool under the bench, closed the closet doors and wife was happy. Out of sight, out of mind thing you know.Worked well for him in early days of reloading.When he moved he had only small holes to repair and paint in the closet. Who looks in there anyway? Great solution and good use of a small space. Good for nothing except wife's clothes and shoes. Yeck!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[shoot4fun]

Finally getting into a bigger house again and will have my gun room back. The room its going in is an office, no cabinets, just an empty room, sheet rocked, nothing special. This isnt a forever house, but 5 to 10 years..

What can I do for work benches, storage, and all thats not fixed to the walls or permanent? Everything pre built I see if EXPENSIVE... cant afford a $900 craftsman 6ft bench on wheels with drawers.. id need 4 of em at least...

Thinking ply wood, 2x4s would be cheapest... wife says that wont look nice though.

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200631533_200631533

I use one to load on. Very sturdy and you can customize the size.

 

[argrendel]

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200631533_200631533

I use one to load on. Very sturdy and you can customize the size.

I spotted these in my local building supply. Great idea.
However, would this work?

 

[TAJ45]

Something i have done and you may incorporate along the way. Go to Habitat for Humanity or Salvation Army for a solid core door. They are a marvelous bench top. Usually under $20. To level, i have run a ledger, 2x4, nice and straight along the wall, lagging it to the studs. Sooo much easier to level things up w the ledger. Can screw top to ledger. Or build the 2x4 box frame but only front legs needed. Screwing back of frame to the ledger. I have doubled 2x4s as well as 2x6s screwed together for legs. A back splash is handy. I haven't gone into drawer stacks and other possibilities.
One thing I had to do was gusset the corners of my stacks. Even the middle grades wont take much guff.
Oh yeah, an old oak office desk, usually one stack of 3 drawers, very solid, thick top. May need to put it on risers to achieve the desired bench hgt. Usually $35 and up at Goodwill etc but solid, commercial grade.

 

[Rustytigwire]

I have several of these steel office desk, the old gray ones. Most are 30" deep x 60" wide. Craigslist cheap or dumpster free. Bolt a wood top on. Put shelves over the back. Drawers will not open with press hanging off the front. Make sure the the drawer runners arent sticky, some slide, some rollers.
These are robust, one did 10 years weld shop, middle left drawer was hammers and pipe wrenches. Too heavy so i shoved it closed with my foot every time. Still alive after much abuse.
Yes ignore the mess, i can be organisationally challenged but recognise how versatile the desk can be.
Its under there somewhere.
Here are before and after pics.

 

[Old Navy]

This might save some powder.

 

[OmegaRed]

I got a bunch of free 2x4's from a friend that was cleaning out a shop. Mostly not nice, so I ripped then all down to 2" thickness, laminated them together (think butcher block) and router planed the top flat. Configuration was an L that's about 8'x8'. Then made the same top at standing height for an island that goes in the open space.

Think of it like a kitchen and the "golden triangle". You can stand at any one spot and have access to your other stuff. My L keeps my scales, trimmers, a small pull out catch all sterilite for pens, knives, small tools, etc. The stand up island holds my barrel vise, where I clean guns at, and presses. Everything is setup on made up plates which are made with the intent to be disposable. When I made them I made extras so that if you change to something else with a different hole pattern you arent drilling tons of holes in your top.

I've yet to have a complaint with this set up. Plenty of room, but not enough to allow you to leave your junk all over the place. Search craigslist for old cabinets. I got a bunch super cheap, hung them all with french cleats. Everything has its place, never a reason to have junk lying all over.

 

[JFrank]

View attachment 1192979 View attachment 1192980 works for me.

Capt Dan;
Is that the latest and greatest progressive from Dillon

 

[pirate ammo]

Capt Dan;
Is that the latest and greatest progressive from Dillon

XL 750, loaded 3300 rounds last weekend the primer system needs some tweaking but other than that it worked great.Got to save a few bucks for the bullet feed,got to stop giving out
free stuff.

 

[AlNyhus]

Here's mine if you're looking for some ideas. -Al

 

[Mark W]

Well done @AlNyhus!!

 

[joshb]

I have several of these steel office desk, the old gray ones. Most are 30" deep x 60" wide. Craigslist cheap or dumpster free. Bolt a wood top on. Put shelves over the back. Drawers will not open with press hanging off the front. Make sure the the drawer runners arent sticky, some slide, some rollers.
These are robust, one did 10 years weld shop, middle left drawer was hammers and pipe wrenches. Too heavy so i shoved it closed with my foot every time. Still alive after much abuse.
Yes ignore the mess, i can be organisationally challenged but recognise how versatile the desk can be.
Its under there somewhere.
Here are before and after pics.
View attachment 1193072
View attachment 1193074

They say a messy desk is a sign of a creative mind. You might be on the Michelangelo level !

 

[spaniel]

My reloading bench is ugly but functional. Bolted 2x6 construction with plywood. 3/4 inch top reinforced under the presses. built it the week after we moved in 13 years ago.

now I wanted better looking for the supplemental storage cabinets and supporting work surfaces. I bought the premade floor cabinets from Lowe’s and stain d them myself. The tops are 2x4s ripped a bit under half (room for blade waste), glued and screwed together into a butcher block style. Then sanded flat, filled the gooves with wood filler, sanded and stained then polyurethane. Very sturdy. It would be pretty easy to build a 2x4 frame to support the top in a way one could mount presses and keep the forces off the premade cabinets, which can’t take it. That’s that I’d do it I had to rebuild my reloading bench.

 

[DirtySteve]

They say a messy desk is a sign of a creative mind. You might be on the Michelangelo level !

Yeah I get tired of seeing unrealistic reloading areas... This is (almost) how mine looks.. We all know that after the first three reloading sessions they get a bit unkempt... Either that or my mind is super creative as well..

 

[JSH]

I used anoffice desk for quite a while. I also have a taller bench I had my single stage mounted on. Ended up building another bench I could stand at and work.
It got to the point it seemed I was always bent over when working on stuff.
Best advice I can give is don’t make it to deep. 24” is plenty. Any deeper just invites clutter. I make mine heavy and stiff enough that nothing moves when I am sizing.
Buddy has a reload bench that just flexed way to much. He did as others and got a solid core door and cut it down to fit.
You can’t have to much GOOD light either. Amazed me how bright the LED lights are over the old fluorescent bulb types.

 

[vegas]

I built this recently. It was just over $130 before the trim I added to the edges of the plywood top and polyurethane.

https://www.thediyhubs.com/2017/08/free-workbench-plans/

 

[hoz53]

About the same here. I did use 3/4" plywood for the top though. A couple of coats of urethane has held up well through the years. For the wall behind it, I put up 1/4" pegboard. Plastic loops and hooks in the board holds an amazing amount of stuff. Some shelves underneath and to the right, holds everything else. Built it about 20 years ago, so probably less than $100 in everything.

Chris Mitchell

This Last one is 4x8 and I used 3/4 plywood for the top on it. It’s also an island where all my others were against the wall. I like it better. Wish I would have made it of heavier lumber for the frame though. I like to see everything so I use shelves instead of cabinets.