My Relocated and "Back In Service" Reloading Bench

[3Sport]

Hello gents:

I started my reloading journey in 1992, and then abruptly shut down my reloading bench ten years later in 2002 . The bench sat idle as a messy storage table for 20 years. In 2022, I moved the bench out to my finished garage, cleaned it up, stabilized the homebrew shelves, and put it back into service. I've been reloading steadily since then. Mostly pistol calibers like 380, 9mm, 38/357, 45 ACP, 45 LC, 44 Spl and Magnum. 357 and 44 mag are lever action rifle only for me. I do reload one bottleneck rifle cartridge, the 303 British for my vintage Enfield.

I have upgraded some components, but I still use my 1992 Rock Chucker single stage, with an RCBS Piggyback progressive, mostly for 9mm. The rest of the calibers I hand load single stage. To me, reloading is more about "Crafting" ammunition, than it is "Volume" reloading. Except for 9mm. I go through that too fast to enjoy crafting 9mm cartridges. I truly enjoy reloading as much as I do shooting ammunition.

The old reloading bench in the basement, neglected and disheveled;



Relocated bench, cleaned up, organized and back in service in my finished garage;

 

[TTE]

Nice. Your old shelf was sagging a bit.

 

[3Sport]

Thanks. Yes indeed. Actually, it's the same shelf that I built in the 1990s out of shelving material from a hardware store. I just added back corner braces and wooden dowel in the center for support.

The bench now gets plenty of use. Real reloading use, not use as a throw-all storage bench.

 

[Big Mc]

Hello gents:

I started my reloading journey in 1992, and then abruptly shut down my reloading bench ten years later in 2002 . The bench sat idle as a messy storage table for 20 years. In 2022, I moved the bench out to my finished garage, cleaned it up, stabilized the homebrew shelves, and put it back into service. I've been reloading steadily since then. Mostly pistol calibers like 380, 9mm, 38/357, 45 ACP, 45 LC, 44 Spl and Magnum. 357 and 44 mag are lever action rifle only for me. I do reload one bottleneck rifle cartridge, the 303 British for my vintage Enfield.

I have upgraded some components, but I still use my 1992 Rock Chucker single stage, with an RCBS Piggyback progressive, mostly for 9mm. The rest of the calibers I hand load single stage. To me, reloading is more about "Crafting" ammunition, than it is "Volume" reloading. Except for 9mm. I go through that too fast to enjoy crafting 9mm cartridges. I truly enjoy reloading as much as I do shooting ammunition.

The old reloading bench in the basement, neglected and disheveled;

View attachment 1677248

Relocated bench, cleaned up, organized and back in service in my finished garage;

View attachment 1677249

You will no longer find anything. Tommy Mc

 

[6.5 forever]

Nice job. Looks efficient.

 

[3Sport]

Thanks gents. The most important thing for me was the micro Philips stereo. Old enough to have a cassette player as well as a top CD player. I use it mostly with the FM Receiver or an Amazon Echo Dot for streaming. I enjoy music when I reload.

The drawers are set up for cleaned and new brass cases in the left drawer, bullets in the right drawer. Large storage of big box bullets, cleaning media with vibe tumbler, fired brass and other large/heavy items are on the bottom shelf. The drawer full of bullets is heavy. Cudos to Craftsman (circa 1998) for making a bench that can actually stand up to some heavy hardware.

 

[Bill Norris]

Looks very nice and organized. Should be able to load some quality stuff right there.

 

[Cecil S.]

Nice job.

 

[K22]

Good job. That Craftsman's Cabinet appears ideally suited for a reloading bench. Time to make the "donuts" 

Incidentally, for those of you who have fiber board shelves that sag, it can be corrected by placing a piece of tight-fitting aluminum channel on one end.

 

[GotRDid]

That is Awesome!
My bench looks like Albert Einstein’s desk; but lots of Handloading still gets done there.

 

[boltfluter]

Very nice. Vast improvement over the other one.
Paul