Reloading bench build...

[TerryH]

Great job on the bench. Very nice work-- only trouble is its to small

Thanks. I'll just have to be efficient.

 

[LC Tikka]

Nice handy work Terry, although it is just another rectangle bench.
An "L" or wrap-around top would allow easier access to well laid out reloading eq, without having to side along the table front. You can always add to your bench as you look to have the room.
LC

 

[swadiver]

Nothing wrong with the HF benches. They are pretty nice actually.

The HF bench is ok but the drawers suck

 

[TerryH]

Nice handy work Terry, although it is just another rectangle bench.
An "L" or wrap-around top would allow easier access to well laid out reloading eq, without having to side along the table front. You can always add to your bench as you look to have the room.
LC

Would have loved to been able to do an L but need to share the "gun room" with the wife's workout equipment. This is all the space I am allotted.

 

[TerryH]

The HF bench is ok but the drawers suck

Agree but if building is not an option then the HF is a good starting point especially if you can find a coupon. Seen them for pretty cheap!

 

[Rope2horns]

Would have loved to been able to do an L but need to share the "gun room" with the wife's workout equipment. This is all the spacer I am allotted.

Terry, I'm such a nice guy I'll you come down and build a L in my gun room!

Great work bud!!

 

[TerryH]

Terry, I'm such a nice guy I'll you come down and build a L in my gun room!

Great work bud!!

Oh man. Thanks. I'll be right over.

 

[Papa Charlie]

Terry, you might want to consider adding some shelving to the back of your bench along with a back to keep stuff from rolling off the back. Being able to store your powders, oils, dies, equipment, measuring tools, cleaning tools, and special gunsmithing tools will be important to keeping your bench clear or prevent you from having to dig for it from under the bench.

 

[TerryH]

Terry, you might want to consider adding some shelving to the back of your bench along with a back to keep stuff from rolling off the back. Being able to store your powders, oils, dies, equipment, measuring tools, cleaning tools, and special gunsmithing tools will be important to keeping your bench clear or prevent you from having to dig for it from under the bench.

Yes. I'm going to add a hutch to the back of the bench. That's the next project. Trying to figure out what configuration that piece needs to be right now.

 

[joshb]

Hi Terry: Nice job, so far. You do fine work! Looking at the pics of your shop make me embarrassed to look at my jumbled chaos. I'm not going to give my rant about MDF. Every man has his likes and dislikes. Any thinking into the future has to include bullet storage. I made 2 deep heavy duty drawers to handle the weight. Digging thru them to find what I want is a pain. More, shallower drawers would have been much better. A little deeper than a 100 box on end or a 500 box height would be best. Make room enough for various calibers, now. I've been bitten by this bug for a while and can talk from experience. You won't stop at the 308 once you see the results of good handloading. Trust me! Orderly brass storage is another concern. Plan for it now. It will save time later! I was "just" going to do 308, 223, and 6br. I was short sighted. Now I'm doing that plus 6ppc, 6.5-47, 6.5-55, 6.5 Creed, 300 Win Mag, 45/70... heck...let's just say every caliber I own a gun in! Oops, I forgot to mention powder storage!

 

[TerryH]

Hi Terry: Nice job, so far. You do fine work! Looking at the pics of your shop make me embarrassed to look at my jumbled chaos. I'm not going to give my rant about MDF. Every man has his likes and dislikes. Any thinking into the future has to include bullet storage. I made 2 deep heavy duty drawers to handle the weight. Digging thru them to find what I want is a pain. More, shallower drawers would have been much better. A little deeper than a 100 box on end or a 500 box height would be best. Make room enough for various calibers, now. I've been bitten by this bug for a while and can talk from experience. You won't stop at the 308 once you see the results of good handloading. Trust me! Orderly brass storage is another concern. Plan for it now. It will save time later! I was "just" going to do 308, 223, and 6br. I was short sighted. Now I'm doing that plus 6ppc, 6.5-47, 6.5-55, 6.5 Creed, 300 Win Mag, 45/70... heck...let's just say every caliber I own a gun in! Oops, I forgot to mention powder storage!

Thanks Josh. Predicting storage needs is my present dilemma as I attempt to plan for a hutch. I know that I'll load for my 6.5 CM and likely for my .223 Tikka so those are a given. Past that I'm just not sure. Not like I can't build something different in the future if I need to but would like to design and build something now that will serve me for the foreseeable future.

 

[Twoboxer]

Thanks Josh. Predicting storage needs is my present dilemma as I attempt to plan for a hutch. I know that I'll load for my 6.5 CM and likely for my .223 Tikka so those are a given. Past that I'm just not sure. Not like I can't build something different in the future if I need to but would like to design and build something now that will serve me for the foreseeable future.

IME, storage methods only became clear after some experience in the hobby.

Powder stored together separate from primers at the start . . . then pistol supplies separated from rifle supplies, a decision in part due to sheer volume. Bulk storage for brass became multiple smaller storage by lot for tracking. Storage for bullets in cubbies by caliber local to the bench became bulk storage due again to the rapidly growing volume . . . which called for several *strong* shelves. Die storage went through 3 iterations until I standardized on Hornady die boxes. Small parts, press change over parts, tool "kits" assembled to specifically address your press's needs (if any), the list goes on.

You have more experience organizing a shop than I ever had. And your choices aren't likely to be the same as mine, but they are likely to evolve. So here's a vote for something simple.

Stack up your supplies, protect your powder and primers making allowance for inevitable and significant expansion, and learn your preferences from experience.

 

[TerryH]

IME, storage methods only became clear after some experience in the hobby.

Powder stored together separate from primers at the start . . . then pistol supplies separated from rifle supplies, a decision in part due to sheer volume. Bulk storage for brass became multiple smaller storage by lot for tracking. Storage for bullets in cubbies by caliber local to the bench became bulk storage due again to the rapidly growing volume . . . which called for several *strong* shelves. Die storage went through 3 iterations until I standardized on Hornady die boxes. Small parts, press change over parts, tool "kits" assembled to specifically address your press's needs (if any), the list goes on.

You have more experience organizing a shop than I ever had. And your choices aren't likely to be the same as mine, but they are likely to evolve. So here's a vote for something simple.

Stack up your supplies, protect your powder and primers making allowance for inevitable and significant expansion, and learn your preferences from experience.

Thank you for the suggestions.

 

[Papa Charlie]

Thanks Josh. Predicting storage needs is my present dilemma as I attempt to plan for a hutch. I know that I'll load for my 6.5 CM and likely for my .223 Tikka so those are a given. Past that I'm just not sure. Not like I can't build something different in the future if I need to but would like to design and build something now that will serve me for the foreseeable future.

Terry, I keep my brass separated by caliber and by the number of firings, also separated by fired, cleaned and primed as additional subcategories. I am lucky here as I only use Lapua for my FTR rifle so one less category to contend with. This way I can group loads with like condition brass and be sure to know when brass goes from Match quality to Practice level. Small shoe box size plastic boxes with snapping lids or smaller depending on the amount of brass you hoard. I must have 5000 cases for my 45ACP, 1000 of the 30-06 and 500 of my Lapua .308 Winchester. Pick up 30-06 and 45ACP anytime I find them at the range since I don't care about their make.
Then you have to store primers and powder but I would recommend storing those in a metal cabinet in the garage. Make sure the cabinet is not sealed, as you don't want to create a bomb in case of a fire. Likewise I don't store ammo or powder in the safe for that reason.
Just some food for thought.

 

[memilanuk]

Thanks. I've used these boxes for many years already. Never had any issue with them even dragging all over the country to race tracks etc.. They been making them for many years in these configurations so I'm pretty confident in the boxes and that HF will continue to produce them. Hard to be for $7 each if you have a coupon.

Sweet. We just got a HF in town here locally about a year ago or so. Good to hear that these boxes are on their 'good stuff' list.

 

[TerryH]

Terry, I keep my brass separated by caliber and by the number of firings, also separated by fired, cleaned and primed as additional subcategories. I am lucky here as I only use Lapua for my FTR rifle so one less category to contend with. This way I can group loads with like condition brass and be sure to know when brass goes from Match quality to Practice level. Small shoe box size plastic boxes with snapping lids or smaller depending on the amount of brass you hoard. I must have 5000 cases for my 45ACP, 1000 of the 30-06 and 500 of my Lapua .308 Winchester. Pick up 30-06 and 45ACP anytime I find them at the range since I don't care about their make.
Then you have to store primers and powder but I would recommend storing those in a metal cabinet in the garage. Make sure the cabinet is not sealed, as you don't want to create a bomb in case of a fire. Likewise I don't store ammo or powder in the safe for that reason.
Just some food for thought.

Thanks again. I have a metal gun cabinet (not sealed) that I'm going to use to store powder etc... I seriously doubt that I'll load pistol ammo. Perhaps I'll change my mind but I doubt it. My reloading time is going to be limited so I'll need to concentrate on the rifle rounds. That will narrow down the amount of storage necessary. I'm just going to build a simple bookshelf style hutch to begin with and see how it goes. I can always add on or change it entirely if need be. Might need an excuse to build something new in a few months.

 

[TerryH]

Tonight's progress was not much but every little bits gets it closer to done. Got the storage box cabinet edge banded and test fit. Seems like it's going to work well.







Since we are talking about the HF boxes, I do love these things. I have a ton of them. The removable and interchangeable compartments just work.



The lids have molded in keepers to keep the compartments and their contents in place no matter how the boxes are oriented.



I knocked out some bases for the vise, powder throw and the press. Just scrap melamine edge banded with pine. Countersunk headed bolts thru the melamine will attach the bases. Once I know for sure where I want the vise and the press I'll drill and attached screw on tee nuts on the bottom of the top and use some star knobs for tool-less attachment. I'll just attach to the bench of some F clamps for now.

 

[Mozella]

The HF bench is ok but the drawers suck

My HF drawers work great. The secret to building this bench is a dab on yellow carpenters glue, or something similar, on each and every joint. That makes the bench, including the drawers, rock solid. I'm happy with mine.

 

[Papa Charlie]

Do you plan to measure all your powder out then seat the bullets. Because if you don't, then you might want to consider a separate bench for the scale, especially if you use a digital scale. The vibration/movement of the press will definitely affect your scale.

 

[TerryH]

Do you plan to measure all your powder out then seat the bullets. Because if you don't, then you might want to consider a separate bench for the scale, especially if you use a digital scale. The vibration/movement of the press will definitely affect your scale.

I do plan to measure out all the powder before seating any bullets. I'm seating with the K&M arbor press and Wilson micro seating die. I have the A&D FX120i scale with the auto trickler.