How to organize a first time reloading bench??

[bowhunter-tw]

I am just about done building my bench, my space constraints allowed a 24”x 48” bench top. How would you go about mounting your presses and powder measuring station to best flow? I have an RCBS rock chucker supreme and a partner press to mount and an rcbs powder measurer stand to mount

[Delw]

Nice bench, I like the bottom shelf set back like that. and the thickness of the 2 shelves on the top. I suggest using clamps  on the loaders and powder dump untill you figure out how it fits your needs, otherwise your going to have a bunch of holes drilled in that bench. also depending if your right handed or left hand will depend on how you want them mounted.

 

other than that, its too small, youll see why in a month or so.  if you got kids, make them bunk with each other or give them a tent in the back yard and take over there room LOL.

I have a 13x16 foot garage with a/c in the back yard and its no where near big enough for my loaders, brass hulls etc etc, its close when all the house storage stuff is out. which I plan on doing tonight after work since its cooling down.

 

Just realized something, add some better bracing to the front edge of the table,  maybe some angled piece's coming off the side legs. lots of down force in that area., generally you want 1.5" to 2" of sood for the tops, I used 8 foot solid wood office doors there llittle over 1.5" thick.

[5guyshunting]

Don't forget your beer holder😏

[PRDATR]

It looks too light weight. You really want something sturdy and heavy.

[Saguaro]

Delw is right.  The front edge will need to be stronger.  When you full-length resize, you put a lot of force and over time it will weaken or break it.  The same goes for a power measure with extruded powder, those can get real skakey.  You may need to anchor it to the floor to really get it to work right.  I was lucky.  My dad remodeled our kitchen when I was young and used the old cabinets and counters in our workshop and made it our reloading room.  Since it wasn’t a perfect fit, we used our old 1-3/4” solid core door as a filler where our counter top didn’t fit and we anchored the equipment to it with no problem.

Keep your scale somewhere else.  With the movement that is likely to make, it will throw your zero off pretty quick.

[biglakejake]

12 minutes ago, Saguaro said:

old 1-3/4” solid core door

gr8 desktop-just like mine

[bowhunter-tw]

Sorry for sideways pictures, not sure how to format; think this will suffice? Or does it need further re-enforcement? 2x4 screw and glued to underneath, 3/4 plywood on top not secured yet

[10Turkeys]

Here is how I mounted mine. I bought this bench from Sportsmans Wharehouse about 12-14 years ago, haven't seen any after that.

[bowhunter-tw]

Just sized and primed my first 50 30-30 cases. Went pretty smoothly. I still need to get case trays, some way of getting the powder into the shells (assuming a funnel?) im not completely sure how to properly utilize the powder measurer? Do you drop powder straight from it into the case? Or from it into the measuring cup then the case?

[10Turkeys]

2 hours ago, bowhunter-tw said:

Just sized and primed my first 50 30-30 cases. Went pretty smoothly. I still need to get case trays, some way of getting the powder into the shells (assuming a funnel?) im not completely sure how to properly utilize the powder measurer? Do you drop powder straight from it into the case? Or from it into the measuring cup then the case?

I'm assuming that you have an RCBS Uniflow powder meter? If so there should be a Couple different plastic fittings where the powder comes out of the meter. Match one of those fittings with your case mouth and there you go. Also unless your using some sort of a ball powder that meter can throw up to a full grain or more +/- per your wanted charge, especially with stick powder ie IMR-4350. At least that's what I've found with mine, even with a powder baffle.

[Saguaro]

Your setup should work.  You may find out you want to change it to something else later on.  You will find that reloading and everything that goes with it is never done.  That goes for case trays, measuring devices, bench layout, tools etc., you will be regularly adding and/or replacing items to get better or more efficient.  A new scale one day and a new set of calipers the next week then maybe a new powder trickler some other month.  Then you will get into case prep and buy all sorts of things, some just came out this year.  There’s always something new and maybe a little better to try out.  I like Midway USA for all things reloading.  Powder, I like to use a small business in my hometown.

 

You want to dispense powder into the shell casing just like 10Turkeys said.  From there, pour into the brass cup on the scale, from there pour back into the casing with a funnel.  If it’s too high, pour it back into the measure and adjust.  What I do is set it up a couple tenths low and trickle it to the exact weight on each case with stick powder.  Start saving for a Chargemaster or some other automatic dispenser, it will be a good timesaver.

[Delw]

20 hours ago, bowhunter-tw said:

Sorry for sideways pictures, not sure how to format; think this will suffice? Or does it need further re-enforcement? 2x4 screw and glued to underneath, 3/4 plywood on top not secured yet

 

That will work much better than you had befor. just play with it for a week or 2 till you figure out where you want to move stuff and if you need to stiffen it up or not.

loading takes time ti figure out what works best for you and they way you do things. If I had to do it all over again(and I'm not, well maybe

while the c clamps look tacky dont worry about it until you know where you want your stuff positioned.

[bowhunter-tw]

Yes the c clamps are meant to be temporary while positioning, I cant definitely see how things will be changed as I go and the seemingly never ending list of tools I could acquire...