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Posted: 11/20/2020 3:06:57 PM EDT
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I am new to the world of reloading and have been acquiring all of the necessary parts. I am finally ready to get it all mounted and begin. I have an original 1974 RCBS Rockchucker that was given to me along with a RCBS Uniflow 2 powder measure. I have purchased the RCBS mounting base and the power measure stand. With the RCBS mounting plate, it has the powder measure on the left and the rockchucker on the right. The mounting plate is about 10" wide. I am right handed, would you recommend mounting this setup to the right or left side of the reloading bench? As I have never reloaded I am unsure which would be more efficient.  RCBS® Accessory Base Plate-2 |
 I'm right handed, so Rockchucker is mounted on the far right side of bench. Notice Scale is mounted at eye level on a sturdy level shelf. Trickler just to the right of scale pan. Powder measure mounted close to scale for a good work flow.  If I am using one of my progressives, it mounts in the center of the bench. Bolts and wing nuts makes set up and removal easy. Rockchucker is just out of the pic on the right. Welcome to our hobby.  |
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I suggest you do the opposite and set it up "lefty". This let's your dumb hand do the easy stuff... pull the handle. Leaving your strong hand to do the tedious operations. I'm a lefty and can't fathom setting my press on the left side. Try setting a flat-base .224 bullet into a case with your left vs. right hands. Try holding 15 .223 cases in your left hand and feeding them out one by one... not gonna work. You want to do that with your right/strong hand. Although this could be a great opportunity to develop motor skills in the weak hand... |
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I bolt my presses to a plate that is large enough to use C clamps To secure it to the bench top. I have a small place to work. I have a steel plate bolted to the bench that over hangs the top. I can take my press off and install my vise Suggestion go to graft & sons and get extra priming arms and punches, you will need them as they are made from pot metal and eventually fail, Lyman's will fit most of the time, but they fail as well |
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OP- use C-clamps to attach the press to your bench in various spots and do a test. You don't have to load anything- just go through motions. Once you find a comfortable point, make sure it is solid- reinforce it if you have to. For the record, I have presses all over the place. 5 shotgun presses side-by-side on 1 bench; on another bench, a Dillon 550 on the left side and a Lee Classic Turret on the right. On my hunting rifle bench is a RCBS RS-II on the left side. Scales and other accessories are in other places. Good luck and welcome to the addiction. |
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Thanks for the pictures! You guys have some great looking setups! I think you may have a good point on using the RCBS base and putting both the rock chucker and powder measure on there. Just playing around with them, it seems to put the powder measure in the way of the rock chucker. |
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Quoted: I suggest you do the opposite and set it up "lefty". This let's your dumb hand do the easy stuff... pull the handle. Leaving your strong hand to do the tedious operations. I'm a lefty and can't fathom setting my press on the left side. Try setting a flat-base .224 bullet into a case with your left vs. right hands. Try holding 15 .223 cases in your left hand and feeding them out one by one... not gonna work. You want to do that with your right/strong hand. Although this could be a great opportunity to develop motor skills in the weak hand... Im a lefty too,and this is how I do it also. |
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Quoted: I am new to the world of reloading and have been acquiring all of the necessary parts. I am finally ready to get it all mounted and begin. I have an original 1974 RCBS Rockchucker that was given to me along with a RCBS Uniflow 2 powder measure. I have purchased the RCBS mounting base and the power measure stand. With the RCBS mounting plate, it has the powder measure on the left and the rockchucker on the right. The mounting plate is about 10" wide. I am right handed, would you recommend mounting this setup to the right or left side of the reloading bench? As I have never reloaded I am unsure which would be more efficient.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD3Mxx7w64gOP, if you already purchased the plate use it for your powder measure as a stand alone. That way you can move it anywhere on your bench. I used an aluminum plate to mount 2 powder measures pointed opposite of each other. One for ball powder and the other for extruded powder. It allows me to place them in the best location depending on need and move them completely out of the way when I'm doing something where they are not needed.  Press on the right side works best for me being right handed. Sometimes I pull the handle with my left cause I get bored or tired of using the right hand. If you can sit or stand it allows even more variation and reduces repetitive motion fatigue. |
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Quoted: OP, if you already purchased the plate use it for your powder measure as a stand alone. That way you can move it anywhere on your bench. I used an aluminum plate to mount 2 powder measures pointed opposite of each other. One for ball powder and the other for extruded powder. It allows me to place them in the best location depending on need and move them completely out of the way when I'm doing something where they are not needed. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50635523743_6f940a9fa6_z.jpg Press on the right side works best for me being right handed. Sometimes I pull the handle with my left cause I get bored or tired of using the right hand. If you can sit or stand it allows even more variation and reduces repetitive motion fatigue. Your picture reminds me to explicitly point out to OP... If at all possible, mount a track for akro bins along the front of your bench. I butted it up right to my press. Whatever I'm working on comes out of the press and unashamedly drops right into the bin. Unless I'm trying to work bulk brass, then it drops right into a 5gal, but I'm not dropping primed/live from ~3ft+. 6" into the akro bin, yeah. The small bins are good for around 50rds of 5.56, the big bins 250rds. Could probably fit 75/350pcs of brass. I'm kind of a brute until the brass has a primer in it. |
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Quoted: Mount press to the right. Nothing happens on the right side of the press except pulling the handle. Cases and bullets are fed into the left side. This for a rock Chucker though lefties can put the handle on the left and feed it from the right the press is still designed to be right hand use biased. |
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Well I went ahead and mounted everything after reviewing the comments here and playing around with all the parts. Please keep in mind a lot of this was given to me, so I realize there are some less than desirable components involved (lyman junk scale). With the Rock Chucker it became apparent that I need to work from the left side of the press so I will need some room on that side to work. I also agree that mounting the powder measure on the RCBS base plate along side the press would have put it in the way of the press. So I mounted it separately further back. Please let me know what you guys think and if you have any suggestions! 
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 Don't assume that Lyman scale is junk, do you know how to calibrate it? I have my scale at eye level on a sturdy level shelf. If you view scale at an angle you get parallax error. If you leave it on your bench as in the pic. Also scale is mounted to a sturdy shelf right next to PM for a good work flow. I like lots of room on the left side of my press. Get rid of the peg board, the worst spacer waster ever conceived, and build some simple shelfs. |
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Quoted: Well I went ahead and mounted everything after reviewing the comments here and playing around with all the parts. Please keep in mind a lot of this was given to me, so I realize there are some less than desirable components involved (lyman junk scale). With the Rock Chucker it became apparent that I need to work from the left side of the press so I will need some room on that side to work. I also agree that mounting the powder measure on the RCBS base plate along side the press would have put it in the way of the press. So I mounted it separately further back. Please let me know what you guys think and if you have any suggestions! https://i.imgur.com/fasR4Ez.jpg Nicer than what I started with many years ago. Nothing wrong with that scale unless it's been abused. Get a set of check weights and calibrate it and you're good to go. I sold a similar scale when I came across my 10/10 for a screaming deal. I have electronic scales but prefer the balance beams. |
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The Lyman scale is new in the box. Just very disappointed with it being plastic, it weighs practically nothing. I guess Lyman now makes them in metal again, but this was a gift a long time ago so I will give it a try. Also, I am not sure how to calibrate, any tips would be very much appreciated. |
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Quoted: The Lyman scale is new in the box. Just very disappointed with it being plastic, it weighs practically nothing. I guess Lyman now makes them in metal again, but this was a gift a long time ago so I will give it a try. Also, I am not sure how to calibrate, any tips would be very much appreciated. Yes, you need to elevate the scale as dryflash suggests, or forever be stuck having to rest your chin on the table for an accurate reading. Zero the scale out by turning the knob on the bottom/left. This will shift the index point up/down relative to the needle. Verify it with a check weight. I don't know how to actually calibrate it, I assume it would involve adding/removing weight from the beam so that when at zero, it properly measures two check weights. Ideally the bigger the difference the better. I like where I put my measure. Keeps it free from the press, but close enough to allow work flow. Doesn't make me feel like it's taking up much space on the table, since I like to put my bullet box near the base of it, and use a small tray/tin to pour some bullets in, which sits adject to the press on the left side, near the edge of the bench. I've since screwed on a section of rail to hold akro bins right next to the press, so what comes out of it gets dropped in the bin immediately. The bin would also serve as a safety net to keep me from having to pick up all those bullets when my dumbass inevitably knocks the tin off. I also put a section of rail in front of the trimmer for that purpose. The two buckets of 5.56 brass have since been turned into loaded rounds, and the rifle has much more throat erosion  Attached File |
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Quoted: The Lyman scale is new in the box. Just very disappointed with it being plastic, it weighs practically nothing. I guess Lyman now makes them in metal again, but this was a gift a long time ago so I will give it a try. Also, I am not sure how to calibrate, any tips would be very much appreciated. Set all weight settings to zero, place pan on scale. Adjust leveling screw until the pointer is a zero. Done. What you just did is called Tare with a digital scale. Check weights are a good idea, but you can get by with a Sierra bullet. They are never more than a tenth off from what is marked on box, and normally exact weight. |
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I think that base plate is a dumb idea. Placing the powder measure that close makes no sense, but I guess it makes mounting the press to particle board workable... I'm a lefty and my Rockchucker is bolted down on the far right side of the bench. My right arm runs the press, my left handles cases and projectiles. My powder measure and scale are on a platform mounted to the center-rear of the bench so the scale is at eye level. This arrangement gives me maximum use of the 24"×48" surface area of my reloading bench. The way OP is set up, IMHO, the right half of the bench top is wasted space and the working area is too cluttered. |
| AS long as the powder dispensor isn't next to a wall it's up to you. Make sure you can get your entire tray of shells filled with powder wherever you mount it. I had a setup where I had to flip it around a bunch of different ways to fill every case. I never liked it just because I was always concerned I'd miss a casing and load up an empty shell....which I did once. Primer and no powder sticks a bullet in the barrel nicely. Glad I didn't pull the trigger because it would have been a bad day. |
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I have three benches but only use one for reloading. The other two I can use for anything ie gun cleaning. The tops are 1 1/2 maple bolted to the wall. Bolt the bench to the wall! I have 3 machines on my bench with the RC being to the far right and moving left I have a SDB and an XL650. The RC and the SDB have inline mounts. I never bolted the pressed to the bench for the same reason you are thinking about this its permanent and I don't want to f it up. What I did was install two T-tracks and mount everything to 3/4 in ply boards. I can adjust my machines left and right depending on the work flow. T-tracks |
I have my press mounted to the far right, but left enough room to set a manual & calipers. I'm right handed so I operate the press with that hand & the loading trays with the cartridges & bullets I'm loading on the left side. If I want to stop & check anything like OAL, I just use my right hand to grab the calipers or look up what the OAL is supposed to be for the load I'm doing. I've got too many numbers in my head for it to take right away so I usually double check the number a few times before it sticks in my head. Or as I tell my wife, I have them ALL memorized, I just like to be safe & set a good example. Think she even believes me.
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