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Posted: 8/21/2008 6:22:55 PM EDT
So I was reading the latest American Rifleman magazine and there is an article in there on building a reloading bench. One of the things that he mentioned was that on a bench with a "standard" width top, and presses mounted to the front of the beach it leaves a bunch of dead space between the presses and the back of the bench that tends to collect stuff. Mine seems to do that, but then again I probably have too many presses on my bench . The question to the group is do you all find that to be the case also? Has anyone here tried to run presses on a narrower bench, say one that is only big enough to fit the presses footprint plus maybe a narrow 6"-8" shelf along the back? Thoughts? |
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You can get by with about anything, but a really narrow bench top would just force you to have tables along side to hold stuff. 12 inches would probably be sufferable in a tight squeeze, but I don't think I would recommend anything less than 18 inches wide. Mine are 24 inches wide. The metallic bench has a Craftsman tool box and a box of small parts drawers in two bays, and I put powder and shot bottles back in the third bay. My shotgun bench has a small set of drawers from Walmart for the bushings, and a portable reloading box for the range sits (in the way) at one end, behind whichever press I'm not using. |
If you don’t have any “dead” space to put that stuff, it’ll be in your way instead. ?? – I just realized that might be my problem – I don’t have enough dead space!! |
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My bench is 2' deep x 4' long. The front 8" is for my 2 presses, case trimmer and RockChuck powder drop, the mid 8"-10" is for stuff that I am using while running the presses like the scale, caliper, beverage, components. The rest is for die storage, loading manuals, tools. The upper 1' x 4' shelf is for commonly used powder, primers and components. There is no unused space really, just a roomy and uncluttered work space. I would think a narrower bench would want to tip over if not bolted down, I added "outriggers" to the front of my bench to stabilize it. |
| As I stated before I have a bench now but I really need to free up space so that I can keep it up better (read too many presses/stations per inch). I have an area that is freeing up in the garage and had thought about moving the shotgun presses over to it. The problem is that it would be a narrow shelf like bench. At first blush I thought that it would be great, but like others have stated that leave you no room for components., and as many here know, all shotgun components are bulky. |
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I read the American Rifleman article on building a bench too, and except for "wow, that's some cool woodworking," I thought "he wants a HUGE bench for what reason?" Probably to be able to have a bunch of things set up at once, but there are a lot of options for placing and mounting loading tools. I'm looking at building a 2'X4' bench in the foreseeable future, and that'll be more than enough room for me. I don't have a picture to post, but I've loaded on a "Workmate" clone. Is 2'X2' too small? Not for me, not then. Frankford Arsenal makes a "loading stand" that's a conical base and a piece of steel tube that you put a 10" square platform on, and that works fine for a single-stage press.  Use what fits your space and your technique. |
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