Gun-Reloading Room Makeover

[airedale]

When one gets bitten by the hunting shooting sport game the quest for success and perfection seems to be a never ending battle. My gun-reloading room started out quite modestly many years ago and for the most part served me well for for a long time. Got my reloading and gun work done for the most part with no problem. But as the years rolled by I just kept accumulating more and more stuff and order and neatness started to wane to the point where doing work and finding equipment started started to become a chore, basically the room had become an outright "mess". I made do with the situation for a long time but finally enough was enough! There was only one thing to do to solve the problem and that was a complete makeover and that meant out with the old and in with the new.

 

I started late last summer and puttered around over the months a little at a time hopefully getting it right for the long haul.

 

The 50 year old old Sears steel legged work benches that my presses and reloading and repair equipment took up shop on were removed. The glass doored gun cabinets and wall hanging gun racks were removed. inefficient shelves removed.

 

I went to Lowes and purchased a row of low cost wall and base cabinets along with a counter top for my cleaning-repair-scope mounting work area and to make some organized storage.

 

New wall shelving and tool cabinets to store all tools in their proper place and make them easily found and accessed.

 

I replaced the old Sears work benches with two Harbor Freight wood workers benches. They were a pain to assemble, the drawers are pretty rough operating but they seem real solid and so far I like them.

 

Because of the safe act all gun storage is now handled by safes.

 

The room is pretty much ship shape now and everything has it's place and is stored properly where it can be found. My reloading equipment is set up now for quick change or complete removal off the benches with Lee and RCBS mounting plate systems. I picked up a handy portable reloading stand made by Frankford Arsenal, it has folding leaf wings and is very light weight, it is easily moved anywhere in the room and works great for assisting or for just stand alone reloading.

 

I had a good time over the winter taking care of a bunch of long overdue upgrades and scope mountings on my firearms,  it was real nice to have everything where it belongs and easily found for a change.

 

Some photos of the aftermath, still some minor tweaking going on and a little congested yet but a heck of a lot better than what it was.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 24, 2016 by airedale

[grampy]

Great set up! Looks awesome and nicely organized. Love that work bench!

[mlammerhirt]

What did you put over the top of the two harbor freight wood benches to make it one bench top?? Or am I looking at it wrong?

Need to start putting together a hunting/reloading/storage room in my basement since I have a 22 month old and a newborn around now

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Edited March 24, 2016 by mlammerhirt

[Elmo]

Nice setup!

[thphtm]

Looking good , one word of caution , the butcher block tops have a tendency to come apart under a heavy load as a stuck case in a press.,I had it happen and I had to add a metal plate on the bottom side to keep the load off of one area.

[airedale]

The work benches are just butted up against each other tight sitting on the floor, they could be bolted or clamped together but they are very stable so far so I have left them as they are. The legs they have make it possible to even bolt them to the floor.  I have a ton of stuff in the drawers and on the bottom shelves that help keep to things steady. I do not think I will have any trouble with the butcher block top, the presses that would be putting any stress on them have those quick attach mounting plates beneath them distributing any pressure in a wide area.  The old Pacific shotshell loader does not put any stress on the top at all. Time will tell but any screwups can be addressed and fixed to make things work right hopefully.

 

Al

Edited March 24, 2016 by airedale

[AdirondackBadger]

Wow that looks like a professional set up you have there. Thanks for sharing.

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[airedale]

This is my almost 50 year old Bair 150 press made by the old Bair Machine Tool company who also made Pacific reloading equipment. It is a very well made heavy duty compound leverage press that can size large cases with ease. I completely dismantled and cleaned the old boy up along with giving it a new paint job from blue to black. Because the new benches have drawers I used an inline fabrication press mounting stand to raise the press out of the way so the drawers can be opened, I like it at this height. I also changed out the Bair press original handle for a new inline fabrication handle with the side grip. The old press is now as good as new and ready for another 50 years of handloading.

 

Al

 

Edited March 28, 2016 by airedale

[Jaeger]

Fantastic setup!

 

My little cubby hole is shared with the freezer and I have to clean my guns on the kitchen table (see, there is some benefit in being single!).

 

I can reload in my gun room but no room to actually work on the guns.

[dbHunterNY]

right now I've just got an 8' bench I built that I keep my archery and minimal gun stuff at.  storage under and plywood back board.  hopefully down the road i'll get some more room.  i'll need it if I get into reloading too.  looks great!

[airedale]

Fantastic setup!

 

My little cubby hole is shared with the freezer and I have to clean my guns on the kitchen table (see, there is some benefit in being single!).

 

I can reload in my gun room but no room to actually work on the guns.

 You are probably right about being single as having an advantage sometimes when it comes to buying into this kind of stuff, some women just do not understand why us hunters and shooters need this equipment.

 

That being said my cluttered gun room disaster finally even got to the "Storm And Strife" and she was all for getting that the room into order.

 

Al

[peepsight]

Nicely done!    :imsohappy:

Edited March 28, 2016 by peepsight