What recommendations or specifics should I look for in a reloading bench? Is inside the house or inside the garage better? I feel like it might be messy for inside a spare bedroom, but then the comfort and temperature control would be nice. My garage gets quite warm here in Las Vegas during the summers. I had originally planned on using this workbench in my garage, but now questioning if that is best. If I do use this bench, where is the best place to mount the press such that it doesn’t make the surface unusable for most other tasks. Maybe behind the vice so I stand on the side for any steps that use the press? Thoughts?
Temperature and humidity make a big difference in reloading. Since we live in a very dry environment, it certainly helps. However, at least in St. George we do change between 20% and 45% humidity depending on the season.
Reloading indoors is always preferred, but like you said, it’s also a little impractical. There’s no way you could reload in a carpeted room—way too much powder spilling everywhere.
I reload in my garage and take precautions with desicants to control humidity. My garage actually stays pretty cool since my garage doors are wooden.
I would probably mount the press on the front side of that table instead of in the corner by your vice. You’ll want a tray of cartridges there as well as your powder measure and bullets nearby, so you’ll need some space around it.
Thanks for your quick response Jim. Here it says humidity is similar, from 14%-40% with an average at 31% so I planned to use the 32% version of the packs that you show in your course (you probably have the same). My entire upstairs is carpeted, so I guess the spare room plan is out. I have stained concrete downstairs, so if I cleaned my office, I could put a 5’ bench in there for reloading, but it would be near a North facing window (not sure if that matters or not). It would be indoors though!
If I mount the press over toward the right side like below, then the spent primer tube and jar blocks access to a drawer, which I don’t even need on the left side because they would fall directly in the trash can. Granted the tube can be unscrewed to access the drawer, but that’s slightly inconvenient. It does give me a lot more room to access materials that I am pressing though! Seems like everything is a compromise!
