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Old February 7, 2000, 12:45 PM   #1
Kingcreek
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I'm building a reloading room in my basement.
10x13, 3 walls concrete, one door in 13ft stud wall.
Any suggestions for layout? shelves? lighting?
2 dillons and a single stage, large dillon tumbler, etc.
wall benches or island bench?
I'm thinking sitting height for loading and one standing height bench for gun work, cleaning, etc.
Any and all suggestions welcome while I work on the wiring.
Thanks all.
Jeff
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Old February 7, 2000, 07:24 PM   #2
HankL
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Jeff, I have my loading bench along a wall and my small 26" x 50" cleaning/work bench as an island. I like to be able to put the rifle in a cleaning vise and be able to move around it. Just a thought. Sounds like a good space to work with. Since you are doing the wiring I know you know to put it way more than you think will ever become necessary.
Have fun!
Hank
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Old February 7, 2000, 10:47 PM   #3
Kingcreek
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Hank,
Good idea on the island station for cleaning, scope mounting etc. It will probably be attached to a wall on one end. might make it from back-to-back heavy steel shelves.
yeah, lots of shelves. shelves on one 10ft wall.
I'm going with florescent lighting. finished most of the wiring tonight and 8ft pegboard on the stud wall. I'll probably put the reloading bench there.
Any other suggestions??
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Old February 8, 2000, 12:21 AM   #4
Reddog
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King,
I have a 14'x14' gunroom with a sitdown bench on one side for loading, and a standup on the other. Be sure to allow lots of storage. Mine filled up pretty quick. One thing I found out was that RCBS and PACT recommend that you keep their electronic scales away from florescent lights. It screws them up when they get too close.
Reddog
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Old February 8, 2000, 01:10 AM   #5
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You might try the following. Get hold of a couple of metal file drawers, 2 drawer type.

Look in used office supply or furnature outlets. You start out with 4 good sized drawers.

For a top, get a sheet of 3/4" structural grade ply wood, and slit it the long way. You end up with a top appriximately 1.5" thk. Set the drawers 48" inside to inside. This has proved quite stable. The ply wood isn't "pretty", but who cares. You can always cover it up with 12" x 12" adhesive backed "floor tiles", for an easy to clean surface. The thing works for me, and there should be room for a couple of presses, and assorted other things, depending of the respective "foot prints" of your gear. LOL
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Old February 8, 2000, 01:45 AM   #6
Kingcreek
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thanks folks,
I didn't know about the flourescents and digital scales. using an old RCBS beam scale but may upgrade someday. I was thinking flourescents so I could have plenty of lumes without heating up my little room.
I salvaged a few cabinets I can use from a kitchen remodel. along with some heavy steel shelves, should allow ample storage.
truth is, I haven't reloaded for about 6 years. I'm kinda excited about shooting/reloading again. Hope I still remember enough to not blow something up!
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Old February 12, 2000, 02:01 AM   #7
BigT
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Just another suggestion while the walls are open. If you know what your layout will be, you can put the outlets in for specific items, tumbler, task light, powder measure, humidity rod for safe, etc. I put outlets low and high, below the bench and above the bench. I hate having cords running everywhere! HTH, Tom
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Old February 12, 2000, 02:01 AM   #8
BigT
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Just another suggestion while the walls are open. If you know what your layout will be, you can put the outlets in for specific items, tumbler, task light, powder measure, humidity rod for safe, etc. I put outlets low and high, below the bench and above the bench. I hate having cords running everywhere! HTH, Tom
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Old February 12, 2000, 07:03 AM   #9
Randall Shaw
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Now if you enlarged just a little .
I could think of a lot of stuff for the reloading room .
First the side by side frig. , big screen t.v. , a remote control press , self cleaning work bench and a big lock on the door for
security purposes

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Old February 12, 2000, 02:26 PM   #10
HankL
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I ended up putting a 12 outlet power strip below the front rail of my bench. It is hard wired. Just a thought.
Hank
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Old February 13, 2000, 07:49 PM   #11
Kingcreek
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Hi,
I am just back from 2 days away. Thanks for the ideas.
I'm adding a power strip. rest of wiring is done. (I put both switched and constant outlets in the ceiling too)
I came home with two "gorilla racks"- 7ft tall adjustable steel shelves- real heavy duty.
One standing bench for cleaning rifles, etc will be on locking castors so I can roll it out of the way or have all-side access.
I'm leaving room for a small wall mounted gun rack for about 4 long guns
Everything is coming together.
thanks again
jeff
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Old February 14, 2000, 07:25 PM   #12
HankL
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Send us a picture or so when you are done.
Hank
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Old February 14, 2000, 07:32 PM   #13
Kingcreek
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Will Do.
I took a "before" pic also.
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Old February 14, 2000, 08:30 PM   #14
M16
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I have flourecent lights in my reloading room and have not had any problems with my electronic scales. One Pact and one RCBS.
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Old September 27, 2000, 10:45 AM   #15
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Was reading the oldies when I came accoss this one and wanted to share some things my friend did in his basement work shop.

Becasue of various fumes and such from cleaning solvents ect. my frined installed a ventilation system. He installed a ceiling fan (like the one in your bathroom)with an aluminum flex hose attached to it. The hose hangs just over his bench to suck out any fumes. Not sure how he plumbed it to the outside.

The other thing I thought was a good idea was to have "air" in the shop. He used 2" pvc pipe along with some coupler attachments running to his air compresser in the garage. The attachment to hook up his hose in the workshop is just above his bench. Now he can blow things out or use and other air tools he needs.

Just wanted to share!



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Old September 27, 2000, 09:46 PM   #16
Jbar4Ranch
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Here's mine. The power strip on the front like suggested above is a handy thing to have. More shelves on both the left & right and a third bench on the left + 5' gun safe right in the middle of the room (makes a good room divider) and 4 gun cabinets on the back wall. Room is 12x20.

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Old September 27, 2000, 10:24 PM   #17
Mike Irwin
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Kingcreek,

If you have easy access to water pipes, put in a sprinkler head.

I'm going to be doing the same thing in my basement here in a couple of months (hopefully) to get off of the stupid bookshelf that I'm now using.

I intend to put in several sprinklers:

1 over the reloading area;

1 in the wood working area;

1, or possibly 2, in the area where the pellet stove is going.

And, one thing I've found...

You can NEVER have enough shelving storage. Your collection of stuff will quickly fill all available shelving.

Take a guess at what you need, and then add 50% to that. Better yet, double it.

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Old September 28, 2000, 06:28 PM   #18
HankL
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Fun to see this thread come up again. I thought that it was Kingcreek posting his pictures!
J-4, this is a link to what I was talking about when I mentioned power strips http://www.acmecity.com/rosie/flower...benchstrip.jpg "My [image] days are over as Rich swore Dona had two brothers who are both named Guido and that if I kept putting up images while resources were low they would come visit me" These strips come wired and all you need to do is hard wire it to your electrical.
Mike, Rog on the storage space!
Kingcreek, Where are those pictures??????
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Old September 29, 2000, 03:08 PM   #19
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Nice room!

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Old October 1, 2000, 12:19 AM   #20
Michael Priddy
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Hey Kingcreek, I am building a new house around my gun room. At least that was the first considerations when I designed the house. I am going to run a second block wall 12 feet out from the front basement wall from side to side. That will give me a 12'x33' room with only a steel door entrance. It will double as a secure gun room, reloading room and a dark room for photography. I liked the idea of two benches, one for sitting and the other for standing. I also like the idea for an island bench. I could see how that would come in handy for cleaning rifles, mounting scopes and checking seating depths. Building a house is a dream of a lifetime, but building a reloading room is better. Thanks fellows for the ideas. Mike
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Old October 1, 2000, 09:08 PM   #21
TGS
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4ranch

all that powder you have on the deck top...maybe try to find an old broke down frig...camper style...put a hasp on it and isolate your powder. just a suggestion

tgs
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Old October 2, 2000, 06:43 PM   #22
HankL
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Michael, If you would like some clues on building up those walls and putting a roof over your project just give me an email!
Hank
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Old October 2, 2000, 11:13 PM   #23
Mike Irwin
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TGS,

Using an old fridge is both a good AND a bad idea.

A good idea because you can closely regulate the atmosphere in which you store your powder.

A bad idea, especially if the door is mechanically locked shut, in that if something did cause the powder to begin to combust it would become a large economy sized bomb.

If using an old fridge to store powder, do NOT lock the door, and don't use one of the older ones that has a mechanical latch. Use one that has magnetic door seals.

If the powder does go up, the pressure will pop the door open before it builds up to critical levels.

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Old October 4, 2000, 09:48 PM   #24
TGS
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and a small bomb it wouldnt be! good point. Actually
thanks
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Old October 4, 2000, 10:52 PM   #25
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A locker for explosives or flammables should always be built with a "weak wall" to direct the force of a catastrophic release of energy (kaboom!) in a safe(er) direction. A lock-up for such items is a good idea.
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