Settign up a reloading/ gun room

[mzvarner]

Hope I am posting this in the right spot..

So my wife and I are in the process of closing on a home. Being the amazing wife she is, she is giving me not only the 3rd car bay for my "mini shop" but also a room in the basement for designated gun and reloading stuff. So I need your help in figuring out how to set stuff up!

First off, i think I will start by telling you what I have and how I have been doing things. I have a safe, IDK dimensions off the top of my head, but should I store it in the garage or in the gun room? Garage is going to be easier to have the delivery team place it (either way no stairs. basement is ground floor entry from back of house), but then I loose valuable garage space, something I am in desperate need of. In the room I loose room space, but it is a designated gun room so...

I reload on a bench made of 4x4 legs, 2x4, and plywood. I have already out grown it with an RCBS rock chucker and a dillion 550B. I have a work surface w/ simple shelving that is slightly smaller than the length of a box of reloading dies. I use SS media in a thumblers tumbler. The tumbler and most of my primers, bullets, powder, and loaded ammo (in ammo cans) sit on a plastic shelving unit that is roughly 4 feet wide by 8 feet tall by 2 feet deep.

I dont mind the shelf and may do a 2nd one if I decide I need the storage. I do want to rebuild my reloading bench because I have out grown it. What features do you want or wished you had? Currently the RCBS is bolted to the bench, but the Dillon is attached to a block of wood so I can move it out of the way. I like the modularity, but If I am starting from scratch is there a benefit to permanetly attaching it?

PIcs of what you have and or links would be much appreciated along with all advice. Thanks!

[hatchdog]

Put your safe in the basement, both for humidity control and accessibility. At my last house I had my reloading room out in the barn and my guns in the house. It was a pain to have to go to the house to grab a rifle if I wanted to check oal and feeding related issues. My reloading room was 10'x12' and I built my bench the entire length of the room. I simply set two book shelves on the back of the bench to store tools and components. Below is a link to an old post with pictures of my reloading room and other SGT member's benches. I too recently moved and will be building my reloading room (in the basement this time ) this winter. Too many outdoor projects to complete now or it would be higher on my priority list. I had my safes delivered to the basement even tho they had to come down the stairs and I feel it was worth the cost and hassle.

Pics of mine and others benches:

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=65790#p299472

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=72227#p326829

[ron]

If you put your safe in the garage because it's easier to get it in there, Keep in mind that it will be easier for thieves to get it out of there. too. better to have to pay the safe movers a little more money to put it in the basement than to have to suffer the loss of having all your guns stolen, safe and all. You could extend your existing bench and bolt the whole thing to the walls and the floor to make it extra solid.

Those are my two best suggestions.