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Where is your reloading bench?


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Just curious as to where you guys have your benches. I currently have mine in the garage, but it gets pretty hot and humid in there and I've been debating moving the operation to the extra bedroom. 1, to protect the press, dies and anything that can rust. 2, cause it gets hot as crap in there when I'm reloading.

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My reloading bench and most of my powder is in the garage. One day when my little ducklings leave the house I'm going to have a dedicated man cave with my safe, load bench, powder and primer stash, ammo all in one room instead of all over the place.

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I've got two areas I reload in.

Main reloading room is a spare bedroom in the house where I reload rifle and some pistol (45 LC) on a single stage press...

Basement is climate controlled and is where I load 9 mm and 45 on an RL550b and a soon to be delivered XL650.

Ideally I'd like for them all to be in the same spot,(room in the house) but space is an issue.

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Mine is in the garage. It's not exactly climate controlled but do have some heat and A/C out there. No problems with rust, been in this house for 15 years now. Old house was setup in a detached garage for around 10 years or so and did notice some corrosion on dies that didn't get used much.

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I have a hidden safe room in the house where my gun safe is located but all reloading is currently done in the existing garage. Here in Southern California it is pretty dry so there are no humidity issues to deal with. Just mid-summer heat with fairly mild winters. I am in the process of building a 2,000 square foot RV barn and four car garage (2x2) with a hidden loft where I plan on moving all my shooting related activities to. The four car garage will serve as a wood shop to support my other addiction.

http://www.pinterest.com/garydsalisbury/woodshops-gary-salisbury/

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I walled in an area of the garage for a shop and routed an long/weak AC duct to it. If I keep the door closed it maintains more or less like conditioned space. A simple squirrel cage exhaust system for fumes can also be used to pull additional conditioned air in to the space if it gets to cool. An old electric oil heater keeps the temp acceptable in the cold months.

I'm definitely in a humid environment, but no problems with rust.

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Garage here in Washington State. The gun safe is in the house.

We don't have any temperature swings that really affect the garage to such an extent it is unusable. I will occasionally have to warm the area with a heater before I start work.

Since houses here generally don't have basements, storage is at a premium. Garages are often not used for cars!

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I have one of the spare bedrooms in my condo converted to a gun room. Safe, all guns and related equipment along with two benches are in there. I have one bench with loaders Dillon 1050 and 650 both with bullet feeders and a PW Shot Shell loader.

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We just had a new house built and I was able to get my man cave. I paid extra for the 9 foot ceilings and extra 8 inch poured wall to support my 800lb custom vault door. I have more room then I ever had before now I just have to buy some new stuff to fill it. One of the best things about my vault door was its American made and even better Ohio made. The builder also likes challenges and will make whatever you want. I also run my DVR system for all my house cameras to the room, and motion alarm system also.

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We just had a new house built and I was able to get my man cave. I paid extra for the 9 foot ceilings and extra 8 inch poured wall to support my 800lb custom vault door. I have more room then I ever had before now I just have to buy some new stuff to fill it. One of the best things about my vault door was its American made and even better Ohio made. The builder also likes challenges and will make whatever you want. I also run my DVR system for all my house cameras to the room, and motion alarm system also.

How about some pictures of that door, Nuke531?

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Dedicated room in a semi conditioned basement. Designed when we built! Exhaust fan in place for bullet casting. Room for my safe and a door that locks so I Can leave everything out. Dry climate so no humidity problems and stays 60-70* year round. Space is shared with wine storage and business files.

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Separate building from the house. 30 x 70 pole building with 30 x 40 enclosed. Insulated with the 2" foam and then finished with blue stained pine. Has a big commercial propane blower, but only gets heated when we are using it. Going to mount the second Dillon 550 b today.

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In attached garage. I built my reloading bench. It is heavy (very stable) and still a work in progress as need to add some drawers. (I'm a woodworker too). No where to put inside at this house. Fortunately, it isn't very hot or humid south of Houston...kidding, of course. I am comfortable with just a fan most of the time. Hope to retire in a couple of years and move off Gulf Coast but stay in Texas. My plan at that time will be to have a dedicated room for reloading. Pity the poor guys who have to move that bench though.

A related question. Clearly I am in a humid environment. What problems might this cause? The only thing I can envision is powder problems, but I check my powder charges before I start a new batch. My 650 throws consistent charges and I never have to adjust. All my bulk powder is in a gun safe in the house so only powder potentially affected by the humidity is what is in the powder measure.

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A related question. Clearly I am in a humid environment. What problems might this cause? The only thing I can envision is powder problems, but I check my powder charges before I start a new batch. My 650 throws consistent charges and I never have to adjust. All my bulk powder is in a gun safe in the house so only powder potentially affected by the humidity is what is in the powder measure.

I'm from the Gulf Coast area and as you know our level of humidity affects almost everything ("air you can wear"). So the major issue is rust and corrosion. Keeping your dies oiled will help hold the rust off but the best scenario is for you just to pull the two pins on the head and bring the whole thing inside with you after reloading.

Dillon powder measures use volume not weight to dispense powder. Of course we use the charge weight to set the volume the powder measure will dispense. With this in mind, if you create your load with some powder fresh from the safe you should be fine. Most powder shouldn't absorb moisture from the air so technically it should weigh the same. Fresh powder and a dry powder measure will ensure no powder sticks inside the measure.

Of course you will still have the usual issues with high humidity. Fine ball and flake powder will stick to everything, wood surfaces will expand and your salty sweat will speed up the corrosion process when it contacts metal surfaces.

I was hoping to end this post with some words of encouragement, but I suppose the heat and humidity are the price we pay for year round outdoor shooting. Personally I hate cold weather so I'm staying south (or west) as long as I can.

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Thanks, Razorfish. I only load 9mm for IDPA, 3G matches and practice. I prefer Titegroup but started using CFE Pistol when I couldn't get TG. I guess that is why I'm not having any problems with the powder throw. Roger on the cold weather disdain. We don't have to shovel humidity.

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