Portable reloading table

[Alsatian]

I live in north Texas and it gets hot in my garage in the summer time. Could I install a reloading set-up in the garage and leave my powder supplies in the garage, or would the high temperatures degrade the powder or make its performance inconsistent? My motivation for reloading is to tune loads to my rifle whereby to improve accuracy not to save money.

In a related question, if setting up in the garage is unfeasible, is it possible to have a reloading system that can be readily set-up, taken down, and stowed when not in use? This would allow me to set-up in temporarily in a temperature controlled area.

Any comments or advice on this topic -- where should I set up -- would be welcome. I have never reloaded and would likely have gotten started before but for this question of where to set-up. I'm not looking for reloading advice itself. I have seen many other posts here and articles in magazines about how to get started in reloading. This is sort of a prior question.

[Pittsburghunter]

Well if you want to make a loading bench it needs to be fairly rugged.

RCBS makes brackets that attach to a bench so you can take equipment off and put it on real easy. That would help you make a portable bench.

I will not address the question about heat and your powder because I have never had that problem and would not know how to answer.

[DM]

Heat DOES degrade powder quite fast, so you want to store it in a cool dry location.

You can still load in the garage though, just keep the powder elswhere,

Drilling Man

[handloader1]

Go to http://www.midwayusa.com/esearch.exe...in+Search.y=11 Good luck.

[oldrgr]

I use a Black and Decker Workmate with a piece of laminate bolted to it. This could be taken down and stored if necessary. I did this to conserve space in a two bedroom apartment. I have some shelves behind it up against the wall that my equipment sits on. My press is bolted to the laminate, also capable of being taken off the laminate.

I think the idea of simply storing your powder in a cooler location and carrying it out to the garage when reloading makes sense.

[HighDesertWolf]

because of tha fact that humidity and heat degrade both powder and primers pretty quick, I gave up a bedroom in my house soley for my reloading room for the ease of being able to control the climate.

Its in the furthest room of the house from any major appliances such as furnace, dishwasher, clothing washer and dryer to minimize vibrations and that could cause my scale and powder measure to be inaccurate. I also have a dehumidifier in the room along with a little gizmo that shows tempature and humidty levels if the humidity and or tempature gets too high I'm able to deal with it easily.

Havent had any trouble since the tempature of that room never gets any hotter then 64 to 70 degrees and the humidity level thanks to the dehumidifier stays around 27% to 40% even when its raining the humidity never gets above 45%. Call me anal, but once you have a 1000 primers go bad from humidity and not knowing it and then you load up a 1000 38's using those primers and every other round fails to detonate its a big slap in the face and is very irritating.

Something I wanted to also say since you are a beginner is to keep in mind where ever you setup your reloading bench be sure its not in a carpeted room, not only do you want to keep the tempature and humidity under control you also want to keep the static electricity to a minimum where static electricity caused by walking on carpet could ignite both powder or primers and stored static electricity in carpets could ignite powder if any is accidently spilled on the carpet. In the 10 years ive reloaded I have never had an indident but it is always wise to be careful. Enjoy the sport but ALWAYS be full of care. good luck

[thndrchiken]

I also used the B&D workmate, mount the press on a piece of 2x6, 2 4" C clamps and you have a work bench that can be folded up and stored in a closet or under the bed, etc. When your ready to load set up the workmate, clamp the 2x6 to the bench top and your ready to go.

[Alsatian]

Good info. I may look into the Black and Decker Workmate with the press bolted to the 2 x 6 and then C-clamped to the bench. Then again, I may go the route of leaving the equipment in the garage and keeping powder and primers inside the house in a controlled environment.

I appreciate the tip about the static electricity. I don't think I would have thought of this, though we experience plenty of static electricity during winter months. I can't pet the cat, sometimes, without every touch generating a spark!

[thndrchiken]

Let me also add that for pistol cases and smaller rifle cases your fine with two clamps if you load long action or magnum cases you may want to add another clamp or two.

[Jeep4x4]

Ive never seen the exact specs of it but Ive seen several that have been rigged up to be used on the tailgate of a truck.

Cabelas sells portable reloading benches but the prices can be kinda high.