So I need a little advice.

I have 1-2 more weeks before I get to crack open my Hornady press (damn birthday presents). I did some rearranging and cleaning of the shop today and have 2 options for mounting the press. One side is my work bench, 39" tall x 24" deep x 8' long. Its very sturdy. I do use the bench alot for all sorts of things so Im thinking having all the reloading stuff setup getting in the way of general work tasks. I dont want to have to break the press down for any reason. The other side of my shop has a lower 34" tall table thats 4 feet wide x 3 feet deep. As it sits it wobbles, but I could secure it easy so it is solid. It has a clean wall behind it too I could also build shelves for storage. Since I have ZERO experience reloading is taller or shorter better for a press setup? My thinking is the smaller isolated table would be ideal, as long as its not too low (yea, i guess i could make a riser mount to bring it up..)

A few shots...
Tall bench




Short Bench




Any thoughts or advice?

I think the short bench will work great as long as it is sturdy. As you said you can add shelves and make tue bench more sturdy. I have a small bench in my man cave works well but I have to two presses to load on one for pistol and one for rifle. With a shelve and light above and a shelve on the side and doors on the bottom.


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Yup, shorter bench and shelving will be perfect! You have all that slatwall, use it for some shelving!

Whether taller or shorter is better is, I believe, just a question of what height of chair you have. You want to be able to sit and reach comfortably from the chair.

I use a bench that is 31" high, just a smidge over the standard kitchen table height of 30". I use a normal-height kitchen chair, and it works well.

I think your shorter bench will work just fine, too. Make it as ROCK-SOLID as you can, and get the right chair or stool to use with it.

I would go with the short bench. For stability, just anchor it to the wall or put shelves on the bottom where you can store your bullets or completed ammo. That adds at least 500 # to my bench.

As for height, I prefer to load standing up. It makes it easier for me to move around and get supplies as needed.

If you prefer to sit, an adjustable height "draftsman's stool" with back and footrest makes it possible to use most any reasonable height bench.

Even if you find your lower bench to be a little too low, just add a "riser" to the press. A piece of steel box beam from the local steel yard (they often have scrap ends that are either free or real cheap) can make a perfect riser. Bolt it to the bench on the bottom, and bolt the press to the top surface. I have my Dillon 650 mounted on something similar although I fab'd it myself rather than wait for the Dillon Strong Mount.

Just remember, it's easy to raise a press to the optimum height with a riser. No "riser" will lower a press that's too high to work comfortably on a High Bench.

My bench is an office computer station that sits 28" tall.

Perfect.
For me.

Thanks for the input! I do have a chair visible in the photo. Its a little tall now, but its adjustable.

As for the slat wall, I need to "Aquire" some more shelf brackets. There are always a bunch of them in the trash bins at my work.

hehe.. I have access to a lot as well.

My bench is pretty spartan, but has only what I need for the 23 calibres I load.

Thats cool. We should start a WaGuns reloading room photo thread.

Damn, I do 11 calibers but apparently I'm a mere rookie . . . .

Are those .510 Whisper cartridges that I see?

No, those are 530 gr Postell, loaded with 73 gr 2ffg, for my Shiloh Sharps #3 Sporter 45/70. The same round and gun I used to take 2nd place in the Ore. State Championships "B" division in 2005.

I only load for 4 calibers. But when I load, I load several thousand of each.

I have to clean up my bench a little before I post any pictures. Right now it's embarrassing but I'm getting ready for 50# of bullets today and 110# from UPS tomorrow that has the powder, primers, and some more bullets.

So I finally got the press box open yesterday. I went to town mounting it and shoring it up. Its now so solid. Only thing I could do to make it unmovable would be to drill some studs into the concrete. FOr now i think it will be fine once I get the weight of some more supplies, and i build a shelf/rack system on the back of the table.

I mounted it and sat in the chair dry running it and its actually quite comfortable. Thanks to Madpick to some initial setup tips!

Here are some updated pics.




Solid 1.5 x 15" vertical laminated block as a bottom shelf. Super strong!

Wait, something doesn't look right . . . hmmm.

Oh, I've got it! Something's wrong with your powder measure. It's all transparent, I can see right through it.

Looks great, oly. I like the big mofo containers you put on it! Did you remember to stick the bottle cap on the bench? If you didn't, that sucker's gonna sag with 100 rounds in it....