Narrow reloading bench?

[Gwine]

I am close to finishing a dedicated small projects/reloading room and need some help with the bench. The room is small, 7'6"x7'6" so space is at a premium. I have a 2-1/4"x14" gluelam long enough to do an "L" shaped bench full length on one wall and 50" on the adjacent wall.

The question is, will a 14" bench be deep enough to be truly usefully in reloading?

I have never had a dedicated space for reloading, always clamped or bolted the press to whatever was available and put it away once I had my loads figured out.

There will be a Dillon and a Rock Chucker. I will have shelves and a cabinet for storage.

What do you think. Could you make due with just the front 14" of your bench?

 

[adk hunter]

I have a glue lam waiting for my bench in my new house. Just finished taking the former man cave apart yesterday. Sad but downsizing is feeling great!! I built a 5' by 3' bench out of ash from our mill and it was good. Think making as solid as possible! Next house I am starting from my chair height and working from there. My press was too high, my bench too deep and I didn't have adequate clearance for my powder measure. I think I am going to do an "L" shape so all components and tools are in easy reach. Shelves, dies, calipers and good lighting too!

 

[Rich Coyle]

My bench is about 10"X24". The scale is at eye level with a wire down to the powder tray. I don't need to lift my arm to weigh and I don't have to bend down to get a good reading.

 

[BallisticsGuy]

The answer is, yes. You can easily get away with as little as 6-8" of depth. Most of the work and space requirement happens in front of the table surface... levers gotta swing. I have a 16 foot x 16 inch setup and only usually use the first 8 inches of the table top depth really. All the space further toward the wall is where I push things when I'm not using them. Here's the thing during construction. You can see my Dillon hanging off the edge, has to because of cam over and lever throw space requirements. Same placement for my Rockchucker and the shotshell press.

 

[Dosh]

I'm the party pooper. I've more than doubled my bench in the last year. Still wanting more space. The top half of one wall is overflowing cabinets in the 12' X 12' room, storage shelf under one bench. Wanting a spot for a new annealing machine, but no more room. Fill that 7' X 7' with all the cabinets and multi-level bench you can fit in there. Get a swiveling chair and you won't even need to stand up. Happy Reloading!!

 

[Canhunter35]

You should have enough room to work with 14". You will have enough length you can easily spread things out

 

[Gwine]

Thanks for the reply's. That's kind of what I figured, but since I have never set up a dedicated space for reloading I didn't want to start off handicapped. There will be about 10' total usable length plus shelves as needed.

This is a room I built in the corner of my shop, so if I need a larger bench for something it is available.