Losing my reloading room...

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slippingaway

Blackhawk
Joined
Oct 19, 2007
Messages
525
Location
Strum, WI
Well, got one of those good news/bad news situations at home now. Good news is that I'm gonna be a dad, bad news is that I have to give up the reloading room for the baby. Luckily I have 7 more months to get everything figured out and situated.

We have a 3rd bedroom that the wife uses as an office/sewing room. She teaches art/french/sewing for a living, so I've got to figure out some kind of system to keep my stuff in there, but keep it out of the way, and out of sight (she's not sure what some parents would think.) She's willing to empty out the closet in there for me, so I'm thinking I just need to build myself a little workbench in there, and mount my presses to boards which can either be clamped to the workbench when needed or slide into a sort of "french dovetail" setup on the workbench.

So, I have two types of questions for you folks:

1: Anybody have a situation where they've had to set up a minimally invasive reloading bench? I know some of you really enjoy showing off your nice setups. Any suggestions are much appreciated.

2: Obviously there are some lead compounds in fired primers and residue. All the reloading stuff will be moved out, and I plan on washing down all the walls, vacuuming the carpet and using our steam cleaner to thoroughly clean it. Those three steps should eliminate any stray lead-containing dust in the room, correct? Anything else I need to take precautions with, other than the obvious?

Thanks guys.
 

bub

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jul 28, 2007
Messages
245
Location
NE Ohio
Congrats, slippingaway! Fatherhood is a great thing and you'll love it, once you get past the sleepless nights and having to wake up at all hours! Once they sleep through the night, it's the best thing there is!

As to the reloading room becoming the nursery, lead is BAD JUJU for ANYONE and it's even worse for kids! Myself, I'd wash the walls (and baseboards and ceiling and anything else that can me washed) REAL WELL, paint them to seal in anything that you may miss and rip up the old carpet. If any priming residue is in the carpet (and it's certain that there is some, even if it's just under where your bench was), you'll never get it all out of the carpet, even with repeated sweepings and steam cleanings. Best for the baby to rip the old carpet out, mop the floors several times REAL WELL, then go with whatever floor covering you decide to use in the nursery. It doesn't take much lead to mess with the development of a baby's brain, so don't take any chances.

As to your new reloading setup, I'm afraid I can't help you out much there. My reloading benches have always been either in the basement or in a garage, where I didn't have worries about room or being perfectly neat about it. Do some googling, I have seen several setups that would fit into a closet or something similar and still allow the door to close to hide the mess. Again, good luck and you'll LOVE fatherhood!

Bub
 

revhigh

Hawkeye
Joined
Aug 31, 2005
Messages
5,590
Location
PA
slippingaway":3lvym5w7 said:
Well, got one of those good news/bad news situations at home now. Good news is that I'm gonna be a dad, bad news is that I have to give up the reloading room for the baby.

Can't the baby stay in the cellar ??? :D

Congratulations !

REV
 

Ruber

Single-Sixer
Joined
Sep 24, 2008
Messages
432
Location
San Diego, CA
slippingaway":378600i3 said:
Well, got one of those good news/bad news situations at home now. Good news is that I'm gonna be a dad, bad news is that I have to give up the reloading room for the baby.
Hey that sounds familiar! Congrats!!

I minimized my space pretty good to one bench with some drawers. Everything except the press goes into the drawers when I'm done (scales, dies, trays, calipers, powder measure), then the bench doubles as desk space. I have separate storage for powder, primers, etc. that are outta sight and outta reach.

I made a cover for the press that had a padded section at the bottom so no little heads got bonked. I also mounted my press with some large heavy duty wingnuts, so it really only takes a minute to pull that off if I want to.

At first, it was important to keep the drawers latched so no little hands got in there, soon enough they'll be watching you and wanting to help you too.

As for lead, if you're neat and clean, shouldn't be a problem, sounds like you've got a great plan. Get some of the lead test strips if you want to show you and you're family that there isn't any concern. You'll want the strips to test new toys anyway, those are more of a concern than your loading room... Having a few cast bullets around is a great way to show that the lead testers actually do work after getting negative results everywhere else.
 

Landric

Bearcat
Joined
Dec 2, 2008
Messages
90
Location
North Carolina
Congratulations!

Mine were born in October. I also had to give up my handloading space in the house.

IMG_0399.jpg


Luckily I have a detached garage where some friends and I built a room for my handloading needs.

It started like this:

DSCF3063.jpg


Now it looks like this:

IMG_0310.jpg


So, the real question is, how long before I can get the boys started shooting, handloading, and casting? :)
 

revhigh

Hawkeye
Joined
Aug 31, 2005
Messages
5,590
Location
PA
Nice setup Landric !!

I see you have BLUE.

You wouldn't happen to have a Dillon Super Swage 600 would you ??

I'm trying to borrow one for a day or two to swage some military 45ACP brass I just came into.

REV
 

slippingaway

Blackhawk
Joined
Oct 19, 2007
Messages
525
Location
Strum, WI
Man, what I would give for a basement or empty garage... We have a 25x25 workshop at the back of the carport, but that has been finished, insulated and converted to Liz's main classroom. I've got about 4 feet running along one of the walls where my workbench and shelving are for all my tools and work equipment are, my whole workshop just got pushed against the wall. I'm losing my house, one room at a time...

I'm excited. After thinking about things, I'm not overly concerned about lead residues in there. My tumbling is all done in closed tumblers, so any dust from that is kept to a bare minimum. I also keep the tumbler on the work table, with an old towel underneath to cut down on noise. The towel then captures any dust that leaks out, so it never makes it to the carpet. Depriming is done on my lee single stage, it drops them trough the tube straight into a garbage bag, and that goes right out the door.

My bullets are either FMJ or copper plated, except for the 45LC. Those came with so much lube on them, I doubt I ever touched any lead. I've only loaded 100 of those anyway, and they went straight from the bag to the cartridge, and into another bag.
 

BGVFD1502

Bearcat
Joined
Mar 19, 2009
Messages
10
Location
Western Kentucky
Congrats on the baby, I have three boys 15, and a set of twins that are 9 this weekend. The oldest likes to shoot anything that will go boom. I think he is a addicted to the smell of powder. We were at my uncles funeral Wednesday, with full military honorsand when the M1's went off you could smell the powder and he looked at me and smiled. The twins will want to get the 410 occasionally and shoot but they all like to follow the beagles hounds around. I do my reloading out in shop. Not full time heat but it is insulated and we warm it up and go out to what the boys call the man cave.
 

mattsbox99

Hunter
Joined
Jan 12, 2009
Messages
3,391
Location
Montana 'Merica
I think that is the best way you can lose your reloading space!

A garage or shed can be a useful reloading space, especially if you don't reload much. It looks like you live in a relatively warm place so it shouldn't be much of a temperature issue.
 

the fatman

Single-Sixer
Joined
Mar 23, 2009
Messages
325
Location
Deltona Florida
Good luck with what ever you decide. I live in an apartment. I tumble on the front porch and reload on a dillion mounted on a workmate bench. So it is possible to reload at least on a small scale with little space.
 

Bucks Owin

Hunter
Joined
Mar 22, 2004
Messages
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51st state of Jefferson
"Ah feel yore pain" to quote Slick Willie, I had to relocate and leave my deluxe loading/casting room behind a couple years back. Now I'm reduced to the kitchen table with my press outside bolted to a picnic table! :oops: (No handloading on rainy days! :lol: ) But where there's a will, there's a way right? :wink: (PS: Mighty cute Landric!)
 

Digger

Bearcat
Joined
Aug 22, 2007
Messages
33
Location
NE Ohio
Congratulations.

As far as the lead contamination, you're three step plan will probably work just fine, but you can always contact the county health department for additional tips. They can probably put you in touch with the county lead remediation program (most have some version of it). They can give you the best advice.
 

bub

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jul 28, 2007
Messages
245
Location
NE Ohio
slippingaway, if all you have reloaded is approx 100 rds, you should be OK with sweeping and washing everything down. You'll want to wash everything down before painting, anyway, so the paint stocks well.

Don't be too lasaiz faire about lead dust from a tumbler, however. Most of the lead exposure from ammo comes from the primer, not the bullet (according to all the instructor's classes I took for the PD, anyway, and I don't know enough to argue). Unless they are lead-free primers, the priming compound is lead styphenate (SP?) and there is considerable lead residue associated with the primers and spent cases. I don't think 100 rds is enough to do much of anything, but tumbling spent brass can. See all the dust in the tumbler after you take the lid off? It's heavily contaminated with lead. Not enough to do much to an adult (unless you huff it!) but even trace amounts can be harmful to kids/babies. Do your tumbling outside (even if it is on a porch or something like that), clean up after yourself after reloading and you should be OK.

Again, congrats on the new family addition! They can be a TON of fun and, in a few years, you can have your own built-in shooting buddy if you play your cards right!

Bub
 

PapaG

Bearcat
Joined
Dec 9, 2010
Messages
20
Location
Missouri
Check the Lee catalog. They have a little triangular stand to reload on that you may not like. Then they have a bench top bracket for equipment to be quick-changed that seems pretty neat.

https://factorysales.com/ shows the stand.
https://factorysales.com/html/xcart/catalog/pressaccessories.html shows the bench plate.
 

Snake45

Hawkeye
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+4020
I have never had a dedicated reloading bench, much less a whole room. What I've done is bolted my presses to a plank of wood (individually--I don't have them both on the same plank), which gets C-clamped to a sturdy surface--usually the kitchen table. Only takes a couple minutes to set everything up, and when I'm done a session, only a few minutes to break everything back down. All the reloading gear goes back into a big box, which goes back into the basement (or wherever) until the next session. It works well for me. :wink:
 

c.r.

Single-Sixer
Joined
Apr 23, 2008
Messages
436
Location
Texas
slippingaway said:
Any suggestions are much appreciated.

Thanks guys.

First congratulations :!:

i saw a pic of a really neat use of space. Not sure it will apply to your situation.

The idea involver the use of a closet in a spare room. The closet was one of those with the "bifold" closet doors. not a walk in closet..... relatively shallow in depth.

The fella set his desk and shelving up inside the closet, with the chair removed, he could slide the doors shut. then when he opened the doors he could just pull up a chair and use it.

So while he was reloading, he was a bit in the way, but when the doors were closed, it was no different than a closet full of clothes. I believe he also put a lock on the sliding doors to prevent unwanted hands handling his reloading supplies.

~c.r.
 

Lost Sheep

Single-Sixer
Joined
Feb 3, 2008
Messages
410
Location
Anchorage Alaska
Congratulations on your new family member.

If you do decide to replace the carpet (and pad!), I would suggest finishing the subfloor with a sealant.

When I replaced the carpet in a house that had been abused by some cats, we tried to eliminate the odor in the subfloor with all kinds of enzyme treatments (to no avail). Finally, we pulled the baseboards all the old carpet staples and tack strips to make the floor completely smooth and painted it with a sealant (brand "Kilz"). We did the walls, too. Two coats, just to be be sure I would not have any missed spots.

When we got done, the place looked like an ice skating rink. But no smell whatsoever.

A lot of work, but you will not regret it.

If the nursery will be a play room also, they have carpets with game boards dyed right into them. You can play checkers, hopscotch, tic-tac-toe and such right on the floor.

Lost Sheep
 
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