Space for handloading: How much room does it take?

MAT-SU -- You're thinking about getting into reloading your own ammunition. You've studied the reloading manuals, priced the equipment and reloading components, and cleared the activity with your "better half."

A next question is, "How much room will this new shooting-related hobby take?" The equipment setup will occupy some space in your living area and storage of the powders, bullets and primers needs to be addressed. Are there youngsters or inquisitive adults in the home who are apt to go exploring when Mom or Dad are not around? What are your options?

First, you need to review your available living space in your home or apartment. Do you have an empty room in your house, or perhaps a garage or heated outbuilding with an open area where a reloading bench can be permanently located, complete with storage cabinets and shelves for equipment and components? Or is your space very limited and temporary, with any reloading activity likely occurring on the kitchen table after dinner?

Available space will dictate the types of equipment you will have available for use. The reloading dies, powder measures and scales, priming equipment, and case trimmers and cleaners will all be fairly universal to either extreme of useable area. Your available room will influence the size and configuration of the reloading press, the center of your handloading activity. The press is used to re-size and deprime the cartridge case, seat the bullet, and possibly reprime the case.

I am lucky enough to have an understanding wife and a small den downstairs where I have set up a large, permanent reloading bench with two different reloading presses permanently bolted to the bench surface. The bench contains both shelves and cabinets where I store bullets, primers, empty cases and reloaded ammunition.

For those with only limited and temporary space available, Lee, a reloading equipment manufacturer, makes a small, handheld reloading press which uses the same reloading dies as a regular, permanently mounted press. Leverage in re-sizing large rifle cases is somewhat reduced in this handheld press, but it will perform all the same functions a regular press will without the need to bolt it to a stable surface. It is slower to use, however.

Lee also manufactures their "Original Lee Loaders" for several different calibers of rifles and handguns. This kit contains everything necessary except the reloading components to successfully reload an individual cartridge using nothing more than the kit and a small hammer. Handloading with this system, while being the most space efficient, is also the slowest and most tedious method available and is best suited to reloading only a few cartridges at a time.

If you have space for a permanent set up, can you control who has access to the area? The activity of reloading and some of the components used are not dangerous if proper steps are followed, but can cause significant harm, or, in extreme situations, even death if handled or played with in an irresponsible manner.

This last is not meant to scare anyone -- the same circumstances apply to many common household cleaners, paints and other chemicals most of us keep around our homes. You just need to be aware that children and curious adults need to be supervised whenever they are present while you are reloading. Component storage also needs to be secure and under your complete control regarding who can access the primers and powder.

About powder and primer storage: First, never store the two together. I keep my primer inventory in the same cabinet where I store the projectiles, or bullets. Since I reload for a rather extensive array of calibers in both rifle and handgun, I tend to keep a fair amount of several different types of reloading powders on hand.

Again, I'm lucky in that I have an old slide-in truck camper unit sitting in the back yard. This old camper has an insulated food storage "cooler" that I have converted with shelving to hold my reloading powder supply. Since the camper is locked, I control the access. And the camper sits a safe distance from the house in the event, heaven forbid, that a fire should develop either in the house or the camper.

Always store the powder in its original container and do the same with the primers. In the event of a fire, these factory containers are designed to rupture and vent in such a manner that the least amount of danger is presented to firefighters or other emergency personnel who might encounter the items while fighting the blaze. It's also a good idea to tell the emergency crews that you have "x" amounts of powder or primers in your house in case of an emergency.

If you only reload for a couple of different calibers, your need for keeping an extensive supply of either powder or primers is unnecessary. A few trays of primers and a couple pounds of powder should be relatively easy and safe to store. When you start buying a "brick" of primers and an 8-pound "keg" of powder, you have just changed your component storage requirements significantly. At that point, you will need to find secure storage outside your home to minimize any risk.

Handloading your own ammunition can be a safe and economical side hobby to your shooting sports enjoyment. If you have children, you can enjoy more quality time with them while teaching them how to safely reload some of that ammunition they love to help you shoot up. Just use a little common sense in the quantity of powder and primers you keep on hand and how you store these items when not in use.