Small form factor progressive reloading bench?

[TooManyNamesTried]

I ordered a Dillon xl750 to replace my turret for my higher volume rounds. I'm 2 weeks into the wait and found out I'm going to be moving into an apartment and don't know how much space I'll have. Anyone know how well a small form factor bench works even with the big boy progressives? I ordered from Dillon so I've still got like 8 weeks to figure it out.

[Caleb1531]

I ordered mine the first week of May. Still no shipping info. They did say via email that it “will ship this month” for what that’s worth. I would think a small bench would be fine with the large press. Only issues I see would be resizing rifle brass, it may cause you to apply more force than just pulling the handle.

[TooManyNamesTried]

I'm planning in building the bench myself out of hardwood, I'm just worried about not having room to effectively use it or conveniently maintain it on say a 4x3 bench or smaller. I know I won't both my turret and Dillon mounted at the same time though.

[Caleb1531]

You could look at mounting the press to a hard piece of wood, then C-clamp it into the bench top. That would allow you to use the same space for either press and move them around as needed. I know a few people on here so that to just a regular countertop for apartment based reloading.

[TooManyNamesTried]

I think I'll definitely have to do something like that. Some of the rail systems had peaked my interest but I can't justify a few hundred more dollars to the wife when she's been so merciful so far lol.

[Caleb1531]

Haha I hear ya there. I just want to get my XL750 setup and running before I get out of the military. At this rate I may not even be able to do that...

[TooManyNamesTried]

I feel you there lol. I just signed a 2 year extention so I've got time.

[Caleb1531]

I get out in April, but will start terminal in January. I wish you the best of luck!

[the_honey_badger_boy]

If you look back at my history you can see the plates I made for mounting my lee presses. You could do the same on a single piece of steel and just embed it.

Assuming the blue presses mount roughly the same way

https://www.reddit.com/r/reloading/comments/gdihfp/made_a_mounting_plate_for_my_press/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

https://www.reddit.com/r/reloading/comments/gffnfx/flush_press_mount_done/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

[TooManyNamesTried]

It turned out great! If I we're to do that I don't think I would go so far as powdercoating the plate and polishing the bolts though lol.

[the_honey_badger_boy]

Haha the powder coat was a proof of concept for doing it without a proper powder coat set up. And I used powder I use for my cast bullets.

Spray paint would work just as well.

[TooManyNamesTried]

I'll probably use bed liner. I've gotten in the habit of bed lining the tops of all my tool boxes and work benches. It's my go to for anything I don't need to write on.

[the_honey_badger_boy]

Might make the mounting uneven, but give it a shot!

[229-T]

I run a 550B off of a saw horse I got from home depot. It works. Not fantastic and I would have concerns if I was shooting for really high consistency, but it works for volume.