The RCBS ChargeMaster combination digital scale and powder measure. The ChargeMaster and case-prep center (behind) normally live on the shelf above the bench, out of the way but instantly available.

Cutting the slots in the top two layers to create the female dovetail, and fitting them together, is the most time-consuming aspect of the whole operation. It is further complicated by the fact that there are two cuts in each sheet. It is almost certain your slots will not be identical, which means your inserts will not be wholly interchangeable.

INSERTS
The base of each insert is 11x8 inches; the top is 9x7 inches.

It is best to fashion the inserts one at a time. I expect it is possible to make them all completely interchangeable in both slots, but doing that and keeping them a tight fit without obvious gaps was beyond my cabinet-making skills. In the end, each insert was custom made, honed and beveled to fit snugly in its intended slot.

Drawing on the experience of my first bench, where I glued the inserts together all at once and fitted them after the fact, I took considerable time to sand the dovetails in the bench to reduce friction wherever possible--on the flat, the undersides of the lips and along the edges where raw plywood rubbed raw plywood. The trick here is to take off just enough, but not so much that you create unsightly gaps or make the insert too loose.

After sanding, I put a coat of hard paste wax on all the contact surfaces. They now fit snugly but slide in and out readily.

The final touch was a facing of 3x3/4-inch oak on the exposed edges of the bench, with matching facing on each insert. After sanding, tung oil on the working surfaces gave it all a nice glow.

Now you may ask, How strong and stable are these inserts? I have had an RCBS Grand shotshell reloader mounted on one, a unit that weighs 50 pounds fully loaded and exerts an enormous amount of torque. Held by just one through-bolt, the insert becomes immovable and the press works as if it were bolted permanently to the bench. Yet it can be installed or moved out of the way in a minute.

At this point, the handloader can modify the design in any number of ways to suit his own requirements. It is infinitely versatile.

Most tools do not require the added strength and stability of a through-bolt. If fact, with properly snug-fitting inserts like I now have, through-bolts may not be required at all. So this time I am not drilling any holes for through-bolts until (if!) I find an application that requires one. And even then, I will use only one bolt per insert rather than two. The blanks that fill the slots when no tools are needed can be drilled for through-bolts or not. The advantage of doing so is that you can position some long tools, like a power case trimmer, to a long board and fasten it to the bench at each end using the through-bolts.

With so many instruments, implements and paraphernalia, it is natural that a loading bench becomes cluttered. To combat this, I have installed two eight-foot shelves underneath the bench to hold the inserts with tools attached, as well as my mushrooming collection of loading dies. There is also a small shelf firmly affixed at eye level above the press to hold my trusty RCBS 10-10 scale and my Redding powder measure.

The final touch is a 1x2 oak strip, eight feet long, along the back of the bench. It makes the surface look finished and also provides a neat little shelf to hold my cartridge collection.

And that's it. I'm never building another one. And, barring divorce, I won't need to.