Don't see why not. Rifle and pistol reloading will require some weight in the table. Shotsheels should be no problem. I mount my progressive shotshell loader on a piece of plywood and carry it where I want it. Lay a bag of shot acroos it to stabilize.

 

My reloading bench for many years has been a gutted out 25" console TV shell. Still using my second one.
When I was still in business for myself I used to have many old consoles come through the shop that were beyond repair...but had really solid cabinets. (the newer ones aren't that solid, but most of the old ones were made of 3/4" plywood or MDF, are built hellforstout, and have casters already attached. They're just about the right height too.
On number two, I doubled up the 3/4" top material with a piece from another cabinet...1.5" of MDF. Haven't damaged this one yet!

I cut a couple strips of 3/4" pine 1x2 to stick underneath the table when it's in use. This lifts the wheels off the floor to keep the table from scooting away from you. On most of them, the casters are too light-duty to stand up to the press action anyway.

A friend of mine made a small reloading stand from a 1' square piece of 1/4" sheet steel welded to the top of a 2" pipe with a 18" square base. it weighs about 50 lbs with a Rock Chucker bolted to it, but still gets a little wobbly when resizing rifle cartridges. He has to keep his feet on the base to help anchor it. Also, not much table space...he sets everything else up on the end table and slides the press stand up against the couch where he sits to do his reloading. It works pretty decent, but I like my "TV table" better.

 

In my experience this would not work.

It sometimes takes a lot of force to resize some brass. My reloading bench is a steel workbench from Sears but is a bit light weight for the task. I have had it in two location over the last 20 years and in both places I was forced to tie it to the wall studs to make it sturdy enough. Done this way it is immovable regardless the caliber that I am reloading.

I think anything portable would have to weigh a ton to be sturdy enough for rifle reloading and that defeats the purpose of being portable. I think it easier to move the TV to the reloading area! If the wife complains get her involved in reloading too so she can be with you while you reload and you get the benefit of more ammo produced.

LDBennett

 

I'm agreeing with LB once again here... There is quite a bit of pressure being applied to the press while resizing and if nothing else, I think anything portable would tend to tip over...If I wanted to be upstairs with the family I may figure out how many preps I could to away from the bench...You could obviously do all your pocket cleaning, chamfering, priming, inspections etc, without a portable bench...I think you could construct a little roll around bench that would support case trimming and small jobs like that.

Crpdeth

 

I don't know about fitting in a coat closet (at least with coats still in there), but here's what I did: I bought a Rockler router table leg set (heavy duty steel legs and stretchers), and the matching heavy duty swivel casters (the kind that lock both the rolling and the swiveling movement). The frame is 18d x 24w", but you can get other stretchers that give you larger dimensions. I added a 22 x 28" top and two shelves underneath. When loaded up with boxes of bullets, brass, dies, and most of the other stuff I use to reload, it is solid as a rock. I mounted my co-ax press to the end of it (both to suit where the table gets stored in the laundry room, and to minimize tendency to tip), and has never even hinted at rocking/tipping in use. I put a bench vise on the opposite corner, and I temporarily mount other tools in the vise. The nice thing about a roll-around bench is that getting to stuff on the shelves from all sides is a lot easier, and I can use the bench top from every side, which maximizes the utility of the admittedly small surface.

It works very well for me, but the co-ax has a lot of leverage, which probably helps.

With the casters, the height is just right for standing or using a medium height barstool for sitting.

Andy

 

I can make it work with pistol but not rifle.

 

Was able to load 222, 223 and 22-250 but I only neck size about half way down the neck. But could not make it work for 308 or 7MMM. Just too much torque force involved. Maybe if I had a tractor wheel weight to carry around!! Might be okay if mounted on a good dolly. ??

 

I use a small, metal, two shelf table that once was used to hold a copy machine. It is very light and has wheels on all four legs. As you might suspect, the metal work surface was too light to withstand the pressures exerted, but a length of 2x4 under the press cured the problem. Works great and you can purchase something similar at any office supply store for peanunts.

If you don't mind working while standing up, consider Frankford Arsenal's portable reloading stand. Should fit in a closet easy - about $60 - Midway part # 155-024

 

I use a product similar to a Sears Workmate. It's sitting in my living room right now, but I can take it anywhere in the house. It could be reinforced very easily, but I haven't seen the need to do so yet. It works great for me !