Hey Clem,
Perhaps I was not clear about quality issues with the Harbor Freight work bench you pictured in your first post. I do have one of these benches, it is really well made, very practical as a work bench, and it looks great. Could it be used to attach a press and do reloading? Absolutely, but there are some things to consider. All of my metallic presses (both single stage and progressive) mount at the front edge of the bench and hang down some ways which would block use of at least the top drawer on that side of the bench.
Since we retired in 1997, my wife and I have spent at least part of each winter in our 5th wheel camper in Florida, and I am familiar with neighbors who have small outside work shops where this HF work bench would fit in real well. I have no such work shop for my camper, so reloading in Florda with a regular press has never been an option for me.
If I did have a small work shop and wanted to use the really nice bench you first pictured, I know I would find a way to do so. One suggestion is to bolt a half inch steel plate about 12X16 inches in size to the one side of the bench top which really is very solid in itself. If you mount a half inch thick steel plate to the top, it would only takes four fasteners, one near each corner, and you could probably find four 3/8 lag bolts would hold it securely to the bench top. If lag bolts did not prove to be strong enough, you could instead use regular 3/8 inch bolts mounte from the bottom up (like you pointed out) and just long enough to reach through the steel plate and mount a lock washer and nut.
Once you have such a steel plate mounted to the work bench, you can then drill and tap whatever holes you need to mount whatever presses or other reloading tools you wanted to the bench and secure them with an appropriately sized hex head bolt and washer. When you are done with the press, remove the two bolts and store the press on the shelf below the bench top. Then you have all the room you need on the work bench again, and you even have a steel plate to do some minor pounding on whatever. Also like you said, you could fasten the rear of the bench to wall studs in one manner or another. I would also recommend fastening the two front legs to the floor in some fashion to keep the bench front from lifting when pulling up on the press handle.
Is mounting and removing a press each time you want to use it a problem? Not for me. All it takes for all my metallic presses is two hex bolts with a washer under each head. I also have shotshell presses that each require four bolts. For the metallic presses that hang ove the edge of the bench, I use two 3/8 bolts for each. For the shotshell presses that mount on the top of the bench and have four mounting holes, I use 1/4 inch hex bolts and washers. I simply mark where the holes are required for whatever press I want to use, drill the appropriate sized hole throught the steel plate into the wood bench top and then tap threads into the steel plate. I really like the steel plates and how they faciltate the use of many presses and tools without taking up all the space required to leave presses mounted permanently.
Before you mount your steel plate, however, make sure what clearance you may require at the front edge of the bench for a particular press. For example, if I wanted to mount my RCBS RockChucker and Junior presses to the straight front of any bench, that is easy enough to do. However, when you lower the handle, you will find the linkage will hit the front part of the bench, and you will have to remove some amount of wood to allow clearance for the linkage. With the steel plate, simply mount it so it overhangs the edge of the bench front by about a half inch, and the handle linkage will clear the bench front nicely, and you will still have a rock solid steel mount for the press or presses if you set up for more than one.
So, yes, you certainly can use the HF bench for reloading if you mount it solidly as you suggested, and it will work even better if you use a steel plate as I have suggested. Removing the press after use will allow you to have full use of the drawers under the bench top also.
I have absolutely no room for the bench in my 5th wheel camper, and I am not likely to add a storage shed, so I am not about to reload any ammo on presses while we are in Florida. However, I do have a few Lyman 310 Nutcracker tools and a Lyman Acculine hand tool, and I can actually reload ammo with those if I choose to do so. If I want to use a press to reload, however, it will have to wait until I get back home.
I see you are in the Orlando area. We rent a site from 1 November until 30 April at the Adelaide Shores Resort just two miles north of Avon Park on Rt. 27, and it is a really nice place. I went down there at the beginning of November by myself to set the camper up, stayed for a few weeks and then went back home for the holidays. I went back down by myself again after New Years Day, and my wife was supposed to come down and join me two weeks later. She had a medical problem that came up while I was waiting for her, and it became a bit more complicated. After being there for a few more weeks by myself, it became obvious she would not be able to come down until things straightened out for her, so I finally gave up and came back home to be with her. Maybe if she is feeling better in a few more weeks, we might be able to get back down for March and April. It was nice weather while I was there in November, but my weeks there in January were just too cold for me.
For years we used to stay at the Thousand Trails Campground on Rt.27 just west of Disney, and then some years ago we tried some other places including Wauchula, Zephyrhills, and now Avon Park. I like it better down Wauchula and Avon Park way because there is less traffic, and it should be a little bit warmer. It sure wasn't the first three weeks this past January, however.
Oh well, winter is a drag for me. In any case, I think the HF work bench will do you well in your limited space down there. Like I said, it may be smaller than I want for a reloading bench, but it is really well made, really solid construction, and well worth the price. You also seem to understand what you need to do to secure it to you garage walls to make it solid.
Best wishes,
Dave Wile