Reloading bench

The reloading bench is a world object in Fallout: New Vegas used for crafting.

Overview[]

The reloading bench's primary purpose is to facilitate converting different forms of ammunition into others after breaking them down into their components, making gathering otherwise undesired ammunition very valuable. However, breaking down a different ammo type will not necessarily give the correct casings and hulls for the desired one. Ammunition types commonly share lead, powder, and primer, so it does not equal a straight conversion.

Characteristics[]

Special actions that can be undertaken at a reloading bench:

Ammunition rounds can be hand-loaded using certain raw materials. Note that the possible types of cartridges created depends on the level of your Repair skill, what ammunition specifications you have found, and whether or not you have the Hand Loader perk.
Cartridges can be disassembled in order to obtain reloading materials. Note that breaking down cartridges doesn't return exactly all of the materials a round was made of, so be careful to avoid unintended processing of desired ammunition.
Additionally, the reloading bench can be used to extract lead, a vital material, from piles of scrap metal. Tin cans and scrap metal can be used in combination with the shell or cartridge needed to make a type of junk rounds (requires the Junk Rounds perk from Dead Money).

Locations[]

Reloading benches can be found in almost all relatively large settlements. They can also be found around small encampments and outside stores:

188 Trading Post - Outside, next to Samuel Kerr's shack.
Abandoned BoS bunker - In Elijah's old room, next to a workbench.
Abandoned shack - Inside the shack, which is just north of the Yangtze Memorial.
Black Mountain - Inside the Storage building, next to a merry-go-round leaning against the back wall.
Brotherhood of Steel safehouse - Inside on the left, beside a workbench.
Camp Forlorn Hope storage shed - Inside, on the back wall.
Camp McCarran supply shack - - On the first floor in a niche near the western wall, next to a workbench.
Camp Searchlight NCR storage - Inside, in the back right corner.
Cerulean Robotics in Freeside - Inside, next to a workbench and the protectron for the quest Wang Dang Atomic Tango.
Cottonwood Cove storage - Inside, to the left of the entrance door.
Goodsprings - On the right side (exterior) of the Goodsprings General Store, next to a workbench.
Great Khan armory - In the basement of a destroyed house northeast of the Spring Mt. Ranch State Park, accessed through a pale-yellow cellar door on the north side of the house, with a workbench and reloading bench to the right.
Gun Runners - In front of the stall, near the Vendortron.
Gun Runners - Two are inside the main warehouse where workers are constructing weapons, along with four workbenches. High Sneak and/or Stealth Boys may be needed, as it is considered trespassing.
Harper's shack - West of Ranger Station Charlie, inside to the left of the door, next to a workbench.
Hidden Valley bunker - Enter the west bunker with the tree stump on top of the entrance, through the next door, through the doorway to the right and down the staircase,
Horowitz farmstead - Next to the fallen silo is a small shack with a reloading bench against the outer wall.
Jacobstown -Inside the lodge, upstairs inside the first room to the left of the righthand hallway.
Monte Carlo Suites - Two inside the third room to the right from the entrance, along with a workbench.
NCR Ranger safehouse - Inside, in the kitchen which is the first room on the right, next to a shelf of NCR armor.
Nellis Air Force Base - Two inside the mess hall & munitions storage, which is the northern of the two large hangars, along with a workbench.
Nellis Air Force Base - Inside the workshop, the middle of three small hangars, next to a workbench.
Nevada Highway Patrol station - Inside, in the jail cell room.
Nipton - One can be found in the house just east of the town hall.
North Vegas Square - Inside The Gray on the second floor.
Novac - Inside the Poseidon gas station garage, next to a workbench.
Primm - Inside the sheriff's office.
The Prospector's Den - Inside the building, at the very back in the third room near the Sunset Sarsaparilla vending machine.
Ranger Station Delta - Down the stairs in the cellar that is located among the ruins of a ruined pre-War house.
Ranger Station Foxtrot - Two: One is outside the tent on the side, against one of the two large wooden crates. One is inside a disabled hatch behind the main tent which leads into a cut content underground bunker and can only be accessed with console commands.
REPCONN test site - In the basement, in the room with Davison.
Westside - Inside Miguel's Pawn Shop, to the left of the entrance door.
Vault 34 - Inside a small common room at the Vault 34 armory.

Dead Money[]

Abandoned BoS bunker - In Elijah's old room, next to a workbench.
Villa police station - Inside, off the north hallway on the first floor.

Honest Hearts[]

Angel cave - Inside, where you first meet Joshua Graham. There is also a workbench. Both have a crate nearby them, workbench crate and reloading bench footlocker, respectively.
Fallen Rock cave - Inside, where the Compliance Regulator can be found. This bench is found, along with a workbench, towards the back end of the cave, past a few trip-wires and frag mines along the way.
Stone Bones cave - Located in the Survivalist's quarters in one of the northernmost caves in Zion Canyon, this bench is located northwest of the cave's entrance, along with a workbench. The fast travel entrance is heavily trapped, so proceed with caution when first arriving.
Two Skies cave - West of the Old Rockville Bridge, in the the survivalist's chamber, to the left behind a raised platform.

Old World Blues[]

The Sink - In the room with the Sink Central Intelligence Unit, next to a workbench.
Ulysses' Point - Inside, along with a campfire.

Lonesome Road[]

Installing the add-on allows ED-E to act as a mobile reloading bench via dialogue options, even before starting the add-on. His Divide counterpart is capable of the same.
Junction 7 rest stop - Inside a ruined building to the north of the map marker.
Ashton silo control station: Inside the largest ruined building along the road that heads east from the map marker.
Marked men guard outpost - In the open building.

Notes[]

The reloading bench can only break down or convert standard ballistic ammunition into other types. Energy Weapons ammunition cannot be crafted at a reloading bench, instead requiring using a workbench. Most specialized types of ammunition such as armor piercing and hollow point rounds cannot be broken down or crafted from the reloading bench.
Some ammo types use the same type of primer when crafting. When obtained from breaking down ammo, primers can then be used to create ammo of a different caliber. For example, a Primer, shotshell can be obtained from a 20 gauge shotgun shell, which can then be used to craft a 12 gauge shotgun shell.

Behind the scenes[]

Two reloading benches can be found in test cells, one in the test cell for traps, and one in TestJoshWeapons.

Bugs[]

PC Sometimes, when opening the reloading bench and hovering over any option in the left column and then moving to the right column and then back to the left to select something else, everything besides the "Exit" button becomes unclickable. Coming out of the menu and back on fixes this. It seems to happen by random chance.^[verified]