2.) Type of ammo-- Nothing unusual. .308; 9mm; .223; .45ACP; .38 Spl...
Sporting Lad, based on this and the numbers you gave I'd suggest at least starting with a medium price single stage (SS).
For your .308 rifle the SS is nigh on perfect. It'll work well for .223 as well to start out. Same with the handgun rounds. Eventually you may want to upgrade to a progressive for running your handgun ammo and possibly your .223 if you're shooting larger volumes of it from a semi auto. But the SS will serve on for rifle and any other rounds where accuracy and a higher degree of individual operations per round that occur off the press are required. For example for my rifle loading I weigh every charge. And that means the SS and a loading block work out far better than a progressive for me.
For a while a buddy and I were loading our .45Colt and .38Spl adn .357Mag (with light "special" like loads for cowboy action) on a single stage because my progressive was in storage following my move. It was use the SS or buy factory. And that was NOT going to happen....
With a little practice we were both running off the handgun ammo at a rate of 130 to 140/hr. This included the following steps;
- Size and decap the previously cleaned brass with sizing die.
- Flare with the flaring/powder die.
- Use a hand primer to prime the cases.
- Use a suitable size dipper and small charging funnel to charge the cases.
- Use a small flashlight to double check the powder levels to ensure no squibs or double charges. THIS IS LIKELY THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP TO YOU AS A NEW RELOADER! ! !
- Seat and crimp the bullets in the cases using the third die of the set
I detailed the steps a little extra for you to point out where each die was used.
The big time waster in this process was charging the cases with the dipper and funnel. At this point I will suggest something for you to look up and run with if you buy a single stage. If you buy Lee dies you can buy a Lee Autodisc powder measure. This gizmo replaces the top funnel nut on the flaring die and is the same powder measure used on the Lee Classic 1000 and turret press setups. With this measure on top of the flaring die you charge the case at the same time you flare the mouth of the casing. And they are not expensive either.
I never tried series reloading for the handgun loads with that setup but I suspect that it would up the production you get from an SS press from around 140/hr to more like 180 to maybe 200/hr once you're more comfy with the process. And that STILL allows for the time used to closely inspect the powder charges before seating the bullets looking for any mistakes.
It IS a lot of lever pulls though. Three times for each round loaded. But it'll get your foot in the door towards making cheap ammo without a huge start up cost.
For a press I am going to suggest you get a Hornady LnL single stage or an RCBS. I'm not a fan of Lee presses because a single stage Lee I was given proved to be out of alignment between the ram and the die position. It was enough that my ammo was lopsided and nothing I could do would fix the issue due to the press itself being the cause. It ended up in a scrap metal bin because there's no one I hated enough to justify giving it to.
Having said that I would still go with Lee for anyone on a budget. They generally do make reasonable stuff. Just watch for the rifle casings trying to jog to the side by too much for the play in the shell plate to allow for.
Or if you'd rather not take the gamble I'd suggest going with Hornady or RCBS as the next two options up the price ladder.
I went with Hornady for my own SS option because I liked the idea of the Lock N'Load bayonet fitted bushings. This makes die swapping both fast and accurate over screwing them in and checking each time. If you opt for RCBS with the threaded method I heartily recommend that you buy a good size supply of the Hornady pinch lock setting rings. With these pinch lock rings you can screw in and pinch the dies down in the press knowing that they will be consistently accurate each time. Sort of like a slower version of the Hornady bayonet mount system. The Lee O ring nuts are nothing less than useless for this aspect and the set screw style nuts used by some other brands of dies cut into the threads badly which makes adjustments tough as they get older. And even if padded the set screw style still allow for some play by not clamping the threads around the whole periphery. So get the Hornady press for the bayonet bushing system or get any other brand along with a good number of the Hornady pinch lock die nuts. Either option will make you a happy camper by speeding up the die swaps on a single stage.
If it matters the die nuts are around $3.50 in bulk vs $5.50 for the bayonet bushings. But it's cost vs speed. You'll need lots of them either way you go because you'll want one nut or bushing per die. And to be crystal clear if you go for the Hornady press and bayonet bushings you don't need the pinch lock nuts as well. Whatever comes on the dies is fine in that case.
The hand primers are a bit of a fumble but they are cheap and fast. On the press priming can be done but often the setup costs more to get and is a bit of a fuss to set up for many cases. But balanced against that is the added safety issue of not having the primer being set in near contact with the rest of the supply. Just in case one was to ever ignite it's nice to have the shock of that away from the others.
Do not go with a priming system that requires you to handle each primer. Any oils on your skin can be transferred to the primer and migrate into the priming compound. From opening the packs to seated in the cases the best method is the one where you do not need to touch any single primer with your fingers.
