First of all, the recommendation to buy at least one manual is an excellent bit of advice. The Lyman 5th Edition manual is quite good.
In the Halifax area, I buy some of my components from Brian, but I get most through our gun club's bulk order, usually placed once a year. If you load enough, the savings on components pays for part of your club membership.
If you buy ammo from the Gun Dealer, you can get 1 oz Challenger for $64.99 per flat, provided driving to New Brunswick is acceptable. He doesn't stock their 7/8 oz load that I'm aware of. Very little savings in reloading when you can buy factory ammo for $65 per case plus taxes.
A single stage press works fine for loading in small volumes, any more than 75-100 rds a week and I'd suggest you look at getting a progressive. You'll see what I mean.
The Lee works all right, I use one for my 20 ga loads. I'm the second owner, maybe third?, of my MEC 600 Jr., I've loaded well over 10k rounds with no problems yet.
I'd suggest you deprime and resize hulls in a separate step, then reload at a later time. This will give you more consistent powder drops, at least in my experience.
With the Lee, each time I drop shot, I tap the powder hopper lightly with my knuckle to settle the new powder charge in the bushing for the next shell. You'll want to remove the charge bar after each loading session and clean it, some powders will attack the plastic. Static can be a problem with the Lee also, wiping a dryer sheet around the inside of the empty powder hopper in low humidity weather helps a bit.
Hopefully you have a reloading scale? If not, then you definitely need one. Powder density varies from lot to lot. Reloading anything without a reliable scale is dangerous IMO.
I weigh 10 consecutive drops and average the results. Those 10 drops are done during a complete loading cycle, complete with primer seating, crimping, etc. Every bit of vibration affects the way powder and shot is metered.
Primers can make a significant difference in your loads. If a published recipe calls for primer "x", substitute primer "y" at your own risk. I'd suggest calling the powder manufacturer directly if you want to substitute primers. They've always been willing to answer my questions, very helpful.
As always, any information (like this thread) that you find on the internet is someone's opinion. Some may be valid, some can be right out to lunch. My disclaimer is, this is what works for me, your results may differ.
