Most starter kits - and none of the major makers put out bad ones IMHO - are all about the same - press, scales, lube pad and lube, funnel, primer tray, cartridge tray, a single stage press and generally a powder measure. You'll need a set of dies in your favourite flavour if not included in the package. Ditto a shell holder suitable for your calibre.
Essential stuff that won't come with the kit:
- primers, powder and bullets. Cases are the really expensive part and you reuse those as long as you can.
- a locked box to store the explosives in - see sticky.
- a reloading manual by one of the major reloading firms. It's your cookbook, so to speak. Don't trust stuff on the internet, at least not until you get some experience and get a feel for what seems right, because you can't tell if webs are written by switched on experts or enthusiastic idiots. (BTW, many of the major firms have free help lines - and you don't have to be using their stuff. Great resource.)
- a bench to work on. It can be a purpose-built thing, a carpentry work-mate affair or even a board you can clamp to your kitchen table, but you will need something.
- some sort of record book to keep track of your results. It can be purpose-made or a cheap school notebook, but you must have one.
That's quite enough to get you going.
What follows next is largely a matter of convenience.
- a manual primer or automatic primer feeders for your press will save you having to fuss with tiny primers one by one.
- a powder trickler will save you grey hair when trying to measure accurately (spoons just don't cut it)
- a deburring tool, if not included in the basic kit
- an accurate set of calipers and perhaps a micrometer to measure your product
- a magnifying glass is useful, ditto a small flashlight. (Hint - always, always check inside the case to ensure what you have is Boxer primed. Break one depriming pin on a Berdan-primed case and you'll know why.)
- a primer pocket resizing and primer crimp remover if you are trying to reload military ammo cases.
- a primer pocket cleaner can be handy
One thing that you won't need until you
really need it - and that will always be on a Saturday night, 15 minutes before the store closes and in the middle of a blizzard - is a stuck case remover for your dies. Forget to lube properly just once... Cheap insurance.
In the same vein, a couple of extra depriming pins for your dies.
A kinetic bullet puller (it looks like a hammer) will allow you to disassemble mistakes. They happen. It's cheap enough.
Sooner or later, especially if you are using hot loads, your cases will stretch. There are bench-mounted trimmers and ones that clamp into a drill. Your call.
A case tumbler will make your cases look purty, but it will also make it easier to detect cracked cases (and you should inspect every case before reloading). You can get by without it. I used a sleeve from an old flannel shirt, soaked in lighter fluid. Drop the cases in, grab each end and
shake!
Then you get into the upgrade, higher-production stuff like turret presses and progressive presses. And bullet casting equipment. And precision loading dies, etc. Later, young Jedi...
Good luck.
