There are two routes.
The first is the cheapest - the Lee Loader. It produces perfectly good ammo, but trades effort for cost and each round takes longer to produce. On the order of $50 per calibre. You will need a hammer and a solid surface like a concrete floor or work desk to use it on.
Then there are the conventional presses, ones that mount on a desk and use compound leverage to make things easier and faster. There are three basic types.
- Single stage machines do one thing at a time and you have to change the dies for every step. It's where most people start and many if not most never feel they need more.
- Turret presses are much the same except all the dies are mounted together in a plate that can simply be turned to bring them into play one after the other. They are rather more convenient once set up; cost of course is rather greater.
- Progressive machines are essentially automatic - once set up and filled, you get a round of ammo every time you crank the handle. They are more complex and decidedly more expensive and probably more than you need unless you are firing a lot of ammo on a regular basis. (If you do, on the other hand, single-stage or turret presses probably aren't up to what you need.)
Stuff to get on top of that? Before you buy anything else - two books:
- ABCs of Reloading is probably the best introduction to the hobby (art? science?). Large paperback. You'll save a lot of time, effort and money by spending a night or two digesting this. Its only lack is that it does not have many 'recipes'; for that you will need...
- a reloading manual put out by one of the major component manufacturers. Read it before you actually start reloading. Until you get some experience, I wouldn't take any loads off the net.
Asides from the press, powder, bullet and primers (assuming you have saved brass), you must get:
- a workbench of some sort. It can be custom built, a folding work-mate or even a way to use your kitchen counter, but you must have something reasonably solid.
- dies and a shell holder for the calibre(s) in question. (If you decide to load more calibres, these are generally the only additional kit you will need - another set of dies and (maybe) another shell holder.)
- some way of lubricating cases as they go through the first (sizing) die. Otherwise, they stick and are flaming pain to get out.
- scales for measuring propellant. Electronic or balance. Some get pricey but will dispense precisely-measured charges on demand.
- a reloading block - a tray to hold your cases as you work through the process. You can buy them or make them with a piece of 2x6 and a drill press.
- a legal way to store primers and powder. Lockable box with EXPLOSIVES written on the outside is the starting point.
- a book of some sort to record your efforts so you can tell what works and what doesn't. You can buy specially-printed ones but a school notebook works just as well.
- good lighting. If your reloading place isn't bright, buy a cheap gooseneck lamp. I got mine (a floor model) at Ikea - it's flex neck allows me to put the light where it is needed.
- often overlooked - safety googles and a fire extinguisher. Chicken Little only has to be right once. Besides, they create an reassuring aura in the eyes of spouses and landlords.
'Should-have-but-not-critical' stuff:
- powder measure. It dumps a measured volume of propellant.
- powder trickler (the 'throw low and trickle up' concept is useful for high accuracy loads)
- small flashlight
- accurate calipers and, if you've the inclination, a micrometer.
- if you are trying to reload once-fired military ammo cases, a primer pocket resizing tool (different kinds) and primer crimp remover
- automatic primer feed, strip or tube, to avoid having to handle individual primers
- a small funnel for pouring powder into case.
'Nice-to-have' stuff:
- primer pocket cleaner
- magnifying glass
- tumbler. You can reload without one, but asides from making things shiny, they also make it easier to examine your brass for cracks, etc
- I found the kit lube pad messy and the lube provided with it a pain to clean off the cases. I dropped $6 on a tiny tin of Imperial Sizing Die Wax. Tap one of your fingers lightly on the wax and roll the case between your fingers. Much less messy and a tin lasts almost forever.
- case trimmer. You'll need it eventually, especially if reloading hot ammo
- a deburring tool to 'round off' neck edges, especially after trimming.
- bullet puller. Everybody makes mistakes. Most people use a kinetic one, shaped like a hammer.
Some things you won't need until you
really need them, and that will be on a Saturday night, 15 minutes before the store closes and in the middle of a blizzard:
- a couple of spare depriming pins for your dies
- a stuck case remover. Remember the mention above about lubing cases being important? Well you just forgot and the rim ripped off the case, leaving the rest solidly stuck in the die. It's at moments like this that mothers cover up young childrens' ears...
You can get both for under $10 and they'll save you a lot of grief.
Equipment brands? Touchy subject. If there's one thing guaranteed to get flames going on this forum, it's asking people about
Brand X gear. Lee in particular seems to be love-it-or-hate-it, with nothing in between. (Don't use much of it, what I have has worked fine, but others will tell different stories.) I think it's as much personal taste as anything, like some guys swearing by Fords and others by Chevies.
. If buying used make sure you fully inspect the die, remove the de-capping pin if possible, check to see if its bent. Check the body of the die for rust dings etc.
