I bought the kit when Hornady had its Get Loaded promotion on. The free bullets made it a good deal. Overall, if you want to jump in and don't want to piece together your setup it is perfectly servicable and covers most of what you will need, but there are extras you'll need to be able to use it fully, so don't wait to the last minute to get those parts.
Great starting kit, but I've found that over time I've upgraded most of it. Never used the calipers since I had cheap digitals already (just as accurate as tested on gauge blocks and much more functional than a dial). Graingers just had a sale on Starretts so I'm running those now. But in all honesty, sometimes I think I would have been just as well with the Can Tire calipers and a $80 gauge block set from Shars. The Can Tire caliper is within a thou (the same 90% of the time) of the Starrett across its full range. The Starrett IS more consistent though, but that can be easily and definitively dealt with by proper use of the gauge blocks and the CT calipers.
The concentricity gauge was nice to have, but it is limited in what it can check compared to an RCBS, Sinclair or NECOS (which is what I upgraded to).
The trimmer works, but I was pissed that I had to get Hornady shell holders just to use it (already had a full set of Redding and no Hornady holders included in the kit). The trimmer is also a little hard to adjust that last thou or two, but it works ok once you get it set. The handle gets painful when trimming a lot, but maybe im a big baby
The motorized case prep is nice, I still use that for chamfering and brushing the neck.
The shoulder/datum and bullet/ogive comparator sets are invaluable and I use them constantly. Bought a nice little holder/case for the inserts from Sinclair, much better organized than a ziplock bag. There is no point trying to get into precision reloading without these, Hornady brand or otherwise. There is a reason Whidden includes the shoulder gauge with his full length sizing dies. It ensures the best chance at good results when setting up your sizing die.
The chamber gauge is also invaluable. However, I was pretty pissed that I had to buy Hornady threaded cases to use it (not in the kit). So I special ordered a tap to make my own from once fired and sized brass, which is the proper way to do it anyway. Hornady goes out of their way to use an obscure thread so you won't find it in a standard tap and die set. This one really pissed me off, in my view they did it on purpose to try and make you buy their overpriced cases. I'm in Saskatoon once in a while and will thread your brass for free as a little Foxtrot Uniform to Hornady on that one.
