[Lost Sheep]

Originally Posted by BoogieMan

A lot of you guys rolling your own on these forums. I have been toying with the idea of reloading myself. I looked at a few setups but they vary so much in price and features.

Welcome to reloading (you know you will)
What are your needs? What calibers will you load for and what quantities? Will you leave your gear set up all the time or store it away after loading sessions? What kind of shooting do you intend (hunting, competition, long-range tack-driving, casual plinking, etc?). How much shooting experience do you have?

Originally Posted by BoogieMan

I like the turret style loaders that give you a cartridge with every pull.

For metallic cartridges, there are single stage presses, turret presses and progressive presses. Only the progressives give you a cartridge with each pull because they do multiple operations simultaneously. They operate in continuous mode (cartridges go in empty and come out ready to shoot continuously). Single stage presses operate in batch mode (cartridges go into the press 20, 50 or a hundred at a time, get each operation performed on the batch and then you switch to the next operation and pass the batch through that process and so forth.) Turret presses can operate in batch mode or continuous mode, but you still have to operate the handle multiple times because the press only does one operation at a time.

Originally Posted by BoogieMan

Are they as good as the single station type?

There is some disagreement on the answer to that question.

Originally Posted by BoogieMan

Can I get into a setup like that that is upgradeable for reasonable ($300-$500) money?

These might give you some ideas
http://rugerforum.net/reloading/2938...andloader.html
http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=135951

Originally Posted by BoogieMan

Would I have the option to add stuff on like the auto feaders that make them even quicker?

Progressive without case feeder is like orange juice without sunshine. If you go progressive, my advice is to get the full boat from the get-go.

Originally Posted by BoogieMan

Will they give me accurate powder charges?

Depends on the powder measure and the powder. Some work better together than others. Also, what do you consider "accurate". Some people have shooting needs that have stricter requirements than others.

Originally Posted by BoogieMan

Do any of them offer the ability to load shotgun as well as bullet?

I have heard of presses (mostly out of production now) that can do both, but pretty much, the answer is "no".

Originally Posted by BoogieMan

Finally, am I even asking the right questions?

Yes and no.

The first answer to the first question to be asked is what sserdlihc said in post #3. The second answer is the book "The ABC's of Reloading". The third answer is to read the early chapters in almost every reloading manual out there. Those early chapters invariably describe the loading process. Read different manuals and you will get the writing styles and concentrations of many different authors/reloaders.

I will post a list of web sites later.

Thanks for asking our advice.

Lost Sheep