Recommend Beginners Setup

[2ndchance]

I load all my brass until I see a crack. Pistol stuff seems to last forever. Bolt rifle brass seems to last forever, too. Especially if I'm just neck sizing. Semi auto brass lasts about 15 loads. I'm only doing 223 and blackout right now. I would bet my 308win loads would not last as long.

[Bart B.]

The best way to get a lot of reloads for most bottleneck rifle cases is to minimally size them down. This typically produces best accuracy and reliable functioning in the rifle, too. Use sizing dies without expander balls but with neck bushings or necks honed out to a bit less than loaded rounds' neck diameters.

[DaleA]

Found this on youtube.

It's a short (4 minute) video of the RCBS 2000 loading .45 ACP.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCOjenjFKmI

I thought it was a good demonstration of the press in action.

[DaleA]

A couple notes...the RCBS Progressive 2000 in the video I mentioned is using RCBS primer strips. I don't use them but I think they are a great idea. Thing is if you can't buy the primers in the strips you will probably want to buy the RCBS APS Primer Strip Loader. It's a neat gadget that will put 25 primers into one of the primer strips with one push of a lever.

Powder scales...the electronic ones are neat but I still use my RCBS 5-0-5 scale. My electronic scale...well I kept weighing the same weights and many times would get slightly different results...could be batteries, could be scale location, could be didn't warm it up...lots of excuses but the 5-0-5 IMhO is more reliable and for me way easier to understand.

Good luck.

[FreedomUIC]

I will chime in as I am fairly new but have loaded quite a bit over the last year. I bought all kinds of silly stuff when I first started and now it has either been tossed or given away.

**Edit**
Let me put in a plug here about cleaning used brass. I use an old plastic ammo case with a rubber seal. I usually load it about 1/4 of the way full with brass and then throw in the following mixture:

1) 8 Cups of water
2) 2 Cups of distilled Vinegar
3) 2 Tablespoons of Dish Soap
4) 1 Tablespoon of table salt.

I combine all this into the ammo can and close. I agitate the can by shaking every 15 minutes for at least an hour. The cases come out exceptionally clean, even the old range found ones. Do not worry about discoloration, tumbling will take care of that.

Once all the pieces are dry (about 24 hours) I tumble them for about 10 hours (Over night on a Friday night while I am asleep). Wake up and you
have spotless brass ready to begin the process below.

My equipment:
1) RCBS Single Stage Press - My Preference
2) RCBS Dies
3) RCBS Case Trimmer
4) RCBS Powder dispenser - Best $300.00 dollars I have ever spent.
5) I have a 9mm and a .40 S&W bullet comparitor I purchased that I
check each round in.
6) RCBS Primer Hand Loader - Lots faster than the press


Process:
Using the Decapping and Sizing Die I "Decap" and size the 9mm casings
in one fell swoop. Sometimes there are upwards of 1,000 I have to do.

I then switch out dies to the "Flare" die to open the case mouth a little to accept the bullet. I do all at once so I don't get lost.

I then take them all into the house and watch TV while I place the primers in all of the prepared shells. Takes a couple of hours baring any jams and such.

I now have 1,000 shells that are ready to receive the powder and have the bullet seated. I use the RCBS meter inside the house because I live in Florida and it gets humid in the garage. Using blocks I will load 100 shells at a time at the dining room table. Once that process is done I will
take them to the garage and place the bullet in them and use the seating
die. I will use the calibers on the first couple to ensure quality and then
visually check in each case prior to the bullet to make sure the powder is
in there. Once I have the 100 shells loaded into the plastic cases I always include a little card with the date, type of powder and charged used along with the type of the bullet. Comes in handy at the range.

Once I have several thousand loaded I start putting them in vacuum sealed bags and I can store them in my garage without the humidity affecting them.

Hope this little piece helps explain the process some. I know it can be intimidating when you first start out.

[stubbicatt]

In my experience, within a range of tolerances, dies, presses, priming tools, all these are perfectly adequate for the tasks at hand. There are some presses of course which are relatively weak, and not suited for heavy use, and other presses like the RCBS Rockchucker, or some of the big, huge, 50BMG presses which, if you are reloading 25 ACP, might not be best suited for that task, however err on the side of strength with a press, as even tho it is silly, you could conceivably reload 25 ACP on a stonger press...

To my way of seeing things, the powder dispensing stage in the process is the one where tragic mistakes are often made. Either no powder (squib load) or excessive powder charges, occur at this stage. It is up to the operator to develop a method that is 100% reliable for verifying powder charges.

From safest to least safe, then, this is how I see things.
1) Weigh each and every powder charge, and trickle to the same weight.
2) Dispense from electric measure/scale.
3) Dispense from volumetric measure into cases in loading block. Initial charges verified by weight. Verify by sight that the volume in the cases is the same.
4) Use volumetric powder measure in progressive press or turret press with "powder COP" die or equivalent to sound an alarm or stop the process if charge level in case is out of line.
5) Use volumetric powder measure in progressive or turret press without verification.
6) Use scoops to dispense powder.

What you ultimately choose is up to you, it is your hands, your eyes, your safety and the safety of others on the firing line which depends on your choices.

[FreedomUIC]

Well stated Stubbicatt!

[BigJimP]

A note on the Dillon 550 vs the 650....

Dillon 550 - you have to manually index or rotate the shell holder ( and that introduces human error into the process) / it also does not have a 5th spot in the toolhead for a "powder check die" .../ the Dillon 650 automatically indexes and it has the 5th spot for the powder check die.

You can take a 4 position tool head...and combine bullet seating and final crimp into one station ( although Dillon recommends you not do that ) and then put the powder check into a 4 station setup ( Dillon 550). But I would not do that / and I don't recommend it ...bullet seating and the final crimp are best left to be done in 2 stages.
------------
Progressive presses can be very accurate on powder drops ...and can be effectively used by new reloaders ! Most any press will give good results ( single stage or progressive)....if the user can read the technical manuals and understand them in detail ...and they use good procedures.
------------
Dillon 650 and Hornaday LNL are equivalent in terms of quality and reliability in my view....RCBS makes a decent progressive press as well / and there isn't a bad press among the three / but I still favor Dillon equipment. I've had a Dillon 650 with a case feeder for at least 10yrs ...and for what its worth, I'd buy it again over the others....in fact, I will buy a 2nd one, when we settle on a weekend house a few hundred miles away from our primary residence.

[Gunnels]

Man, what a can of worms.

Soaking brass for a couple of hours, letting dry for 24 hours, and then in a vibratory cleaner for 10.5 hours.

Weighing every powder drop.

I am miracle you guys ever get to go shooting.

[pathdoc]

Jim243, the bottle of Grand Marnier sort of jumps out at one.

I hope this is the shot you use to reward yourself at the end of the session, not the warmup!!! But otherwise that's one hell of a setup.

[mineralman55]

1. First, get a case gauge for any rifle caliber you reload.
2. Second, start with the .45ACP as someone else stated. They're forgiving of minor mistakes. Learn how to use the "plunk" test.
3. Third, get a case gauge for any rifle caliber
4. Fourth, have one and only one canister of powder on your bench when you reload
5. Fifth, have one and only one type and brand of primer on your bench when you reload
6. Sixth, keep detailed records. A small spiral notebook works (~$1, get it.)
7. Seventh, get a case gauge for any rifle caliber you reload.
8. Eighth, safety first. Wear glasses. Don't force anything. Stop if you're not sure.
9. Nineth, have fun!

Also, I think your choice of RCBS progressive is just fine. Almost 30 years ago when I started, an old greybeard told me not to waste my time on progressives, get a single stage. Best advice I ever ignored.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Unless your guns have SAAMI minimum chambers, and almost none do, I would consider all those case gauges to be a waste of money. Learn to size the cases for your chamber. A generic gauge is useless in my opinion. Even if you wanted to size your case to SAAMI minimum you can just measure the case compared to a SAAMI diagram, you don't need case gauges. The only time I could see using a case gauge would be loading one cartridge for multiple guns.

[Tucker 1371]

I've got a buddy who has reloaded before and he actually going to be my roommate here pretty soon. I think there's some things he can help me with, I'm thinking I might stay away from a progressive press, somewhat on the fence now. Anyhow, thank you all very much for the input, I learned a lot from this thread and all your posts are greatly appreciated.

[Misssissippi Dave]

The best reason to load on a progressive press is you don't spend all that much time to load a lot of ammo. As with any press type, once you get the feel for things and a pattern that works well for you. It all gets easier and you are able to produce more ammo per hour than what you were able to do in the beginning.

There are several good presses that will last longer than you will be around if they are taken care of and maintained properly. All seem to have their good and bad points. Loading only 1-2000 per year really can be done on a single stage press. It probably would take an experienced reloader less than 30 minutes a week to turn out that amount of ammo. I know I can easily load 1000 rounds in about 3 hours on a Dillon 550b in a single caliber. I often only load 30 minutes to an hour at a time and produce a fair amount of ammo.

I have gone through several Harbor Freight digital calipers. I do have one dial type caliper I got from Dillon that work well and has outlasted all the cheap digital calibers combined. No batteries to replace either. It does take a little more effort to read one but once you understand them they are pretty easy to use.

I have damaged more pistol brass than I have worn out. An easy way to tell when .45 brass life is over is when the mouth starts to crack or when you can't read the head stamp any more they probably only have a few more reload left. I have lost plenty of brass and that causes me to replace it more than anything else.

If you are thinking you might be increasing your reloading in next few years, you might consider a turret press. It can serve you well as a single stage press and you can leave all dies set all the time. A single stage press does make you switch out dies between the different steps needed to load your ammo. A turret will allow you to go from the first die to the end without a problem. When developing a new load I use my progressive more like a turret press. I think a turret press can easily fit the bill for a lot of reloaders. People loading pistol ammo tend to go through more ammo than rifle people do. The big exception seems to be some people with ARs.

I would suggest starting with pistol ammo when you begin to reload. They normally are easier to learn to do and you don't need a lot of the extras you really do need to load rifle ammo. Loading a single caliber in the beginning, is a better way to start in my opinion.

Buying in bulk helps to keep the cost down. I suggest you do this after you find what works best for you. In the beginning you might not be saving much compared to factory ammo. Once you know what you really like and want to stick with buying in bulk helps keep those cost to a minimum. Bulk buys should allow you to load just about anything for close to half price per round. Occasionally even less with some of those very high priced rounds.

[coonhound66]

Before buying the press get the powders you need they are getting hard to find a press is easy to find

[Lost Sheep]

By the way, thanks for asking our advice. Welcome to reloading.

Jay24bal, g.willikers, mikld,theshephard,Wreck-n-Crew got the right questions

At the risk of being redundant, here is my answer (set of questions) to you.

Welcome to the forum and to reloading. Thanks for asking our advice.

Aside from eye protection and manuals, you only need three things (physically) to load good ammo. (Of course, you would be severely limited in some ways, but capable of producing one round at a time, but safely.)

Press because fingers are not strong enough to form metal
Dies because fingers are not accurate enough to form metal to SAAMI specs
Scale (or calibrated dippers) because eyeballs are not accurate enough to measure out gunpowder.

A set of calipers would be a good idea, too, just to verify dimensions.

Everything else can be done without, substituted for or improvised until you can afford to buy good, quality gear.

But it is more efficient and cost effective to get equipment that fits your needs now and for the near/foreseeable future.

We could target our advice better if you shared some information about yourself: (What I use has no relevance to you if our needs are not similar.)

What calibers will you be reloading?

What quantities will you be reloading for those calibers? (Per month)

How much time will you be willing to devote to those quantities?

How large of production runs before swapping calibers?

What is your budget for the initial purchase? (Not components, just the equipment)

Will you want to get your entire setup at once or, after an initial setup that does all you need, add accessories and conveniences as your experience suggests and finances permit?

Will you be putting your gear away after each session or leave it set up permanently?

How much space will you devote permanently to a loading area, if any?

Do you want it to be portable?

What are your shooting goals? Cheap ammo? Ultimate long-range accuracy? Casual plinking, Serious competition - what kind? Cowboy Action Shooting? Strictly hunting? Personal defense? Skills development?

Lost Sheep

[Lost Sheep]

10 Advices for the novice loader

I have thought of a few things I think are useful for handloaders to know or to consider which seem to be almost universally mentioned, so I put together this list of 10 advices.


Much is a matter of personal taste and circumstance, though. So, all advice carries this caveat, "your mileage may vary".


So you can better evaluate my words, here is the focus of my experience. I load for handguns (44 Mag, 45 ACP, 45 Colt, 454 Casull, 9mm, 357 Mag, 480 Ruger) a couple hundred per sitting and go through 100 to 500 centerfire rounds per month. I don't cast....yet.


When I bought my first gun (.357 Magnum Dan Wesson revolver), I bought, at the same time, a reloading setup because I knew I could not afford to shoot if I did not reload my own ammo. My setup was simple. A set of dies, a press, a 2" x 6" plank, some carriage bolts and wing nuts, a scale, two loading blocks. I just mounted the press on the plank wedged into the drawer of an end table. I did not use a loading bench at all.


It cost me about 1/4 of factory ammo per round and paid for itself pretty quickly.


I still believe in a minimalist approach and and try to keep my inventory of tools low. I do not keep my loading gear set up when not in use, either, but pack them away in small toolboxes until the next loading session.


Now, here are my Ten Advices.


Advice #1 Use Reliable Reference Sources Wisely - Books, Videos, Web Sites, etc.


Study up in loading manuals until you understand the process well, before spending a lot of (or any) money on equipment.


Read as many manuals as you can, for the discussion of the how-to steps found in their early chapters. The reason you want more than one or two manuals is that you want to read differing authors/editors writing styles and find ones that "speak" to you. What one manual covers thinly, another will cover well so give better coverage of the subject; one author or editor may cover parts of the subject more thoroughly than the others. The public library should have manuals you can read, then decide which ones you want to buy. Dated, perhaps but the basics are pretty unchanging.


I found "The ABC's of Reloading" to be a very good reference. Containing no loading data but full of knowledge and understanding of the process. I am told the older editions are better than the newer ones, so the library is looking even better.


There are instructional videos now that did not exist in the '70s when I started, but some are better than others. Filter all casual information through a "B.S." filter.


Only after you know the processing steps of loading can you look at the contents of of a dealer's shelves, a mail-order catalog or a reloading kit and know what equipment you want to buy. If you are considering a loading kit, you will be in a better position to know what parts you don't need and what parts the kits lack. If building your own kit from scratch, you will be better able to find the parts that will serve your into the future without having to do trade-ins.


Advice #2 All equipment is good. But is it good FOR YOU?


Almost every manufacturer of loading equipment makes good stuff; if they didn't, they would lose reputation fast and disappear from the marketplace. Generally you get what you pay for and better equipment costs more. Cast aluminum is lighter and less expensive but not so abrasion resistant as cast iron. Cast iron lasts practically forever. Aluminum generally takes more cleaning and lubrication to last forever. Just think about what you buy. Ask around. Testimonials are nice. But if you think Ford/Chevy owners have brand loyalty, you have not met handloaders. Testimonials with reasoning behind them are better. RCBS equipment is almost all green, Dillon-blue, Lee-red. Almost no manufacturers cross color lines and many handloaders simply identify themselves as "Blue" or whatever. Make your own choices.


About brand loyalties, an example: Lee Precision makes good equipment, but is generally considered the "economy" equipment maker (though some of their stuff is considered preferable to more expensive makes, as Lee has been an innovator both in price leadership which has introduced many to loading who might not otherwise have been able to start the hobby and in introduction of innovative features like their auto-advancing turret presses). But there are detractors who focus on Lee's cheapest offerings to paint even their extremely strong gear as inferior. My advice: Ignore the snobs.


On Kits: Almost every manufacturer makes a kit that contains everything you need to do reloading (except dies and the consumables). A kit is decent way to get started. Eventually most people wind up replacing most of the components of the kit as their personal taste develops (negating the savings you thought the kit gave you), but you will have gotten started, at least.


On building your own kit: The thought processes you give to assembling your own kit increases your knowledge about reloading. You may get started a couple weeks later than if you started with a kit, but you will be far ahead in knowledge.


Advice #3 While Learning, don't get fancy. Progressive, turret or Single Stage? Experimental loads? Pushing performance envelopes? Don't get fancy.


While you are learning, load mid-range at first so overpressures are not concerns. Just concentrate on getting the mechanical steps of loading right and being VERY VERY consistent (charge weight, crimp strength, bullet seating depth, primer seating force, all that). Use a voluminous, "fluffy", powder that is, one that is easy to see that you have charged the case and which will overflow your cartridge case if you mistakenly put two powder charges in it.


While learning, only perform one operation at a time. Whether you do the one operation 50 (or 20) times on a batch of cases before moving on to the next operation - "Batch Processing" or take one case through all the sequence of operations between empty case to finished cartridge - "Continuous Processing", sometimes known as "Sequential Processing", learn by performing only one operation at a time and concentrating on THAT OPERATION. On a single stage press or a turret press, this is the native way of operation. On a progressive press, the native operation is to perform multiple operations simultaneously. Don't do it. While you can learn on a progressive press, in my opinion too many things happen at the same time, thus are hard to keep track of (unless you load singly at first). Mistakes DO happen and you want to watch for them ONE AT A TIME. Until handloading becomes second nature to you.


Note: A turret press is essentially a single stage press with a moveable head which can mount several dies at the same time. What makes it like a single stage rather than a progressive is that you are still using only one die at a time, not three or four dies simultaneously at each stroke.


On the Turret vs Single stage the decision is simpler. You can do everything on a Turret EXACTLY the same way as you do on a single stage (just leave the turret stationary). That is, a Turret IS a single stage if you don't rotate the head.


Learning on a progressive can be done successfully, but it is easier to learn to walk in shoes than on roller skates.


Also, a good, strong, single stage press is in the stable of almost every reloader I know, no matter how many progressives they have. They always keep at least one.


Advice #4 Find a mentor.


There is no substitute for someone watching you load a few cartridges and critiquing your technique BEFORE you develop bad habits or make a dangerous mistake. (A mistake that might not have consequences right away, but maybe only after you have escaped trouble a hundred times until one day you get bit, for instance having case lube on your fingers when you handle primers; 99 times, no problem because primers are coated with a sealant, but the hundredth primer may not be perfectly sealed and now winds up "dead")


I started loading with the guy who sold me my press watching over my shoulder as I loaded my first 6 rounds to make sure I did not blow myself up, load a powderless cartridge or set off a primer in the press. I could have learned more, faster with a longer mentoring period, but I learned a lot in those first 6 rounds, as he explained each step. I educated myself after that. But now, on the internet, I have learned a WHOLE LOT MORE. But in-person is still the best.


After you have been mentored, mentor someone else. Not necessarily in loading or the shooting sports, but in SOMETHING in which you are enthusiastic and qualified. Just give back to the community.


Advice #5 Design your loading space for safety, efficiency, cleanliness


Your loading bench/room is tantamount to a factory floor. There is a whole profession devoted to industrial engineering, the art and science of production design. Your loading system (layout, process steps, quality control, safety measures, etc) deserves no less attention than that.

Place your scale where it is protected from drafts and vibration and is easy to read and operate. Place you components' supplies convenient to the hand that will place them into the operation and the receptacle(s) for interim or finished products, too. You can make a significant increase in safety and in speed, too, with well thought out design of your production layout, "A" to "Z", from the lighting to the dropcloth to the fire suppression scheme.


Advice #6 Keep Current on loading technology


Always use a CURRENT loading manual. Ballistic testing has produced some new knowledge over the years and powder chemistry has changed over the years, too. They make some powders differently than they used to and even some powder names may have changed. However, if you are using 10 year old powder, you may want to check a 10 year old manual for the recipe. Then double check with a modern manual and then triple check with the powder maker.


Read previous threads on reloading and watch videos available on the web. But be cautious. There is both good information and bad information found in casual sources, so see my advice #10.


Advice #7 You never regret buying the best (but once)


When you buy the very best, it hurts only once, in the wallet. When you buy too cheaply it hurts every time you use the gear. The trick is to buy good enough (on the scale between high quality and low price) to keep you happy without overpaying for features you don't need. "The delicious flavor of low price fades fast. The wretched aftertaste of poor quality lingers long."


Advice #8 Tungsten Carbide dies (or Titanium Nitride) rather than tool steel.

T-C dies instead of regular tool steel (which require lubrication for sizing your brass) for your straight-walled cartridge cases. T-C dies do not require lubrication, which will save you time. Carbide expander button for your bottlenecked cases. Keeps lube out of the inside of the cases.


Advice #9 Safety Always Safety All Ways.


Wear eye protection, especially when seating primers. Gloves are good, too, especially if using the Lee "Hammer" Tools. Children (unless they are good helpers, not just playing around) are at risk and are a risk. Pets, too unless they have been vetted (no, not that kind of vetting). Any distractions that might induce you to forget charging a case (no charge or a double charge, equally disturbing). Imagine everything that CAN go wrong. Then imagine everything that you CAN'T imagine. I could go on, but it's your eyes, your fingers, your house, your children (present of future - lead is a hazard, too. Wash after loading and don't eat at your bench). Enough said?


Advice #10 Take all with a grain of salt.

Verify for yourself everything you learn. Believe only half of what you see and one quarter of what you hear. That goes double for everything you find on the internet (with the possible exception of the actual web sites of the bullet and powder manufacturers). This advice applies to my message as much as anything else and especially to personal load recipes. Hare-brained reloaders might have dangerous habits and even an honest typographical error could be deadly. I heard about a powder manufacturer's web site that dropped a decimal point once. It was fixed REAL FAST, but mistakes happen. I work in accounting and can easily hit "7" instead of "4" because they are next to each other on the keypad.


Good luck.


Lost Sheep

[Lost Sheep]

http://www.rugerforum.net/reloading/...andloader.html

You can start with $150 and be minimally equipped for one caliber, and can expand from there as you have the money and feel the need for more tools. But you will have spent nothing on items you will later discard.

$204 will get you up to a really nice setup for one caliber. $287 and you have a really good setup.

$422 and you have just about everything you need to load one caliber, 100 rounds per hour at an easy pace or up to 200 if you are faster than me (and I am slow) on a continuous basis for as long as you want.

(NOTE: These dollar figures are from June/July 2010, but you should still be able to match them if you shop carefully.)

Budget another $100 for miscellaneous small tools plus $50 per additional caliber.

(previously posted on rugerforum.net/reloading/29385-budget-beginning-bench-you-will-never-outgrow-novice-handloader.html

Bold subject line, eh? Let me qualify it down. I load for handgun only; 5 calibers, about 100-400 rounds per session and about 5,000 rounds a year. I stow my gear in 3 medium size toolboxes when not in use. If this comes close to describing your situation, you might like to read on.

35 years after starting, I found I outgrew some gear and overbought elsewhere. So, I cleaned house. I emptied my bench and populated it with the best equipment I could find precisely fitting my loading needs. I could have saved a lot of experimentation and waste if I had known back then what I know now (about handloading and about myself).

Informed by my experience reconstituting my loading bench, I compiled a list of the barest essentials that would allow a novice loader to load well and which would still be gratifying in 30 years. (In my opinion and somewhat matching my style of shooting and loading.)

I think it makes an ideal shopping list for the handloader just starting out. I hope you do, too.

Press, scale, dies, a way to measure powder and a work surface are all you need, really. Everything else just makes it easier or faster.

$17 ABC's of Reloading. Ok, it's not really equipment, but tools without knowledge is just dead weight, right?
$10 Loading Data. The "One book/One Caliber" pamphlets are $10 each and are LOADED (get it?) with loading data.
$0 Loading manuals. They cost, but I didn't want to skew the budget; you do need at least a couple. Check the local library if money is tight.
$0 Eye protection. No cost, because you DO already have a pair of shootingglasses, DON'T YOU!?
$85 Press, Lee Classic Turret (Chosen because Lee makes the only turret presses that auto-advances at the discretion of the operator and the Classic is superior to the Deluxe for several features.)
$33 Dies, carbide. Lee because it includes a shell holder, a plastic dipper for powder and the "powder through" design.
$5 Work surface. Mount your press on a plank of scrap 2x8 and secure it to a (padded) coffee table.
$0 Dropcloth to catch any spilled powder or lost primers (dead or live). Use an old sheet. Quieter than plastic, less static and drapes better.
$150 plus shipping At this point, you can reload, but are limited in flexibility and speed.
$8 Lee Scoops/Dippers. Cheaper than any powder dispenser/measure and repeatability/cosistency is excellent.
$3 Powder funnel. Lee's funnel fits right in the their "powder through" die.
$161 plus shipping At this point, you are minimally equipped to load well. Not too convenient, but not handicapped to the point of terminal frustration, either.
$22 Lee Safety Prime. You can use your fingers, but this is so much better. Fits on the Lee Press.
$21 Scale, any brand. Lee's, at $21 is cheapest. You can do without, with the full set of Lee Dippers, but better to weigh. For peace of mind if nothing else.
$204 plus shipping At this level of investment, you are decently equipped
$33 Lee Auto-Disk powder dispenser/measure. It mounts atop Lee's "Powder through" die. With this, you may not need the funnel or dippers.
$50 Loading Bench. A folding workbench works fine for me. You can get a kit or build your own, too.
$287 plus shipping Now you are well-equipped as most reloaders, except for convenience accessories or tools you will use only occasionally.

Other stuff:
$20 Bullet puller I never used one for my first 20 years of loading.
$30 Calipers I had none for 30 years. Now that I do, I find uses.
$50 Tumbler Never had one. Got one now. My brass is prettier. Shoots the same.
$10 Loading blocks ($5, if you use, use two). For batch loading. Buy, or make with a plank and a drill.
$25 Powder Trickler - handy if you weigh each powder charge.

$34 misc accessories & tools, (e.g. chamfer tool)
$60 Difference to get a more user-friendly scale than the Lee
$0 Turret and Dies for 38/357 (included with basic setup)
$46 Turret and Dies for 45/454
$46 Turret and Dies for 44
$46 Turret and Dies for 45 ACP
$46 Turret and Dies for 9mm
$700 plus shipping To duplicate my entire current loading bench with all new stuff, misc accessories and tools and I would not be in the least inconvenienced in my loading endeavors.

There are many accessories that add convenience of functionality, but are so highly optional they do not belong on this "essentials" list, or belong down near the end. Besides, if I included them all, the list would be endless.

I chose a turret instead of a progressive because I am more comfortable with performing and monitoring one operation at a time and changing calibers is dead simple. I chose a turret instead of a single stage because it facilitates processing in a "pass-through" mode (much like a progressive) rather than the batch mode of the single stage. But I still do have the option of operating as a single stage in batch mode if I choose.

You could build this list using any mix of brands. I chose Lee's brand because the Auto-indexing is not available on any other press and the Auto-Disk powder measure is the most convenient I have seen, in combination with the Lee "Powder through the Die" design. The Auto-Disk is not convenient to adjust powder quantity, but it is light and compact.

Lost Sheep

P.S.
Thanks to Sue Kempf at Kempf's Gun Shop, and Mark and the guys at Factory Direct Sales and the technicians in Customer Support at Lee Precision.