I started out with resized factory brass that I had stockpiled. Shot excellent, not benchrest tiny groups but plenty sub 1/2 moa. I don’t buy high end brass (yet) I’ve had great luck with Winchester brass.
If I was retired I’d be reloading and shooting as much as my funds allowed me.
Get a basic set up like a RCBS rock chucker kit. You don’t need the latest and greated to resize brass, throw powder and shove a bullet in
True: The RockChucker kit is a good economical way to get into reloading. Of the cheaper dies, the Lee die set (4 dies, around $45) worked the best for me. Their neck sizer gave superb results. Of course: After 3 or 4 reloads, you have to run it through the FL die to bump back the shoulder 2 thou or so, to make sure the bolt will close. Imperial sizing wax worked better than the alternatives (for me, less botched cases). One tin will last almost forever. If you weight sort your Hornady brass into batches of 3 grain, you will likely see some improvement in accuracy (and SD), due to more consistent case volume. The high BC heavy—for-caliber Hornady ELD-M and Sierra SMK bullets are a good place to start. No need to chase speed, and that helps to preserve barrel life.
Left field idea: If you want to start at the lowest possible cost, you can buy one of the cheaper Lee presses for around $75, but you will likely want to upgrade later on. Resell it on ebay at that point. Or if you have a friend with a good press living nearby that can help you with case preparation, you could prep 600 or a 1000 pieces of brass in one day, and then shoot all of them once before getting back to case prep many months later. See if you like it before investing in good quality equipment. I started with two LE Wilson inline (arbor press) dies and a plastic mallet, so neck sizing only, and it worked! (Got an arbor press only later on. Then finally got a Rock Chucker). Would neck size and load brass three times, then store the empty fired cases in a zip lock bag until i could visit my buddy, and simply move on to the next batch of 50 weight sorted cases. Measure case length and put cases that grew beyond max length in the zip lock bag. I cleaned primer pockets with a screw driver or a punch, yes primitive but workable. Chamfering and deburring of the necks only needs to be done once. A cheap electronic or beam scale is adequate at first. A nice upgrade later on could be a Gempro 250 or the RCBS Chargemaster 1500.
I now use Redding Type-S FL dies, Lapua SRP brass, an FX120 lab quality scale with the autotrickler, annealed on an AMP induction machine, i use a Wilson trimmer with all the accessories, K&M neck turning tool, several mandrel dies, and almost every hand tool known to man... and the size of my groups on paper at 100 yards are perhaps 0.1” smaller... Group size or missed shots on steel targets at 500 yards and beyond are mostly determined by your wind reading skills. Yes SD matters to reduce vertical dispersion at long range, but fairly basic kit can get you to a point that is good enough.
Annealing is over rated unless you do it to extend brass life (and its only the SRP brass that will survive long enough to really benefit from that).
Shoot more, attend a training course, and learn to read the wind and you will outshoot the guy with the high end reloading kit. ?
If only i knew this 7 years ago, i would have 4 additional custom rifles in the safe today!! (But no, my FX120 is not for sale. Neither is the AMP machine... these are all luxuries that speed up the reloading process and make it more enjoyable.)
