Re: Lee reloading kit - Why so cheap?
"Bingo,my frist phone call was for a box full of stuff,RCBS RC press,scale,powder thrower and on and on for $100 bucks."
The message in this post is an accurate reason many of us DO NOT suggest a newbie buy the gear those of us who are heavy into to it use. First, a lot of people don't stick to reloading and many of those who do, really won't be into high volume loading.
Second, let anyone who disagrees consider the return on investment for an inexpensive Lee kit vs. the $100 for the RCBS gear! Unless the Lee ownder just gives it away, he is likely to recoup a larger percentage of his purchase price. That's a FACT! Thus, we do newbs a diservice when we suggest the stuff we hard-core types use and love. It's unlikley many of them will ever see any user benefit from spending a load to purchase our choices. And it sure seems that many, perhaps most, of us make our suggestions more from personal brand loyalty than logic anyway.
As Captnmo has wisely posted, with a little experience they will soon come to KNOW what they want/need to up-grade to, if anything, without asking faceless people on the net and that personal experience is more likely to be correct FOR THEM than anything we might suggest. I believe a Dillon or other progresive of any type is perhaps the poorest choice possible to suggest to a new guy to get started with. And turrets are precious little better.
Nothing they buy and later up-grade is a waste anyway. An early press can be religated to special tasks, de- or recapping, seating, crimping, an inexpensive first scale can very well serve as a back-up, etc.
A good loader can produce just as accurate ammo on inexpensive gear as he can more expensive tools. A clod reloader can't make good ammo on anything, no matter how much he spends; purchase cost does NOT automatically produce higher quality results. And if a "cheap Lee alum alloy" kit press should actually get worn out (rare), it will certainly give plenty of service for the low intial cost!
I prefer to help newbies get started at the lowest possible cost and then help them get well grounded, rather than forment a pointless cost barrier that helps nothing and no one.
IMHO of course.