My suggestion: Read the fabulous Reloading stickies on this forum before spending any more cash.
In my case, I reload 9mm, 45ACP, .357 Mag., .300 Winchester magnum and 5.56mm, so I use the stuff below. Some folks will use a progressive reloader for bottleneck rifle loading, or so they say. I use the progressive for pistol only and the Bonanza Co-Ax single stage for rifles. I am a clean freak, so I use the following:
1. Get a vibratory case cleaner, walnut or corncob media and a tube of brass polish from Dillon. Their motors stand up to long use and heavy use. You will regret putting dirty brass through your dies and weapons. The machine is good at removing case lube also.
2. Case Lube to allow for resizing. Spray-on is available, but I prefer the little metal tin of lube. Try both and see which you like.
3. Either an electronic weigh scale or the old faithful balance beam scale will be needed to set and verify your powder charge. How much $$ you have to spend, and/or how accurate you wish to be, determines the equipment. Rabbit Hole alert.
4. I use Dillon and Bonanza presses. Dillon has an integrated powder measure, so I set the charge weight with the scale on the Chargemaster, verify with my old balance beam scale, and then load pistol ammo at 250-400 rounds per hour. Rifle I only single-stage load one at a time on the Co-Ax. The chargemaster auto-trickles each load to my desired weight, and I load a case and seat a bullet while it is dispensing the next load of powder. If i needed to use the Dillon as a single-stage press, I could. You didn’t mention caliber you are loading for, but I am assuming rifle. I don’t use a progressive press to load rifle, due to the fact that each case must be lubed and deprimed/resized, then needs the lube cleaned off before priming, charging and seating the bullet. I believe that the press you mentioned is a progressive. If so, the only time it will act like one is when using carbide dies and straight-wall pistol or rifle ammo. Bottleneck cartridges will all require lube application and removal of same, meaning it will act like a single stage.
5. If using military cases with crimped-in primers, you’ll need a swaging tool to remove the crimp.
6. I measure cartridge overall length using a bullet ogive comparator and a Starrett caliper. Get a good quality caliper and comparator.
7. Inertia bullet puller. Cheap and will salvage the inevitable screwups.
8. Obtain two or three, or more reloading manuals. You can download PDF loading data from the powder and bullet manufacturing guys, but the manuals will provide basic instructions on reloading, as well as more powder and specific bullet data.
9. Chronograph if you wish to know how your loads work. The manual velocities are test barrel readings. You don’t shoot a test barrel. Another Rabbit Hole $$. You can do just fine for $125 if you already own a tripod, or you can buy a LabRadar with battery, triggers and end up with $750 spent.
10. Couple of bound books and pens/pencils to record your data. The data comes in handy in the near and far future.
11. Primer pocket cleaner and case mouth chamfering tool. These can be found in an all-in-one tool or separate.
12. Plastic ammo boxes to hold your new loaded rounds. Cheap plastic boxes from Midway or Dillon work fine. Many others out there.
13. Loading blocks to hold your empty, primed cases, if you use the single-stage method to load rifle cartridges. Plastic (cheap) or Aluminum (expensive but much nicer).
14. Aluminum powder funnels. Don’t buy plastic funnels due to static discharge being a bitch.
15. Good overhead lighting, preferably not fluorescent, is needed.
16. A good, sturdy bench is needed for the loading press, and another is preferred for the scale(s). I keep the press separate from the scales, so as to keep from damaging the sensitive scales. I am OCD, so I have another electronic scale to check the scale on the Chargemaster, every so often. Shit happens. I don’t want shit to happen when loading a fast powder in a handgun. I wimp out and use powders that will be obvious when a double-load occurs, like BlueDot in the 9mm. Another advantage to single stage loading, is you will have 50 or 100 charged cases in your loading block, and can verify the powder levels in each, prior to seating bullets. I don’t worry about a double-charge of H1000 in my .300 Winmag. I worry about an under-charge, which can cause destructive pressures in that particular cartridge.
17. If you single-stage load, you might prefer a hand-primer. I use Frankford Arsenal’s autoprime tool, but many others are available.
18. Get a shooting friend who loads his own to give you some basic instruction.
19. Bored or Broke yet? The STICKIES are the best bet
