?? for all You reloaders. How much to get set up for reloading??
burntmuch -
A little or a lot, depending...
How you should get set up will depend largely on how serious you are and whether you think this will be a long-term hobby or not.
If you just want to get your feet wet and see what is possible, Lee offers tools that, with dies, a pound of powder, some bullets and primers and some empty brass can get you started for well under $100 inclusive. Some of the tools are designed for low-volume loading and will lead to frustration and dissatisfaction if used for high-volume production. That's not a big problem as you can always get an inexpensive single-stage press when the time comes.
I got started in 1982 with an RCBS Rock Chucker. It has turned out 10's of thousands of rounds and still works like new. The RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme kit comes with about everything you need to get started except, I think, calipers - which can be purchased inexpensively (digital calipers for $7.99 at
www.harborfreight.com). You will, of course still need to have the dies, powder, bullets and brass. This is a more expensive but still very reasonable way to go if you are serious about reloading.
Then there are the turret and progressive presses, which I don't generally recommend to beginners.
You will need a couple other things - a quiet space, preferably dedicated to reloading, and a sturdy bench or table.
You will also need load data. The RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme comes with a manual but check the online data at
www.alliantpowder.com,
www.accuratepowder.com,
www.ramshot.com, and
www.hodgdon.com. The odgdon Annual Manual is available for about $8 and provides a handy reference. I use more Hodgdon powders than anything else and have the Annual Manuals for every year dating back to 2004.
Have fun!