DAve:
Good points.
Here is some history.
I'm 59 and have been reloading since I was 15.
I at one time did a lot of ppc shooting, .38 spl. wadcutters and had a Lee 1000 that was o.k..
I'm out of police work and have been out of ppc for years and years.
My shooting is now only geared towards:
1) practice for personal defense
2) practice for FUN
3) paper punching
4) developing the best loads to match the firearm
and so forth.
I suppose if I had more ammo I'd shoot more.
Factory stuff is expensive and you have to find a shop that carries a variety of ammo or order on-line and the shipping and prices kill ya.
I have a Lyman turret press, all the goodies that go with loading, good manuals, experience, but don't want to spend hours and hours loading a hundred rounds.
Rifle stuff is different as one generally won't shoot 150 rounds of 45-70 ammo in a day but you can do thru that much pistol ammo in an hour.
I'd like to be able to load 200 to 300 rounds an hour and load, .45 Colt, .44 mag, .357, .38spl.
Everything esle can be done on my Big Green single stage press or the Lyman Turret.
Does this infor help?
Money? Around 300 to 400 bucks for the press and shell carriers etc.