I’ve been kicking the idea of reloading around for a decade or two. What would you guys recommend to get started with? I’ve been saving brass for years and figured I’d put it to use.

rifle , pistol or shotgun?

what calibers are of interest?

what is your reloading goal(s)?
some reloading goals might be
I want a source of my hunting ammo the right load for my gun so I am never without it again.
or
I want the most accurate round I can send for all my rifles I want to build a handload to exceed factory accuracy
or
I need ammo lots and lots of ammo and I want to get it done as cheap as possible
or many many more and maybe more than one

what volume of ammo do you se yourself reloading and for what calibers?

dilllon makes the cadilac of reloading equipment. lee makes the ford fiesta of reloading gear. both will get you there.

want competition ammo or confidence in a 300 yard shot at a coyote? any of it will be fine for the latter.

RCBS rock chucker supreme master reloading kit. It’s got everything but the dyes and the shell holder to get you started. Dies and shell holder are cartridge specific. After you get your feet wet, a case trimmer, and caliper will help you to fine tune your ammo to a specific firearm. The kit list for 479 MSRP but you should be able to beat that by quite a bit.
Thank you for your service

rock chucker press and lee dies rcbs scales

I've got both RCBS and Lee presses and dies, nothing wrong with RCBS but I prefer Lee. I like their dies much better, and find their press is a little more comfortable to use, but I have both bolted to my reloading bench and tend to put a die in each press. The Lee hand priming tool is awesome, I know RCBS has since copied it, and I'm sure theirs works as well, but haven't tried it. I do run a RCBS electronic powder dispenser and scale, unnecessary but nice.

Lee makes a starter kit that comes with everything you need but dies, used to be under a hundred bucks years ago when I bought it, I don't know what it costs now. If you are reloading for a rifle, I would start with one of the starter kits and then you can upgrade to fancier stuff like electronic scales and what not later, if you find you like and/or are going to do enough of it to bother. If you are going to be reloading pistol ammo to do a bunch of shooting you are going to want some sort of progressive press. Not that impressed with the Lee progressive press I have, I would go with a different model or brand.

GCPete is asking the right questions. Others answers are not wrong, but they might not be answering the right question. For example, if you are wanting to produce pistol ammo in large quantity, a progressive press is the way to go, whereas small quantities of rifle cartridges optimized for accuracy in a particular rifle requires a somewhat different set of tools.

The rock chucker has served me well for many years.

I have switched over to a Hornady auto powder dispenser though.

It’s the only non-green piece of reloading equipment I own.

i have a Dillion progressive
You load a large amount of precision ammo in a short time

I also have two Lees singles, set up in tandem for my "Match" loads for one specific rifle. The dies never come out of them
If you want to dink with loads in small amounts, I would do go with a two singles

Dont forget all the extra that add up quick.

I recommend a time machine.

Go back to 1989 and buy semi trailer load each of brass, primers, and powder.

Brass is easy
But yes, when you find your load. buy components when ever you can find them

Nosler is in Bend Or, not to far of a drive for me

Have loaded my own ammo since the early 80's. As stated, depends what you want to reload. Pistols , to me are the easiest, rifles more time. I have Dillon for my pistols, 1 set up for small primer, 2nd for large primers. I also load 5.56, rifle on the progressive. Use a Fortester Co Ax, on rest of the rifles ,I loads for. I have a Rock Chuker RCBS, ( my back Up ) that I started with, has thrown thousands of rds., never a problem, mechanically. Dies, is where I'm picky. I like Redding, RCBS, Forester, I believe of all the decappers over the years Lee's Steel is the best. I shot several calibers, and reloading my own ammo helps for precision accuracy. Load few loads, shot and see what works best in rifle. I use Hornady, Sierra, reloading manuals and record every powder load, bullet, and velocity loads fired. Reloading isn't for everyone, but I enjoy doing it, Takes time to prep your brass, clean it ETc. But I look back over the years, it has been a money saving deal, for myself. Cost of reloading isn't cheap, but ammo now days is expensive. Maybe some day primers will get back to reaonable price. My personal opion, buy good equipment, keeps rebuying as you learn the ins and outs of reloading. Good luck

I also have never done any reloading but have been thinking about it lately. I would just be reloading mostly for the fun of doing something new. I know I would never reload enough to ever pay for itself. And as far as reloading to always have a stash of ammo or to be able to make ammo in bad times well there is just more to buy to hoard. Different primers, different powders, the bullets, the brass, etc. it would be easier to just buy the ammo in the store and hoard it.

What got me thinking about it was I seen several kits on marketplace for sale. Some new never used and some used. Both at a lot cheaper prices than new from the store. Most had lots of extras they were selling with them. So I would look on there first, you may be able to get everything you need or want all in one purchase for cheaper.

Will need manuals at least 2 of them then read em cover to cover a couple times. Spend some time deciding how to set up your area and get a couple bright lights, you can't have too much light. Cheap calipers are to be avoided. Don't ask me how I know this.

Will you save money loading bulk crap like you could back in the day ? For the first few years No! Can you ABSOLUTELY!

deal is though now days you same more money making QUALITY ammo. Like if you shoot 20rd a year of the cheapest hunting crap you can buy for your .270 and are happy with minute of paper place accuracy or whatever then yeah I probably wouldn't wast much time ,but if you want to really tailor your loads then reloading will save you a boat load . I know I've done the math and to buy the stuff I load in a factory configuration id basically have to buy black hills MK262 mod 1 and that crap can be past $80 per 50 rd or way more.

My advice though would be avoid the kit route , plan out what you want to do as far as reloading, really plann it out because the system you'd want for slapping out cheap functional pistol ammo vs high quality rifle ammo are two different things. Once you know that then make a list of individual stuff, press,scale ,calipers ,bench , ect and go buy the individual part.

I'd say go join accurate shooter , tho bench rest and Fclass guys know they keep their gear in tip top condition and younger used stuff from them that's practically mint !

John, It depends. My Dillon 650 works great for a lot of rifle and pistol calibers. All you do is set it up and when you want to change to another caliber swap out a tool head and a few parts then set it right and go to town. Over the years I have had several brands and they all work fine but now I'm older and tired of having several ways to do things. The Dillon press can do a lot so it made sense to me.
Education is key. If you have the components it will be worth it but if you have to buy all new be prepared to pay more than ammo right now.
I have a Redding press with dies for 25 06 - that's all I load on that one and will probably keep it.
Buy supplies from estate sales or pawn shops to save some money. Garage sales are good sometimes. Never ever use powder form someone where the container has been opened.
It's a great hobby. It makes it easy to shoot more though which makes you load more.
Some guys are making good money right now sizing and cleaning brass then selling it. That's a good route to go to - and then use that money to buy your reloading supplies like primers and powder.
Reloading and testing the loads gives you better ammo- even for shotshells because you can tailor make it to your firearm. Good luck

I guess I should have clarified though I didn’t know there would be a difference. I know literally NOTHING about reloading.

I’m looking for rifle loading but I’d be interested in pistol a little as well. Not much.

I’d like to be shooting rifles out to 1,000. I shoot deer at 600 and coyotes at 500 with factory loads.

Pete, great questions I hadn’t considered.

I honestly just want 50 rounds per year of each caliber I hunt with. Elk and coyotes.

I’m mainly looking at 7mm Rem Mag, 22-250, 6.5 Creed, and maybe a .243 and .270.

I’d say “I want the most accurate round I can send for all my rifles and I want to build a handload to exceed factory accuracy” best describes what I want to do. I’m not satisfied with most factory ammo. I don’t own any custom rifles but most of them hold in the 1 MOA range but I feel like I can do better. I hate not being able to find the ammo I want/need.

Buy Lee

Get a nice balance scale ( they are accurate) RCBS makes a dandy. A powder measure, lee is fine , a powder trickler, a priming tool , lube pad, calipers and case trimmer, deburring tool a lyman manual

What your going to do a single stage lee press will be fine. Don’t forget dies and shell holders