First off, reloading has just as many, if not more options than actual shooting, both kit and technique wise.
Everyone one has a different idea of how to approach things although there is some lap over. You can spend a little to a LOT, depending on how far you want to take things.Second, while it is technically possible to reload ammo using a minimum amount of equipment (and thus expense), there are plateaus and the claim that you can do it with a handful of bits and pieces, e.g. the Lee Classic Loaders + a hammer, outside of a survival/end of the world scenario is a bit ‘ambitious’, at least for rifle ammunition, IMO. You may get 1-3 reloads out of the cases before they start to become dangerous to re-use and without some of the kit, which is quite often not mentioned in the “you can reload ammo using nothing but a pair of pliers and some sellotape” tales, you’d never know. Not having scales could also lead to problems, although the ‘dippers’ you get from Lee do appear to massively err on the side of caution when it comes to which one to use for which load.
The kit I’ve bought is for the most part on the lower end of the cost scale and an almost full set up has cost me around £5-600, not including ANY components to actually start making ammunition! Toptip; always save your brass, even if you’re not reloading now, the cost of cases can be eye-watering/almost as much as full rounds of FMJ ammo and they are without doubt the most costly element of a round of ammunition.
The kit I’ve bought, which even I consider the minimum as a new reloader with few, if any superfluous items includes;
Ammo construction equipment;
Lee 4 hole turret press £85
Lee Ultimate die set £45
Powder through die £8 (This die is not included in any rifle die set AFAIK, yet is essential for some types of powder dispensers/presses, this is quite often not mentioned! Ggrr)
Lee bench plate £25 (very handy if you don’t have much space – N.B. it does not come with the hardwear to actually mount the plate to you bench!! Although some of the bolts used to mount the press to the plate may work)
Lee safety prime kit £20
Lee auto-drum powder measure £30
Lee powder measure riser £7 (required on turret presses to lift the powder dispenser out of the way of the primer dispenser)
Loading trays £3 x 2
Case prep equipment;
Lee zip-trim £18 (N.B. The zip trim doesn’t come with any means of holding the case itself and you must purchase this separately, other brands of similar product may differ, see below for options for the zip trim)
Lee case length gauge & shell holder £6
Lee 3 jaw chuck case holder £12 (For use with the zip-trim. Although the shell holder you get with the case gauge is perfectly serviceable, it takes its toll on your fingers if you do a batch of say 50 or more)
Lee case trimmer £6 (ball handle – get this it’ll save your hands!)
Lee chamfer tool £2
Lee primer pocket scraper tool £2
Lyman 1200 case tumbler* £65
Lyman media separator** £35
Lee case lube £3
Lyman case lube pad £3
Other required equipment;
Lee reloading manual £15 (Supplemented with various other load data from bullet and powder manufacturers but they are generally free online.)
A Vernier gauge £20 (The ability to measure cases/overall length is essential!!)
Lyman case length gauge £20 (This is just a fast way to checking the case hasn’t stretched too much http://www.cdsgltd.co.uk/lyman-ezeetrimgauge-rifle.html)
Lyman 500 scales £60
MTM digital scales £40
Lee powder funnel £2
An adjustable spanner/set of spanners £10
A punch set - stuck cases are fun(!) £18
RCBS kinetic bullet puller £25
Lunch/storage boxes for cases/bits and bobs £10
Case preparation is always the part of the reloading-for-nothing story which is missed out, yet it is to some level necessary/essential, makes the process easier, produces better results and makes more ‘attractive’ ammunition. Note I haven’t even mentioned annealing cases, ultra-sonic cleaning, electronic powder measures, electric case trimmers etc…
*If you de-prime cases before putting them in the tumbler, media gets stuck in the primer pocket, and worse, the flash hole and you will then have the joyous task of removing said media, using the pocket scraper tool and something to poke out the last kernel from the flash hole. It took me around 1.5 hrs to do 220 cases.
**My media separator hasn’t arrived yet but I’m hoping that will significantly reduce the number of cases that need a good raking out. Failing that I’m contemplating tumbling them before de-capping them and then just scraping the pocket for carbon deposits. 
Setting your dies up is by far the longest and fiddliest part of the process and the instructions that come with them (assuming you’ve bought them new and you actually have the instructions!) should be taken as a guide, rather than gospel. For example; I followed the instructions implicitly for the powder through die and single uses of it would not have revealed a problem. However, I decided to test the accuracy of the powder dispenser and threw 10 measures (measuring each one on the scales), using the same case. After about the 8th throw it became evident that the die was screwed in too far and was damaging the mouth of the case. This would not have been picked up had I not used the same case repeatedly, but may have caused problem with individual cases/rounds, which could have been very frustrating to diagnose. Backing the die out half a turn from the set up recommendation seems to have fixed the problem.
Toptip: Do not throw out/scrap ‘dinged’ brass (which should not be used for reloading). It can be used for experimentation, particularly setting up dies rather than possibly wasting cases which are destined to become complete rounds.
Toptip: Re-size your brass before measuring/ trimming it
Dies;
Full sized re-sizer – Following the included instructions APPEARS to work fine for this in my case, however problems might not arise until I attempt to use/chamber a completed round. Make sure you have lubed your cases properly before using it. Getting a stuck case out is a bit of a chore (punches required). I had 1 out of the 200 cases I did in one session. You can really feel the difference between a lightly and well lubed case so if the press starts juddering /sticking when the case is going in, stop before it goes all the way in, retract (if possible) and apply more lube. That said, the case that got stuck for me gave no indication through juddering/requiring excessive force to insert the case so it might have just had a weak head or something. Do not however over lube your cases as it builds up in the die and can lead to dented cases.
Neck sizer – No lube required and if you’re using a bolt action rifle, cases which have already been fired in it and you’re only using the ammo in one rifle of the same calibre, use this sizing die as its far less hassle and should give better results. As I’m going to be using my ammo in a self-loading (well, as close as you can get in the UK) rifle, the general consensus is that you need to full re-size. I have however prepared a small batch of neck only sized cases to try, hopefully they’ll work and I’ll save myself a lot of work – and they should be more accurate.
Powder through die – As mentioned above. Also if you’ve got a turret or (presumably) progressive press, you may need to add an extension/riser tube so that your powder hopper clears the primer dispenser, but that’ll depend on what equipment you’re using. Also, as above, make sure the die is seated so it’s just enough to actuate the powder thrower fully and no more or it will damage the cases mouth.
Bullet seater – Setting this up is just trial and error (AFAIK), if you have any dinged cases that can’t be used for ammo, its handy to use one for testing the bullet seating depth. If you go too far, use a kinetic hammer/bullet puller to bring the bullet partially back out (no need to completely remove it) and back up the adjustment on the die. Toptip; mark the side of the bullet with permanent marker so you can get an idea of how much the bullet is moving relative to the case, for the amount of adjustment you’re giving the die/ so you can see it in the bullet hammer if you’ve seated too deep.
Crimp die – This one is still a bit of a mystery for me as I have not been able to find any ‘definitive’ info on how much (or how to measure how much) crimp to apply, it seems to be personal preference. As long as you’re doing the same level of crimping to all of your ammo in order to replicate results I suppose that’s the main thing.
My ammo will be going in magazines and needs to be quite resilient, is this enough crimp, or too much??
On pulling this bullet I’ve discovered that it the crimp has impinged on the bullet;
I then re-crimped it twice more moving down the bullet, the next one the die was backed off ½ a turn (in accordance with the die instructions), yet seems to have dented the bullet more than the first one?! I then backed it off again a full turn for the one below that which barely touched the bullet. I could not push the bullet into the case so I think I’m going to keep the crimp at this level, unless otherwise advised;
I’m sure a lot of this is teaching grannies to suck eggs but it may be useful to anyone just starting off. Feel free to offer suggestions/tips etc. More to follow once I actually start putting rounds together.
