[gunnerjohn]

I started out in the early eighties with 44 mag and 45 acp loads. 21 grs 2400 with 240 Speer JSP. My reasoning was that I was under 18 in the early 80's and could not buy pistol ammunition then. They would sell me all the components though. Go figure. I started out on a single stage reloader special and learned the basics this way. After thousands upon thousands of pistol loads on the single stage press I finally went progressive. It was a cheap progressive conversion kit put out for the RCBS presses. It worked ok, but when I bought my first Dillon RL 550 I was in heaven. At one point in the mid/late 90's I had 2 RL550's running (both small and large primer setups) 2 Rock Chuckers and a .50 BMG setup. I was shooting a lot then and it was very economical. Now I have groomed down to 1 RL550 and a Rock Chucker Supreme. I have also up graded to digital powder measure and scale.
Initial reloading equipment costs can be expensive, but you can find used equipment around that will save you lots of change.