I'll share my experience with getting into reloading since I haven't been in the game all that long.
Back in 2009 I realized that I was shooting a lot for a non-competitive shooter and wouldn't take long to see the savings with reloading. So I bought a reloading book (ABC's of Reloading) and read it cover to cover a couple of times. Once I did that my research turned to the internet and I watched countless hours of videos of people's reloading process and reviews of various presses (single stage and progressive). It didn't take me long to realize that I was a progressive press kind of guy so my research focus was narrowed down to two auto-index presses,
Dillon 650XL and the
Hornady LNL.
After watching tons of videos and reading reviews on these presses, including comparisons between
blue and
red, I ended up making a decision. I went
RED!
Now my reasons for going
RED came down to two simple related things, cost and did I want/need a case feeder. As far as cost goes, after pricing both presses out with two calibers I would save over $200 plus get 500 free bullets from Hornady as part of their promo. Easy enough.
Now much more important was did I want/need a case feeder. On the
blue press the case feeding station is located on the right side of the press which forces the inclusion of a case feeder to reload efficiently. On the
RED press the case feeding station as well as the bullet feeding station are both located on the left side of the press. Why is this important you ask? Well to me this is very important because with the
RED press I can keep my right hand on the press handle and the left hand handles the insertion of the case in station 1 and the bullet seating in station 4. So for my needs the
RED press was a much cheaper choice since I didn't need a case feeder.
So in summary, if looking at these two presses it should come down to whether you want a case feeder or not. I didn't because it adds cost and noise to the process. But everyone's needs are different. I don't get passionate about pushing people to one or the other because I know that both are great choices and both aren't perfect. Most issues with both of these presses are with the priming systems and just need massaged and fiddled with a little every once in awhile to keep things running smoothly.
Now after I purchased everything for the startup I had around $800 invested. This included the LNL, shellplate, dies, good electronic scale, tumbler and all the other things needed for startup. As far as components went, I started off reloading lead bullets from
www.mastercast.net and ended up with a cost of $0.11 per round of 45ACP. So back then Winchester White Box was around $33 per 100 rd value pack so reloading netted me with savings of around $0.22 per round. My press and all the reloading gear paid for itself after 3,600 rounds.
The first two years I probably reloaded around 4k rounds but over the last three years have only reloaded 1,500 rounds. These last few years I haven't had a ton of time to hit the range since I'd rather spend time with my wife and children (3 year old daughter and 1 month old son). Plus when I do go shoot I'm usually shooting my ARs and the pistols don't get much love.
I have been wanting to start reloading for the ARs but I have yet to get one completed round.
Here is my thread about taking the plunge:
http://www.cotep.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3651 However, I have a couple thousand cases ready to load I just need to get the dies and powder measure setup and I'll be ready to rock. Will happen this summer.
I have no regrets getting into reloading as I enjoy the process and I truly know that I have saved money over the years. I know that I will eventually have more time to dedicate to my hobby since my wife likes to shoot and wants more practice and of course when my kids are older they will be introduced to the sport.
Another huge plus to reloading is that once you are stocked up on components, which I am, you can just sit back and watch the gun/ammo scares and still enjoy shooting when you want.
If you have anymore questions I'll help if I can. Hope you found it helpful.