Cheapest quality reloading setup..

OK, seem to be seeing this question alot, so I'm gonna go and try and list the items and what they can be found for on the used market... If you can regularly get something cheaper.. by all means, list it in response.

Basics -
Press - sub 50. I have seen a few broken ones go for free that could be repaired for 15 dollars or so

Dies - about 25 for lee if you find em used, 30 new

Tumbler - harbor freight is about as cheap as the dedicated tumblers for reloading run on the used market. Think they're about 45 with coupon.

Calipers - 10 dollars or so at harbor freight

powder measure - I see them go 40ish pretty frequently. You can find the lee ones for 15-20.

scale - lee are serviceable - 15-20 bucks. My lyman I paid 50 for and I'm sure there were cheaper, but that seems to about average on ebay.

Case trimmers - 7 per pilot with a hand trimmer from lee at about dollars there.

If you're priming on press youre good to go.

220 or so for the higher price, cut that to about 160 ish.

Then there is the manual.. read one before you ever setup your press.. I recommend reading it 2x. ABC's of reloading, lymans 49th, Modern Reloading 2nd edition my Richard Lee... All are good if you can get past the xx brand is best value crap and see it for process.

Spotshuntclub sells a lee anniversary kit for around that for new stuff if I remember right, minus dies. 160ish.. I could be very wrong on that price

If cheapest is the goal, you could reasonably forgo the tumbler, trimmer, and possibly calipers (especially if using bullets with a cannelure) and still have a quality setup. I'd probably spend more on a scale or check weights instead.

Also, free data can be found from most powder manufacturers and some bullet manufacturers. While it might seem crazy to suggest not having a manual, I didn't find the descriptions/steps to be overly helpful when I started. They were more about which tools the company made that you should buy for each step. I.e. buy this ultrasonic case cleaner, etc.

Here is my shopping list. Made my first 1,000 rounds on it. Even though I do load mostly progressively these days, I still use this very setup for all load development.

http://www.sanfranciscoliberalwithagun.com/ReloadingShoppingList-Beginners.html

Trimmer is required for any bottleneck cartridges. Forgoeing it will cause you to have over length cases in just a few firings which can put the case mouth into the lands and create a pressure spoke. Forgoeing a caliper is penny wise, pound foolish.

Tumbler, yup... Ya can skip that.

I've been using a harbor freight dual drum rotary tumbler to wet tumble my cases and it is truly amazing how well it has worked with stainless media dawn dish soap and lemi shine I've had it over a year and it's still running strong and I got it for $50 with a coupon

Bad, whats its capacity?

Scyth, the dual drum can handle about a pound of brass per drum, so 2 pounds. That's about 40 308 casings per drum or ~75-90 .223 casings.