Yall don't give people enough credit. It is not rocket surgery to measure a case shoulder and set a FL die to bump .002". No different than I can teach a child how to hit targets 100 to 800 yards.

KRoyal had never hand loaded, we got his die to bunp shoulders .002 with my headspace gauge. My stepson (19 years old) purchased his own loading equipment. He will be bringing all of it by this week. I'm going to make him set his FL die .002" using my headspace gauge kit.

Screwing the die to the shell holder, and adding a 1/4 turn is kindergarten. I give adults enough credit to do better than that.

I wish someone would have taught me about using a headspace gauge as soon as I started loading. I figured it out fairly soon, but there was no point in skipping it at the on-set of loading my own ammo.

Can anyone recommend a good powder scale, funnel, and trickler?

RCBS 5-0-5

RCBS fullel with multiple inserts for various calibers.

Redding trickler

What about case trimmers? Forrester original? Redding? RCBS?

Any trimmer will work...some are just a lot nicer than others. This is one area where you can spend a ton of money---or not.

I'd suggest looking at Youtube video reviews of various systems and see what appeals to you.

this, I started about 50 years ago with the Forrester, it worked great. As I got older and arthritis and tendonitis hit, I was fortunate enough to have the $$ and bought a Giurard (spelling?) Its expensive but its the best for trimming lots of cases. The Forrester or RCBS will do you great for 20-40 cases, you will need a chamfer tool (inexpensive) to clean up the case mouth.

You tube will really help you learn the basics.

you wont save much $$ by reloading but you can squeeze a bit more accuracy out of you guns.

what rifles are you loading for?

Hornady is good and solid.

Forster lathe is what I used for years. It ain't fast, but it does do fine work. Followed by a chamfer/debur tool.

Then I stepped up to a Giraud, and wondered why I waited so long. But I need to trim thousands of cases per year. The lower volume shooter can't really justify it, it is expensive.

When you're going to sit down and process 20 cases, labor saving trimming equipment is just a luxury (and there's nothing at ALL wrong with that). When you sit down to process 500 cases, labor saving devices take on a high level of importance.

^^Fact.

I've timed it, the Giraud is 10X faster.

Manual lathe, 500 pieces of brass would be 500 minutes(8 hours 20 minutes). And I've done that in one day.

500 pieces on the Giraud, 50 minutes.

Holy cow! That Giraud sure is pricey, but probably absolutely amazing. Sticking with a Hornady Lock-n-load, RCBS Trim Pro 2, or a Forrester Classic.

Just got my press last year, so I'm a relative newbie as well. The Hornady OAL gauge should be bought now and the headspace comparator should be purchased before you start sizing cases that were shot in your rifle. You want to know how far off the lands, and you want to know how much you're bumping the shoulder on your brass if you're sizing stuff that was shot in your rifle. The $30 kit is nothing compared to the cost of overworking your brass and getting half the brass life you should be. You'll also get more velocity this way since you're not wasting energy forming brass.

You don't need expensive dies. Hornady are around $40 and they're plenty good enough.

I just got a Hornady trimmer, so I can't comment there. But it seems well-made and will do the job fine for a low-volume shooter.

I would also look at the world's finest trimmer and the Giraud tri-way if you're going to be loading just a single caliber. The Giraud tri-way trims, chamfers, and deburs all in one step, which would be really nice. About the same cost as the other manual trimmers, but only works on a single caliber. Depends on what your use scenario is as to whether it makes sense.

And I believed it, 50 cases in 10 minutes. Took my time though.

For a inexpensive case trimmer look at The Lee Case Length Gauge & Cutter and Lock Stud trimmer
I have used this for a small batch of case. I work's well.

This
and this

This one works well.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/628405/frankford-arsenal-platinum-series-case-prep-and-trim-center