Re: Can anyone tell me what is the easiest setup ...
I've been reloading along time and have quite a pile of different model presses, dies, scales, etc. But, what I use and prefer IS NOT what I would suggest for any newbie, just because I like it doesn't make it essential - or even helpful - for anyone else!
Keep your first choices basic and inexpensive; that's easiest. Actually, what many call "good enough for beginners" is good enough for anyone UNLESS they have legitimate reasons for wanting the features offered by another brand or model. No one wears out a press or dies, etc. so claims of brand longivity aside, it's all fine stuff. (Some folks can't use pliers effectively because they have too many moving parts but that's not the plier's fault.)
Consider a Lee Classic Cast (all steel) press. VERY STRONG, very durable, handles spent primers better than most, very good ergonomics.
Lee rifle dies are good too. All but the RGB sets include a shell holder you would pay extra for with the other brands. Lyman and Redding pistol dies are great due to their unique case expander/belling design.
A good beam scale is much easier to use, is less costly and lasts much longer than any digital. The current RCBS 505 and Redding scales are perhaps the best values being sold.
You will need an adjustable powder measure (often incorrectly called a "powder dump") and a bench stand for it. Lee's little "Perfect" powder measure isn't perfect but it's very good, perhaps the very best at metering coarse rifle powders. No measure is totally consistant so you will need a good powder "trickler" to bring charges up for precision rifle charges, Redding makes the best tricklers available.
You will need a plastic powder funnel to help you pour the charges into the cases, also need a couple of plastic loading blocks to hold cases while you process them. Brand/price doesn't matter at all.
Rifle cases tend to stretch so it's good to have a way to keep them safely short. Fancy adjustable hand or power turned trimmers are neat but not needed because Lee's case trimmer tools do a fine job accurately, fast, inexpensively. You will need a case mouth chamfer/debur tool after cases are trimmed, any such tool will do great. And using Lee's case trimmer means you really won't NEED a precision caliper either, just use a factory cartridge or the bullet's cannalure groove to set your seating die for OAL.
Case resizing lube is absolutely necessary. All of the commercial types work good but Imperial sizing wax, or Lee's, applied with the finger tips is about as easy and effective as it gets.
I think the loader's first manual is the most critical item on his list. The Lee Manual is inexpensive but has great instructions for the basic reloading steps and it includes a LOT of loading data.
You don't <span style="font-style: italic">NEED</span> a dial caliper, chronograph, neck sizers, competition seating dies or case tumbler to make good shooting ammo. But, they are nice to have. Maybe later?
<span style="font-weight: bold">ADDENDUM: </span> As Steve suggests (below), even for "keep it simple/easy" reloading, an inertia bullet puller and a <span style="text-decoration: underline">stuck case remover</span> are very nice tools to have.
I don't suggest kits to beginners simply because they are always incomplete and, of what they do have, never include what I believe are the best tool choices across the board for anyone. Fact is, NO one brand has a total lock on the better tool designs. The best reloaders always have a variaty of brands on their bench.
