I started with the Lee Anniversary Kit myself, I now use the press for all my depriming/priming and picked up an RCBS Summit press for all the other work. Also added a Charge Master to my bench and now am looking to get an annealer and Giraud Power trimmer pretty soon. But I've continued to improve my bench from where I started as my knowledge and experience of reloading has improved. Starting with a budget friendly kit is nice as it let's you choose where you want to invest in a more efficient/consistent method within your reloading processes. I'm now to a point where I'm happy with the outcome of my work at the bench, but want to improve my brass prep efficiency. Starting on the low end makes you truly appreciate your upgrades as you've already done it the hard way and learned plenty of lessons while doing so!
I will recommend the ANNIE annealer (with the Ferrite bars). Not cheap, but it works well. You do need to be very careful with your initial testing, I would get the 750 and 800 deg Tempilag. (cant get the crayons to stick).


A couple of items have come up. Using the bars with a wider opening makes for more uniform annealing (neck down to shoulder)

Clean brass (stainless pins in a solution) anneals slower than carboned brass. That is nice as you don't get the puff of smoke.

I have to re-test mine as the 800 was melting before the750 so there was an error in one or the other.

I just got it in (comp[any in town so not tested). I just under annealed till I could resolve it.

As for Trimmers, I would suggest looking at the Trim It II.

I do have two of the Gerard Tri Trimmers and love them.

They did not make one in my most recent cartridge so I started looking.

Trim it II runs about $140 (trimmer and the insert, its a shame, you used to get two or three insets with it)

However, each new insert is only about $25. You do have to adjust the blades again.

My brother has the motorized Gerard and it works with pre setup blades and inserts (and also more calibers)

I started with the hammer Lee loader, what a disaster (1973?) Then got the RCBS Ju8nior (just pistol at the time, worked fine)

When I went to rifle I got the kit with the Rock Chucker. I am set for life as my brother gave me his.

I got the Lyman Auto Charger, I like it a lot, pretty much all good though I would like a few more buttons over the screen (screen is too small, I got the screen thingy to input commands)

I am about set. I will get the stainless pin setup eventually. It really does complete clean a case, primers pockets as well.

My brother got one, its pretty costly at $350 as I recall (don't remember the name). Its solid and well done though and its a life time investment as is the Annealer.

He just bought Wal Mart drying system for food to dry the cases and works perfectly.