8
by CowboyT
Realizing that this thread is from a few months ago, for those seeing it over the next year or so, I'd like to provide another view, based on what I've seen teaching new reloaders. This is especially important given the current ammo crunch and thus new reloaders.
Starting people off with an inexpensive single-stage press, such as the $35-40 Lee Reloader Press, not only helps prevent initial sticker-shock, but more importantly, it gets them to understand the various stages of reloading better than starting on a progressive or even a turret. What I've observed happening is that they tend to pay more attention to the individual stage and its nuances.
After reloading, say, 1,000 rounds in single-stage, which really doesn't take that long with handgun rounds, they're much better prepared for the progressive press if they want to go that route. They seem to be more aware of what can go wrong and tend to catch any problems sooner, which is of course a good thing and what we want. That training saved me twice from what could've been major problems during my first year and a half of reloading, if I had not caught them in time.
But won't the single-stage just go to waste, then? Not in my experience. That's where I do initial load development, fix errant rounds, and in my case, size my cast bullets. Even if you don't cast and thus size your own bullets, the single-stage is handy to have on the bench, especially when you don't think you'll need it.
Some people can start right up on a progressive (e. g. Dillon RL550) with good results. Not everyone can, though, at least not successfully. So, the safest recommendation seems to be to start single-stage and then branch out, i. e. learn to walk before you try to sprint.