[Jeff Higgins]

I have been reloading for well over 35 years. I've never seen the need for a progressive press of any kind. I bought a version of that very RCBS starter kit, and I'm still using every last item in it. I've used it to reload over a quarter million rounds by actual count. I've loaded match winning black powder cartridge ammo, match winning pistol ammo, and match winning high power ammo with it. Every game animal I have ever taken as an adult has been taken with ammo loaded with that "starter kit". While I have picked up additional pieces of equipment over the years (powder measures, trickler, bullet casting equipment, etc.) the scale and press from that very first kit remain, to this day, the only ones I own. I think I've gotten my money's worth...

That all speaks as much about the quality and utility of the equipment as it does about my philosophy of reloading. While I have certainly rolled up an awful lot of ammunition over the years, sheer quantity has never been the goal - it's always been about my interest in the reloading itself. The experimentation with different loads, or making different oddball old guns shoot again.

Cost? I quit counting 30 some years ago. I know it isn't much, especially because the vast majority of my bullets are free, being cast from free wheel weights by yours truly. But that's not the point. I would still reload even if it cost more than buying factory ammo. I find the hobby of reloading that engrossing.