Been reloading since 1968. Started with a .22-250 and a .243 and have been adding calibers ever since, but not too many. I have been using an old Lyman "Comet" single stage press since 1968. A bit slow but reliable. Rifle rounds usually have the powder charges weighted individually and down to 1/10 of a grain. Pistol rounds I do in blocks of 50 and every case is visually inspected for the correct powder volume. Pistol ammo I reload for are .380, .38 Special, .40 S&W, .44 magnum and .45 ACP, and all I do is adjust the powder measure to throw the charge weight I want and the charges are weighed and just dumped back into the powder hopper until it throws the charge weight that I want. After the powder measure is throwing the charge weight that I want I will charge a 50 round reloading block and every case is inspected. EVERY case. Looking for a missed charge or a double charge. Nice thing about these calibers is a double charge will overflow the case so it would be very obvious as would a missed charge. And yes I have deliberately double charged every one of these calibers so I could see what a double charge looks like. And in every case the double charge resulted in an overflowing case. I also pick 10 cases to weigh the powder charge from the 50 that I just charged. Quality control and all that stuff, you know!!!
No one has mentioned this but it is VERY IMPORTANT to have ONLY ONE powder out at a time. Powders have different burn rates and if you mistakenly put a fast burning powder like Unique in a magnum rifle case, well hopefully no one will have been injured or worse, but you will most likely have destroyed your rifle. A friend of mine mistakenly dumped some fast burning pistol powder back into the wrong container. When he fired his rifle the pressure was such that the bolt could not be opened... even with a bit of brute force. Had to unscrew the barrel to get the bolt out. The barrel and receiver checked out ok but my friend decided it was prudent to replace the bolt. And that is why I only have ONE powder, one type of primer, or one type of bullet out when I am reloading.
Depriming and resizing is tedious but this is where I inspect my cases and these operations do not require near as much attention to detail as the priming, powder charging and seating/crimping of the bullet does.
Steps I generally follow...
1. All reloadable brass is put back into its container or it is thrown in one pile, I separate it when I get home.
2. Separate calibers prior to depriming.
3. Deprime the brass, change the reloading die and bell the brass.
4. Polish the brass, sift out the polishing media and admire/inspect the brass. It will either go in a zip lock baggie (or a reloading container) with info regarding where this brass is in the reloading process.
5. Prime the brass. I usually do this by itself as a separate operation.
6. Charge the brass with the type and amount of powder, then seat/crimp the bullet as appropriate.
7. One last inspection before it goes into its container. And affix a label to whatever type of packing you prefer with the detail of the load data for that batch of ammo.
Now if you ask 10 different folks what their procedure is for reloading you are going to get 10 different answers, at least, and it is possible that no one is wrong!!!
Some procedures may be faster, some may be safer, the reloading equipment may require a specific sequence of steps and so on, but the one thing that I never want to compromise on is safety.
First order of business is get a good reloading manual. Actually 2 or 3 is not a bad idea, then read and understand the reloading process. I've been reloading for over 50 years and so far, knock on wood, I have never had a problem. I have had some FLAT primers, on 2 or 3 occasions the bolt handle took more force than usual to open the bolt but no brute force was required. I have had to use my inertia bullet puller to pull some rounds apart because... well that tight bolt handle is a perfect example of why you might want to pull your bullets apart. Excessively flat primers would also have me pulling my reloads apart for inspection.
Equipment...
1. A reloading manual.
2. A reloading press, and there are quite a few choices, both new and used.
3. A powder scale.
4. Reloading dies for your caliber.
I would consider the 4 items above as an absolute minimum to get started. Other items you may choose to purchase at a later date
A. A powder trickler. I only use my powder trickler when I am reloading rifle as I want that 1/10 of a grain powder accuracy, but that is
my personal preference.
B. An inertia bullet puller of some sort.
C. A second or third reloading manual.
D. The misc tools for case prep. Primer picket cleaners, chamfering tools for the case mouth and possibly for primer mouth, a good dial indicator capable of .001' accuracy for measuring case length, and Maximum Overall Length of the finished cartridge.
E. Case trimming tools. There are several different brands to choose from.
And I am sure that I have missed some stuff but other folks will chime in to give a better picture.
It is a fun hobby and quite safe if reasonable care is exercised. And it will also you a good bit of money also!!!
So are you thinking of casting your own bullets.... Oh never mind, that is a different subject!!!
God Bless, Frank.