Do I have a good handle on what reloading equipment I need on a budget?

First, get a good reloading manual and it will tell you what minimum equipment you need and how to use it. And you are going to need the manual anyway so you might as well start there.

http://www.amazon.com/Lyman-49th-Edition-Reloading...

It depends what calibers you are reloading. Bottle-necked cartridges will need to be trimmed occassionaly, so you'll need a trimmer. Straight-walled cartridges (like most handgun calibers) do not typically need to be trimmed.A scale is needed to check your loads, but unless you are striving for the ultimate in accuracy, you won't be weighing every load. An inexpensive set of powder scoops will speed up the process. Check what your scoop throws using your scale. Eventually, you'll want to get an adjustable powder measure. You can find excellent videos on youtube.com and good deals on used equipment on ebay.com. Welcome to reloading! It's a very fun hobby.

If you live anywhere near St Charles or Mexico, Missouri drop in to Grafs Reloading and tell them what you are interested in doing.

They will show you exactly what you need and how to use it.

What Tex said.

What Tex said.

What Tex said and do not buy Lee dies.

"Lee carbide 4 die set. "

You really only *need* two dies. One to seat the bullet, one to size the brass (either neck or full length depending on your rifle and what you're doing, full length is more useful for most guns). The other two are typically to add a taper (you typically get at least 1 taper with your seating die, you don't need the other except in special circumstances) and to do the other brass sizing job (typically a neck sizer).