You will also need case trimming equipment. The lee case trimming equipment will work if you want to go cheap. The RCBS kit looks pretty good.
If you factor in your time, it's true that you don't save much money. But if you were just going to spend that time watching TV or movies anyway, you've lost nothing.
A few years ago, a friend and I wanted to go pig hunting here in CA. Of course, that means lead-free ammo in most pig hunting areas. I already have a load worked up for my .30-06, but he had to go buy it for his .308. It cost him $50.00 for 20 rounds for Black Hills loads, which was the only thing they had in stock! I think I loaded mine at that time for less that $.75/rd. That's a savings of $35 per box. It takes less than an hour to load that, even when hand-throwing, weighing, and trickling each and every charge. Granted, those types of savings are not to be expected on average, but $35/hr isn't anything to sneeze at.
Other examples: my favorite coyote/squirrel load is a .223 with a frangible core. I don't want ricochets flying through the desert and hitting houses, equipment, or people, so I load the Barnes Multi-Purpose Green (MPG) 55 gr. bullets. These are not cheap, at about $.30 each, not including powder and primers (I pick up .223/5.56 brass off the ground from shooting areas, ranges, friends who don’t reload, etc., so I don’t even have to pay for brass for these loads!), which bring the total up to a little over $.45/rd. You can hardly get Russian FMJ ammo for that right now! Currently, “cheap” .223 loads are going for $1.00/rd. I’m loading a 77 gr premium load for $.43/rd, and I have some 55gr SP bullets coming in which I will be able to load for $.29/rd. So I’m saving $.71/rd under current conditions. When things calm down and cheap ammo comes back down to $.40/rd, I’ll still be saving $.11/rd.
Finally, think about quality hunting loads for high-power centerfire rifles. I’ll shoot Federals or Remingtons from WalMart at deer and pigs all day long. At roughly $.85/rd, it won’t break the bank, and will put the game on the ground. But I can also handload Sierra GameKings for less than $.65/rd, and know that the loads are capable of sub-MOA if I do my job. Does that really matter? No, I don’t shoot that well anyway. But I do so anyway!
Yes, it’s harder to find reloading components right now, but that’s starting to change. Things will calm down, and you can stock up for the next big panic.
Now, if I could only figure out a way to load .22lr for $.03/rd….
