I've often thought that a lot of folks buy machines that exceed the user's capabilities...IOW, a fancy machine with all the dials and do-dads is wasted on a less-than-talented user (like me) so the OP needs to match his skill with the machine.
Yeah, skills can improve over time but, again, takes lots of practice and many users (like me) just don't weld that much.
I tend to make purchases of things (guns, tools, machinery, etc.) that are capable of doing better than maybe I can. I'd rather have a machine that I can grow into and learn with, than one I grow out of a month after I buy it. All those knobs, bells and whistles are there for a reason. And the name brand stuff will be easy to get parts and service for way into the future. Unlike the offshore crap.
100% best way to do it. I'd rather grow into something than grow out of it and just buy once.
When I started reloading, I did a ton of research and in the end I bough a full progressive press. Soon, I'm going to add a bullet and case feeder and I'm just going to pull the handle and check powder.
The internet gun sites I was on went ballistic because you can't start with a progressive. You need a rock chucker. After you load 100k rounds with that, you can maybe, MAYBE step to a Dillon Square B or whatever they call that. Another 100,000 rounds later you can get the 550 but don't you dare buy an auto indexing press yet. You need 100,000 rounds more.
I bought an auto indexing press and didn't look back.
