First: get a good reloading manual. it will tell the basics. Reloading isnt hard but mistakes can hurt/kill you or bystanders.
1. Press. I use a single stage, it takes longer but beleive i produce better ammo than a progressive. RCBS Rockchucker or a Forster Coax.
2. Dies. Many companies make dies. I like RCBS for there "no questions asked" warranty. If you have a problem, they will get you up an running, no charge. (this goes for all there products). Forster makes better dies but they dont have the same warranty and chances are you wont see a difference.
3. Caliper. You will need a caliper to do all kinds of measuring. I like starret but i guess any will do. Get one that measures down to .001".
4. Other measuring tools.
1. RCBS precision Mic. I use this to setup my resizing die. I dont see how you can do without it.
2. Stoney Point Overall length guage and Bullet comparator. Use this to determine distance to lands and to measure overall length of loaded rounds based on ogive rather than bullet tip.
5. Tumbler: you need something to clean brass. a tumbler is the way to go. I use a lyman and it works good. You put crushed corn cob or walnut media in and it cleans and polishes the brass nice.
6. Trimmer. you need to trim your cases. there are many trimmers out there, manual, power etc. I have experience with the RCBS trimpro powered trimmer. Its nice becuase it trims, chamfers and deburs (with the 3way head) all in one step and it comes with everything you need to trim most calibers. I currently use a Giraud tool trimmer for my .223. If your trimming large qty the giraud is the way to go.
www.giraudtool.com it is the best trimmer money can buy, the draw back is that it is kind of a pain to change calibers.
7. scale. you need to weigh stuff. you can get a balance beam scale or a electronic scale. doesnt matter. I use a lyman DPS1200 which automatically trickles the charge to the exact amount. Its expensive but i never had much luck with powder measures for the powder i use.
8. if you dont get a lyman DPS1200 you will need a volume based powder measure. these range from $15 to $300+. i have little experience with any of the measures.
9. various brass prep tools. there are a few tools to prep brass for benchrest quality ammo. ie. primer pocket uniformers, flash hole deburrers etc. they can be had at
http://www.sinclairintl.com/. sinclair makes good stuff.
I probably left some stuff out, but i gotta get back to work. One thing i can say is this: Really think about every peice of equipment you need. ask opinions on every peice. Take the advise of people that have already learned the hard way that some peice of gear doesnt work.