From what I've seen so far, they shoot about 120 rounds of pistol caliber ammo per match. If I shoot one match per month, I will probably shoot 250 rounds per month minimum, depending how much I practice at my range. I will likely buy bulk 38 special ammo to start with. I can get it for around $0.26-28 per round delivered. Just received 500 rounds but it has been too hot to get out and shoot any.
I'm going to answer this differently and focus on workflow instead of gear.
250 rounds a month adds up to 3000 rounds per year. That's a significant number but doable with any type of press. You just need to decide how you want to go about it. Do you want to sit at the bench in lots of short sessions and make it as you shoot it or do you want to batch it up and make a year's worth then put your gear away until you need it again?
You can keep up with your demand in several ways:
Single stage, 250 rnds/mo = ~4 hours of unhurried careful work.
Turret press, 250 rds/mo = ~2 hours
Progressive, 250 rnds/mo = ~1 hr
Progressive, 3000 rnds/yr = ~2 weeks of daily 1hr sessions to fill up about 3x30-cal ammo cans and then you're set for the year.
Any quality press will do. If you have more money than time, buy Dillon. If you are cheap and like to tinker, buy Lee. RCBS, Lyman, Redding, Hornady, etc etc... all get the job done.
Things to avoid:
- anything that holds primers in tubes.
- Lee auto-disk
- cheap digital scales
- bullet feeders
- detailed case prep for pistol stuff.
Things I could not do without:
- a mentor
- a case gauge
- a good beam scale
- good lighting
- a visual check after every. single. powder. charge. always.