I have used a lee hand press and lee hand priming tool for many, many, years. I didnt have room for a bench so I went with that and have made some accurate loads with it. They are inexpensive and have a lifetime warranty. I can resize and prime my cases while I watch tv. I have a new lyman press that is worked by hand but have never used it. Why try to fix something that aint broke. Its best to start lower and see if you are going to like and stick with it before investing in the more expensive stuff. I did use rcbs weighted scales but moved up to digital. I like them alot more for getting to the exact tenth of a grain on my charges. I would recommend a set of those. As for reloading 9mm I gave it up because I can get 50 round boxes of usa brand from walmarts for $7.00. The .38 would be different though. You could load pretty cheap for it buying cast bullets in quantity. As for a manual I have a hogdon, lee, and lyman, but I started buying these manuals that have all loads from every manual out there for a specific caliber your loading for and their great. They run about 6.99 from Cabelas. Heres a link for the manuals.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20712&id=0003193 210759a&navCount=1&podId=0003193&paren tId=cat430003&navAction=push&catalogCode=I G&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat430 003&hasJS=true
Heres the link for the press kit.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?id=0032406215925a&navCount=4&podI d=0032406&parentId=cat20847&navAction=jump &cmCat=MainCatcat20712&catalogCode=2UG& ;rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat20847&am p;hasJS=true