What do you absolutely HAVE TO HAVE in order to BEGIN reloading your .30/'06 cases that you fired in your own gun??

I started with:

Ideal Handbook (Lyman) No. 37 (Reloading Manual)
Set of .30/'06 FL dies
RCBS Junior press (used-$40.00)
Pacific powder scale

1 lb IMR 4895 powder in a brown sandwich bag from Hodgdon in the early days! ($0.95)!
100 M2 150-grain GI bullets from the DCM
100 Remington 9 1/2 primers ($0.65)

And that's all! I got along for about 5 years with NOTHING BUT this, buying more powder & bullets as needed! You can, too.

Over the years, I've spent literally thousands of dollars on supplies & equipment for reloading, but onlydial calipers and case trimming stuff is really necessay in addition to the list above!

There's nothing wrong with the Lee stuff. Sounds like that kit has everything you need! I still useLyman Ohaus balance beam scales-I don't need a digital. Mine are accurate to 0.1 of a grain!

I find that there's not much difference at all in U.S. - made brass. Buy unprimed brass. You will eventually develop a favorite load, and will want to use whatever brand of primers turns out to be best for that load! I use mostly Federal primers, but have had some loads with CCI's that turned out to be very accurte too! I would not say that cleaning cases is not a concern, but I've never bought any case-cleaning stuff, and I've reloaded literally THOUSANDS of rounds of centerfire rifle and pistol ammo, starting back in 1954. I DO trim cases when they exceed max. length, chamfer case mouths, and clean primer pockets with a screwdriver blade. I find just wiping off the cases is enough to keep them usable for up to 10 or more refills - talking here about cases I've fired in my own guns, but I don't drop them in the sand!!

As for o/a length of loaded ammo, you want to seat the bullets (to start with) within about 1/16" of the origin of the rifling in your rifle, OR the maximum length your rifle's magazine will permit, if thisrequiresyour rounds be made shorter. The reason I said "to start with" is that generally, ammo is more accurate the less the bullet has to jump to get intothe rifling. However, this is not always true, and when you start developing your most accurate loads, you might find that you get better results with shorter O/A cartridges.

Good luck, and have fun with the superior ammo you make yourself!