Sierra has out some informative videos on starting reloading. Go to the Sierra website.

As far as a manual, pick up the cheapest which would be speer. Has all you want to know on starting.

Get ya a starters kit to start with. If your cheap, get the Lee Anniversary. If you got a little extra cash, get the RCBS Rockchucker kit. Has all you need besides dies to get started. Don' t worry, you will be running to order something everyday.

How many times for a piece of brass. Depends on what your loading. Brass like for a RUM, maybe you can get 3 times out of it before annealing. But for my target loads 44 mag, I have shot over 10 times and still going strong. Just depends.

How many kinds of powders? Go to a Hodgdon' s website. They have a list of powder burn rates and show 90% of powders available. Over 100 I think.

You got to see if its worth it for your shooting habits. For instance, its not worth it for me to reload 9mm ammo unless for home protection. When I can get a box for 5 dollars. But 44mag on the other hand is well worth it. My 300Rum is very much worth it.