Jack,
a little slow today. I had reconstructive nose surgery this morning, between the blood dripping from my nose, the pain, and the pain pills, I'm a liitle slow on the draw.
Not buying the Star lube sizer is probably the biggest mistake you can make when getting started. It is at least twice as fast as the RCBS,Lyman, SAECO. The additonal $50 more that it costs up from will be saved in top punches and frustration on you part. It will lube bevel base bullets without leaving lube in the bevel. One sizing punch will do any caliber from 9mm to .45, unless you use a gas check bullet, then you will need the individual punch for each diameter, but you can still size as many different varieties of bullet with no additional tooling. The Star sized bullets nose first, which I believe to be the better way of doing it, it's a push through design that is twice as fast as the others as a result of this feature. It can also be accesorized to with many options that the others cannot. Star will make you ANY size sizing die that will fit in the machine with no need to have to custom dies made. I could go on and on, but I'll suffice it to say it's just better in every way than any of the others three. The Star machines can be purchased used, typically for about $140 on Ebay, I'd spend the extra $35 and get a new one.
I have a RCBS Pro-Melt furnace and endorse it as top quality. As mentioned the pour rate adjustment can be trying, but it's no big deal if you have the proper tools at hand to firmly tighten the adjustments. The main problem in the area of adjustment is eliminated by buying and using a casting thermometer. No thermometer would be about your second biggest mistake behind not getting a Star sizer when starting out. I started with a Lee 10lb bottom pour furnace, I still have it, it still works, and is a handy extra to have around for various different alloying and other experiements. If there is one Lee product that I would advocate for bullet casting, aside from their ingot mould, it would be their furnaces used in tandem with a good casting thermometer. I would buy an ingot mould, the 1lb bars store easily and it's easy to stack a few on top of the furnace to pre-heat while you're casting. Keeping a consistent alloy temp is key to good bullets and the one pound bars don't affect a 20lb furnace temp nearly as much as the bigger muffin tin ingots, but that is more a matter of preference on my part.
I've been using the Lyman Orange Magic lube for a while and it is a good lube with less smoke, as Jack pointed out. It works as advertised and the advantages Lyman claims ae real. I haven't tried Marshall's lube, so I offer any imput on that matter.
Who has tried the LEE alloy hardness tester??? Does it work??
For your first mould
Bullet casting eqipment is an investment, if cared for it will last you for many years. If you start out with the proper equipment, of good quality and design, it can very well make the difference of being a rewarding hobby or an exercise in frustration. I started casting when I was young and broke, as a result there are quite a few items I've purchased twice.