A couple thoughts...
1) You need a solid bench. Solid is important as it has an impact on how easy the press is to operate and how accurate/consistent the powder measure will be.
2) A solid bench isn't hard to make if you have a drill or power screw driver and a saw. There are a couple ways to go.
A) There is the portable option. This was lasted 15 years and 3 ***'s plus a couple other moves and still lives in the garage. It's very stable and used the weight of the components stored in it for for additional stability. It'll fit in a closet if your available space is minimal. It's made from a sheet and a half of 3/4" ply and a couple of 2x4s screwed together at the base, and for the shelf supports.
B) You can build a torsion beam bench. Basically, it uses three 2x4s glued and screwed together to for the beam at the front side of the bench. The back is a 3x4 screwed to the studs and the front and back are connected by 2x4s. The top is 3/4" plywood screwed to the front, back and ribs.
The legs are made from two 2x4s screwed edge to edge.
Beyond that you can add drawers shelves, oak facing to make it look pretty, a tile top, etc.
This covers the process pretty well...
Inexpensive No-Flex Bench How-To | The High Road
I made one once we moved into our current house 7 years ago. I faced it with oak and added some shelves and recessed lights. I also used tile on top. It's easy to clean and durable. I left them lose but snuggly fitted so it I ever break one (I haven't yet) I can just replace the broken tile. The most difficult part was drilling the holes in the tile for the press mounting bolts.
3) You'll get lots of advice on a starter press. I've been reloading since I was 12 and started with an RCBS Junior (a non compound leverage, single stage press).
I also have a Lee hand press that I use for various things, but mostly .45-70 and .38-55 black powder cartridge loads that more often than not I'll reload in the field.
However, 99% of my handloading gets done on a Dillon 550B. It's a manually advanced progressive press. Dillon makes great stuff, they have great customer service and they warranty their stuff for ever.
Now...the controversial thing I'm going to say is just start with the Dillon 550B. Right now heads are exploding as people read this, but hear me out.
The 550B is a manually indexed progressive press, which means the shell plate doesn't rotate when you pull the handle, but instead just sits there until you manually rotate it.
That means you can operate the press as a single stage press by just swapping the dies in the same position on the tool head (or just get a tool head for each die). Alternatively you can get an aftermarket kit that converts it to a single stage press.
Either way, you can use it as a single stage press until you are ready to move up to something faster.
Once you are ready to move up, just put the dies in a single tool head, put a single case on the shell plate and rotate it through all the stations. In effect you are operating the press as a turret press, just rotating the shell plate rather than the head of the press.
Once you have that down, just put a fresh case on the shell plate after each pull on the handle and operate it as a progressive press.
I can load about 450 rounds of handgun ammo per hour without working hard, and I can load 110 rounds per hour including time to manually operate a BR3 measure on the press (using their 3/4 Powder measure adapter) and check the powder weight on a scale.
I do that when I load precision ammo on it. Using Whidden floating tool heads, a clamp kit, and standard dies, I get runout of .0015" or less.
The Dillon measures work well and offer different sized adjustable charge bars that cover everything from .32 ACP to large magnum cartridges. Aftermarket support for it is awesome with all kinds of accessories from Dillon and other companies that let you customize it to do exactly what you want to do with it.
In short, it's a "buy once, cry once" approach that won't leave a trail of no longer used presses you've outgrown.
