There's a whole bunch of opinions on starting out, from starting small to "buy once, cry once."

I started off piece meal with a borrowed pot and some cheap Lee 2 cavity molds. I powder coat a ton of pistol bullets, but I still lube some the old fashioned way, especially my .38spl and .45acp target loads.

People have made lots of bullets on a camp stove with an old soup can and a re-purposed spoon and a mold. Or the sky's the limit on the top end.

I started off ladle pouring into 1 and 2 hole molds. Now I mostly use a bottom pour pot with digital temperature control into 4 or 6 cavity molds.