I am just barely past where you are. I have read through The ABC's of Reloading, the Lyman manual, and picked up a Hornady Manual for M1 specific data.
Bought the Lee Classic Turret press kit with .45 Colt dies from Kempf, an RCBS 5-0-5 scale, and then bought a couple other odds and ends here and there (bullet puller, digital calipers, SAFETY GLASSES, scale check weight set.)
I have been going very slowly, have only loaded a dummy round (actually two, messed up the first one royally-read ALL the directions, do not get ahead of yourself
) I then decapped a mess of brass.
Next, I will read through the books again. Then I will sit down and get a feel for seating primers. Then I will set up the powder measure and check every load until I am comfortable that the metering is consistent.
To repeat, I would go slowly and carefully. If any questions arise, ask, ask, ask. It seems pretty easy to get to a point where one knows just enough to be dangerous.
Once I get comfortable with revolver rounds (also got .38/.357 dies), I will then read some more, and start the whole process over and learn to replicate M2 ball.
I am certain there is something I am leaving out, and some of the more knowledgeable folks here will point it out. I will be reading this thread further, as I feel you can never know too much, and can usually be taught something helpful.
On a final note, the turret press is nice, as the auto-index can be disabled, turning it into a single stage press until you get confident enough to step it up a bit. Also, extra turrets are cheap, and you can leave the dies mounted to them once they are set up.
These are just my opinions, and VERY green observations, you may find that something else works better for you.