Yeah I'm very skeptical about it saving "tons of money". That really depends on what equipment you buy. And if you're going to be reloading in bulk and/or don't like wasting your time, a good progressive setup is a must. And if you do that, you really need to spring for a quality progressive setup.
Now add decent powder measures (multiples), die sets, press heads, shell plates, a good scale, all sorts of hand tools, a good tumbler or three, case trimmer, and who knows what else and you're looking at several thousand bucks for a setup that makes quality ammo in a reasonable amount of time. And even with that, you're still going to spend a lot of time measuring, prepping cases, measuring some more, etc.
Don't forget that brass, primers, powder, and especially decent bullets are not all that cheap anymore, either. Yah you can get range brass, but you better spend an extra amount of time on measuring, prepping, and re-measuring that stuff.
Now - don't get me wrong, I think reloading/hand-loading is a fine hobby that can be fun and would be perfect for someone that's OCD. I've done it off and on for over ten years now. It's very rewarding to make your ammo yourself. With a bit of experimentation, one can easily make ammo that surpasses factory stuff.
Just don't fool yourself into thinking that you'll save money. LOL
PS: Reloading for AR's is a bit difficult anyhow. You want to turn out volume, so you need to use a progressive press setup. Except that progressive reloading of bottleneck cartridges can be a real pain in the ass. AR's can be pretty finicky on rounds, so you need to spend time developing a working round for each AR you have. Case dimensions, bullet shape, seating depth, charge (for proper cycling) all play into this. Like I said, I've done it before and one could save LOTS of time and probably money by just buying bulk ammo.
