I knew I need dies for the different calibers that I want (9/40/45/223), but I'm at a loss for shell plates and case holders or more.
Can someone tell me what I *need* (or recommended) to buy to make the LnL load the calibers that I'm interested in?
First you'll need
bushings - one for each individual die. You leave these on the dies. The bushings allow you to set the height of the dies once, then not have to re-adjust when pull them in and out of the press. These "Lock-and-Load" bushings are what gives the press its name. They serve the equivalent purpose of the toolhead on a Dillon machine. Unlike the toolhead, the bushings allow you to pull one die at a time for cleaning, etc.
You'll need a shellplate for each caliber.
Here's a link to a PDF that lists the shellplate for each caliber. The shellplate is bolted to the base of the press under the ejector wire. It has 5 "slots" under which the rims of the cases are held. The shellplate rotates 1/5 of a turn each time you pull the handle, rotating each case from station to station.
Like Dick, I don't use the powder-through expander (I load too many calibers, and there are not expanders in all of the calibers I load). I just use the expander die from the set.
I prefer to use a dedicated crimp die instead of crimping and seating in the same step. If you decide to do this, make sure you set up your seating die high enough so that it doesn't crimp, then screw the seating stem down to seat the bullet.
The dedicated crimp die goes in the 5th (last) station. As Dick indicated, one quirk of the machine is that some crimping dies (particularly Lee's Factory Crimp Dies) hit the ejection wire when they're set low enough to crimp. The Hornady crimp dies clear the wire, as do the Redding Profile Crimp dies. Do yourself a favor and get the Hornady 4-die set for your pistol calibers. They're more expensive than Lee, but in my experience, they're better dies. I'm in the process of replacing my Lee dies with either Redding or Hornady. I just got a set of Hornady dies for .45 ACP, I'll give you my Lee dies if you want to get started.
Speaking of which, I recommend you start with .45 ACP because it is more forgiving than the other calibers you're planning on loading.