I read on another forum a tried and true technique that a reloader used--when in doubt he let his friend shoot a new load, and if the bang wasn't followed by a scream he figured it was good to go.
Seriously, reloading (hand loading) is something of an art form and there will always be some variability introduced by different runs of both firearms and reloading components. In general, the more info you can gather, the better (and safer) your reloads will be. In "them good old days" it was chapter and verse that reloading saves money over buying factory loads. In many, perhaps most, cases that is no longer true IMO--so in the long run investing in good gear will pay dividends in getting to better loads in my experience.
But if general shooting is your goal and refined accuracy/kinetic energy data is of little to no concern to you--you definitely don't need any special gear but I would say make sure you stay within well-established parameters published by the powder manufacturers.