I’ve never had problems with commercial ComBloc ammo (Wolf, Tula etc.). It’s usually pretty dirty, but fires fine. Surplus gets gummy from lacquer as mentioned.
What did she get you?
Berdan can be reloaded, but it’s too much of a pain to bother. The primers are hard to find, but it can be deprimed by e.g. filling with water, and pushing in a machine screw the same diameter as the cartridge neck interior. The pressure pops it out.
She got me a Lee 4 hole turret press. It’s a progressive, I’ve only have the dies for my M1 Carbine at the moment. I’ve reloaded about 200 rounds so far. I’ve got dies coming for 9mm, .380 and .40 S&W. I really enjoy the reloading process. Still a lot to learn, I have someone coaching me, plus I’m reading several books on the subject. I’ve been collecting brass for a year or so now.
The Classic? That’s what I have (I also have a hand press). But nitpick: it’s a turret, not a progressive. Each pull does one step on the same round, but on a real progressive (e.g. Lee Load Master or Lee Pro 1000) it does multiple rounds simultaneously with one pull.
I like it except for the weak point is the plastic washer that can get busted if you’re not careful. IIRC it comes with a spare but some extras on hand might be worth it. .30 Carbine is a good one to start with.