[Sevens]

Our local grassroots political group has a discussion forum for all things related to the hobby/lifestyle and we have a forum for handloading as well.

A couple years ago, someone suggested that like-minded handloaders who were in the same city (and surrounding areas) might get together over coffee to chit chat, swap brass and stories and just talk about the hobby.

The HUG group was born and it's 100% informal.

If you want to learn about handloading and no nothing and own no equipment, we welcome you to a meeting. There is no schedule for these meetings -- someone just throws up a post and says, "we haven't got together in a bit, how about this place at XXXX road, say, Saturday about 6pm?" and the next meeting is thusly hatched.

We don't have equipment present (though we often bring specific tools) and we don't produce handloads at these meetings. If there is a complete beginner, we focus on their questions and needs. If there is nobody new, we discuss projects someone might be undertaking.

Failing those items...we just end up being a group of gun cranks aged 25 to 65 who swill some coffee (or eat a burrito depending on where we gather!) and we talk guns and shooting with like-minded folks.

We swap or donate brass, sometimes we sell dies or other small bits. No meeting has ever been unproductive or unenjoyable.

If you HAVE a local group or forum, follow this lead. It's a good, good time and for some of the folks who believe handloading is difficult or picking tools to begin with is simply hard to get a handle on, a meeting like this might be exactly what they need.