Small World

[Dave Waits]

15 years ago I was into the Citizens' Band Radio thing pretty big(Outgrowth of my time in the AF in Communications maint.) Anyway, one of the locals I talked with a lot named Jim Forder, lives only about four miles from me. As a lot of things do, we kinda fell out of it and lost contact for a long time.

I talk a lot about gun rights and such on Facebook(Great way to get the word out to a whole lot of people) and Jim sent me a Friend request last month. I accepted and we started talking about guns. He asked if I could find him a decent 1911. I told him about a couple of good local gunshops. He called today and invited me over to see what he bought, a Magnum Research Commander-sized 1911.

Basically, a pretty nice 1911, tight,smooth,great finish. Anyway, we started talking about ranges and he dropped a huge bomb on me. Turns out that Jim originally lived in California and, was a member of the Southwest Combat Pistol League. For the next 1/2 hour I saw photo after photo of Jim, Ray Chapman, Gene Scheuy, Jeff Cooper and other early lumenaries of the sport. Jim actually shot with these guys and, at times, beat them! He had documents proving as much from the Competitions they held. He showed me his A-Class card from the association, signed by Jeff Cooper. I heard a ton of History about the beginnings of the 1911-Style shooting Sports from Jim.

Like the Thread-Title said, it's a much smaller world indeed. Out of this I learned a lot and I gained a new appreciation of an old Friend.