Good Reading Material

Post by **Bullseye** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 4:40 pm

I knew Andy very well back from that time period. You're right he built some good rifles.

R,
Bullseye

winshooter · Post by **winshooter** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Andy is retired now and lives in Fallon NV. Another good friend that got me started in High Power is RJ Thomas who is in Fallon now also. I usually visit up there once a year or so. The Garand that Andy smithed for me was a prize rifle that RJ had won and I bought from him. It sounds like we may have some more mutual friends. Did you shoot in the West Coast/East Coast/All Navy matches?

Mike

winshooter · Post by **winshooter** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:44 pm

Garand that was smithed by Andy Nelson.

The garand with the walnut stock I got back in 1983 when it was called the DCM. It's unaltered from the day I got it. It appeared to have just been arsenal refinished when I got it.

Post by **Bullseye** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:05 am

Now there's a name I haven't heard in a while, "R.J. Thomas." Nice guy, quite a character, and not shy with his opinions. You're in good company, he introduced a lot of folks to competitive high power rifle and conventional pistol shooting during the 80's and 90's. For RJ it wasn't totally a selfless act, but none-the-less many of those folks he brought out stayed involved in the shooting community for many years.

Yeah, I'm sure we know some of the same folks, but then again, I know a lot of people in the shooting world.

I remember that Andy Nelson was building match Garands and 14's (M-1A's) back in the late 80's and 90's. I also seem to remember he had a little girl that was pretty sick for a while back then too, not to mention his own bout with pneumonia after spending so much time training out in Coalinga.

R,
Bullseye