I actually met Phil Sharpe. I was a little guy and don't really remember much- he died in 1959 when I was 6. My father was buddy's with a neighbor of Phil's and they went over to Sharpe's a few times with me in tow. Mainly I remember the concussive reports of the rifles those guys shot- a .30-06 Springfield can be pretty impressive to a 4 or 5 year old standing six feet behind with no hearing protection. (Ear muffs? What're those? It ain't cold out.)
Later, at Sharpe's estate sale, my Dad scored a huge pile of '06 ammo for cheap- mostly Frankford Arsenal match stuff from the 30's. Being frugal, he saved the brass which led to his getting into reloading. I still have a few pieces of that brass (and two sealed boxes of that ammo). It's good stuff and every now and then I load and shoot a couple mainly for nostalgic reasons, as a nod to a very tenuous connection to one of the greats in the evolution of handloading. (Sharpe, not my Old Man!)
