I was one of the fortunate ones to call Bill a friend and mentor. As with others here, Bill reached out to me via PM when he found out that I had bought a Shiloh Sharps and offered to mentor me. I couldn't turn that one down!
It was really appealing (and easy) to go see him since he was less than an hour's drive from where I was living at the time.
During my visits to his house I got to meet his lovely wife, Sidra, and also stand in awe of her abilities with a Sharps! She, too is/was a world-class BPCR shooter.
Bill, being a life-long scholar, researched deeply into the "hows and whys" of the successes of the buffalo hunters of our Old West. He was intrigued by their long range shooting abilities using only the barrel sights, since tang sights were too fragile for everyday use on the killing fields. He also researched into the lubes, alloys, molds, paper patching, primers, powders, cleaning routines, loading techniques, tools, and bullet designs.
Bill introduced me to all things Sharps, including fitting and installing a copper penny front sight for me, how to properly use it, and the care and feeding of a BPCR rifle. He also introduced me to the Lyman #457121-PH bullet. Cast in a 20:1 allow, mine drops right at 485gr. Although it comes out at 0.456", that alloy readily "bumps up" when fired with Holy Black and is an incredibly accurate bullet in my Sharps.
Bill was a man of strongly held convictions and opinions, and could be counted on to give you the plain, unvarnished truth.
My wife gave me a copy of his book this past Christmas and I'd been meaning to send it to him for an autograph, but I couldn't find that "round-to-it" and then, it was too late.
I miss him, but I know I'll see him on the other side.
Ed
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