Bill told me personally that he thought the M-19 should fire only about 10-15% of the time with Magnum loads. And those were traditional 158 grain rounds.

I believe he still owned his M-19 that was presented to him in 1955. It may be the first production Combat Magnum, certainly a very early one. This doesn't mean he didn't have others. But I don't think he went in for a lot of .357 shooting in K-frame guns.

I think he retired from the Border Patrol before they had to qualify frequently with full power duty ammo.

Actually, the last time I saw him, he was carrying a Model 59 9mm auto. Said he liked it and had faith in it. We were in G.W. Stone's knife shop in Richardson, TX and Bill had driven over from Shreveport and stopped by to tell G.W. how much he liked his custom knives, which had performed splendidly on Bill's recent safari. I was there interviewing Stone for the profile of him that I published in, Blade magazine. We all knew one another from prior encounters.

What most don't know is that Bill had a very early Airweight Chief Spcl. with the light alloy cylinder that was dropped in favor of a steel one after the aluminum cylinders began cracking. You'll recall that the USAF destroyed almost all of the similar Aircrewman revolvers. I asked if it was wise to carry such a gun, but Bill said he didn't worry. I suspect he fired that gun seldom. He carried it mainly while jogging.

He did a lot of practice shooting with wax bullets, which he fired in his public demos. One gun he used for that was an old M&P .38 that had belonged to an ancestor. He had it fitted with a heavier barrel. The action was very smooth indeed. But that was true of all his guns that I handled.

Bill was an incredibly fast and accurate shooter. Most can't believe that a gun can be so deadly in the right hands until they see it!

He had a droll wit and I miss him