Passing of a firearms legend: William C. Davis

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14 years 2 months ago #5185 by Hank in Arkansas
Passing of a firearms legend: William C. Davis was created by Hank in Arkansas
If you're a member of the NRA, you may already know this. If you're not a member, stop reading and join. Come back here after. Anyway, some of you who've read some of my posting on handloading topics know I've referenced William C. Davis as an info source (maybe in other forums if not here). Alas, he has passed on. The American Rifleman Sept 2010 (received today), page 34, contains a memorial biography of his life. He was a physicist and mathematician, WWII solder who rose from Private to Captain, and civilian ballistician to the Army, and later to the NRA. He was instumental in development of the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge and rifle (M14), and later the 5.56mm for the M16. He edited and wrote most of the NRA book Handloading. He also developed the Very Low Drag (VLD) bullet design. I remember, back in about 1983 or so, he published the first ballistic program for PCs, written by him in BASIC for the IBM DOS PC. I had purchased a Timex/Sinclair computer to try to learn on; it had in internal ROM a decent version of BASIC. I copied his program, with a few changes to accomodate the Timex. Wow, was I ever inpressed to be able to actually do my own ballistic printouts for my handloads (of course, I didn't have a chronograph back then.) Mr. Davis was a pioneering legend.

New shooters need to learn about Mr. Davis, and guys like PO Ackley, Townsend Whelen, Elmer Keith, Jack O'Conner, Ken Waters, Charles Askins, Skeeter Skelton, George Nonte, and way too many "old guys" to name, particularly those who didn't write for a living. We'll not see the likes again. You owe your sport to them.

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