Brians356
Gold $$ Contributor
[Excerpted from an obituary in the Lewiston Morning Tribune, 10 November, 2015, Lewiston, Idaho]
William Dean Steigers, 89, owner of Bitterroot Bullet Company and the world-famous Bitterroot Bonded Core Bullet, died Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015, at his home in the Lewiston Orchards from natural causes.
In 1964, Bill started Bitterroot Bullet Company in Lewiston, where for nearly 30 years he manufactured the world-famous big-game "Bitterroot Bonded Core Bullets." In an article titled "North Fork Bullets Design Philosophy" published in the Dakota Rifle Magazine, author Mike Brady characterized the influence that Bill Steigers had on design and general adoption of premium rifle bullets as "the designer of the daddy of all bonded bullets, Bill Steigers of Bitterroot Bonded Core Bullets." Mr. Brady went on to write that Bill's Bitterroot Bonded Core Bullet "will always be known as the bullet that started the bonded era and to which all other bonded bullets are (or should be) compared."
As his colleague and faithful friend Andy Tillman, former small arms editor for International Defense Review recently wrote, "Bill Steigers was the first person to develop and perfect a bonded core hunting bullet. The Bitterroot Bullet Company (BBC) commercialized bonded bullets in the early 1960s, nearly 15 years before any other manufacturer. Bill's bullets were used by big game hunters from Alaska to Africa. Mr. Steigers wrote the first five Speer reloading manuals and developed a method for determining the chamber pressure of rifle cartridges (case head expansion) that is still used by reloaders today. Bill influenced the design of modern hunting rifles as an early advocate of a quicker-than-normal rifling twist, stainless steel barrels and composite stocks."
William Dean Steigers, 89, owner of Bitterroot Bullet Company and the world-famous Bitterroot Bonded Core Bullet, died Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015, at his home in the Lewiston Orchards from natural causes.
In 1964, Bill started Bitterroot Bullet Company in Lewiston, where for nearly 30 years he manufactured the world-famous big-game "Bitterroot Bonded Core Bullets." In an article titled "North Fork Bullets Design Philosophy" published in the Dakota Rifle Magazine, author Mike Brady characterized the influence that Bill Steigers had on design and general adoption of premium rifle bullets as "the designer of the daddy of all bonded bullets, Bill Steigers of Bitterroot Bonded Core Bullets." Mr. Brady went on to write that Bill's Bitterroot Bonded Core Bullet "will always be known as the bullet that started the bonded era and to which all other bonded bullets are (or should be) compared."
As his colleague and faithful friend Andy Tillman, former small arms editor for International Defense Review recently wrote, "Bill Steigers was the first person to develop and perfect a bonded core hunting bullet. The Bitterroot Bullet Company (BBC) commercialized bonded bullets in the early 1960s, nearly 15 years before any other manufacturer. Bill's bullets were used by big game hunters from Alaska to Africa. Mr. Steigers wrote the first five Speer reloading manuals and developed a method for determining the chamber pressure of rifle cartridges (case head expansion) that is still used by reloaders today. Bill influenced the design of modern hunting rifles as an early advocate of a quicker-than-normal rifling twist, stainless steel barrels and composite stocks."
