Hey guys I have heard a lot about this man and his contributions to handgun shooters. Is it true he helped to develope the .44 Magnum? Also If his .44Special loads lead to .44 Mag,how hot can .44special go? What did he use for six guns? Smith and Wesson? What models and barrel size did he prefer? Thanks for any info guys,45automan
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Can someone tell me about Elmer Keith and his sixguns of choice?
- Thread starter 45automan
- Start date
Elmer Keith
I recommend a copy of his book "Sixguns"! It's out of date, as far as reloading goes, but the rest of the info is excellent! He did father the .44 Magnum. It came about as a result of his handloading the .44 special to velocities of 1200 fps. He preferred Smith and Wesson revolvers (and the Colt single action), usually in the 4 inch barrel. Mainly, for ease of carrying. Smith and Wesson made an "Elmer Keith" edition after he died. It consisted of a Model 29, .44 Mag., 4 inch barrel, with gold lettering on most of the gun. The first 100 had ivory grips. A total of 5000 were manufactured. They certainly had extra care put into them, because all that I've seen were slick as butter! I say his reloading data is out of date because of the changes in powder burning characteristics and the development of better jacketed bullets. If you'll adjust his max loads, then follow the rest of his advice, you'll soon realize how brilliant he was! His cast bullets, with a proper load of the right powder, will open your eyes! A hard-cast .44 bullet ( I use H&G's #503 mould) with 18 grains of 2400 (standard primer) will knock down ANYTHING! The same bullet with 7.5 grains of unique is an excellent self-defense load (around 900-950 fps). Use 5 grains of bullseye for a practice load (very mild) and you make the .44 mag into a very practical handgun! Except for the lower charge of 2400, all of these loads are in his book "Sixguns".
I recommend a copy of his book "Sixguns"! It's out of date, as far as reloading goes, but the rest of the info is excellent! He did father the .44 Magnum. It came about as a result of his handloading the .44 special to velocities of 1200 fps. He preferred Smith and Wesson revolvers (and the Colt single action), usually in the 4 inch barrel. Mainly, for ease of carrying. Smith and Wesson made an "Elmer Keith" edition after he died. It consisted of a Model 29, .44 Mag., 4 inch barrel, with gold lettering on most of the gun. The first 100 had ivory grips. A total of 5000 were manufactured. They certainly had extra care put into them, because all that I've seen were slick as butter! I say his reloading data is out of date because of the changes in powder burning characteristics and the development of better jacketed bullets. If you'll adjust his max loads, then follow the rest of his advice, you'll soon realize how brilliant he was! His cast bullets, with a proper load of the right powder, will open your eyes! A hard-cast .44 bullet ( I use H&G's #503 mould) with 18 grains of 2400 (standard primer) will knock down ANYTHING! The same bullet with 7.5 grains of unique is an excellent self-defense load (around 900-950 fps). Use 5 grains of bullseye for a practice load (very mild) and you make the .44 mag into a very practical handgun! Except for the lower charge of 2400, all of these loads are in his book "Sixguns".
ellsworthtoohey
New member
He was also a big fan of bigbore single action revolvers. He even recommended them for law enforcement.
riddleofsteel
New member
as i remember Elmer was using a Colt single action with a black powder frame in .45 Colt. he was hot loading it and killing pretty much anything he shot it at. black powder being very progressive in its burn rate gave him plenty of room to play fairly safely. one fourth of July he stepped out onto the front porch and fired the old Colt into the air to celebrate the fourth. the gun gave way and he blew the cylinder and frame all to hell. if he had been killed in that accident we would big bore handgunning would certainly have been different. the handgun he replaced it with was a S&W .44 Special hand ejector. this was a very robust handgun and had three lockup points on the crane that holds the cylinder. as you know the .44 Special was a smokeless powder cartridge from the start and soon Elmer was hotrodding it with his favorite hard cast bullets and the smokeless powder of the day. i think it is interesting that we got a .44 magnum due to a blow up one forth of July. if he had owned a more robust .45 Colt handgun we might have had the .45 Magnum long before Catsull's wildcat was domesticated. in my opinion the hot loaded .45 is the better cartridge.
I am in the process of picking up a few more of his books. As said above a lot of his loading data is out dated but it is still very interesting ready. The book "Hell, I was there" by Elmer Keith is a good book to read. Although it does not have any loading information or gun specifications it gives you an insite to Elmer Keith and his way of life. Those day have long passed us by but reading about them from someone who did it all makes your mind wander back to those days.