Elmer Keith, Mr. Magnums Opus

[BLIP]

Looking for some "fun" firearm reading material?

You have already gone down the John Browning fascinating history have you...

How about a little nighttime "research" on Mr. E. Keith? A rancher, inspector and father of the "modern" magnum handgun ammo.

Here is a little launching point...
Feel free to leave any interesting links. I have a few to share...

Originally Keith specified a meplat that was 65% of the bullet caliber, but later increased it to a 70% meplat.

The other distinguishing characteristics of a "Keith-style" SWC are a double radius ogive, beveled crimp groove, three equal width driving bands, wide square bottomed grease groove, and a plain base with sharp corners.

The wide forward driving band helps keep the bullet aligned as it jumps across the cylinder gap. Because of the three wide equal width driving bands, the total bearing surface is half the length of the bullet.

The relatively large bearing surface helps the Keith-style SWC to be an inherently accurate bullet and minimizes pressure leakage due to projectile blow-by. The wide square bottom grease groove holds ample lubricant.[

 

[cmshoot]

Elmer Keith was The Man. I forget how many Colt SAA’s he blew up when he was hot rodding the .44 Special, whilst developing what became the .44 Magnum.

 

[BLIP]

Elmer Keith was The Man. I forget how many Colt SAA’s he blew up when he was hot rodding the .44 Special, whilst developing what became the .44 Magnum.

I'm not 100% certain but I believe he was trying to develop a 45 Magnum and made the discovery that the walls were just too thin for the high pressure

 

[Torn]

Elmer and the rest of those wildcatters back in the day were developing loads, cartridges and calibers (without computers or the internet) by just trial, error, knowledge, skills and a lot of luck.

 

[basstracker89]

Interestingly enough the old cap and ball revolvers have very close to the same ballistics as a lot of modern day pistols. The Colt Walker was the king of the hill in it's day. A power house like the 44 mag in it's day. Course there were Walkers blown up too. Elmer Keith put the 44mag on the map. All this said, the pistol is actually vary inefficient to the rifle. I'd say the 500 S&W does come close though. That said I've taken plenty deer with a handgun as well. Even one shot kills with a 44mag. The 357 almost always takes 2 rounds to get the job done. I don't like to have to chase deer down so I started using a 44. I also find the 45 Colt to be as effective as the 44. I am a fan of the big bore

 

[Rusty Shakleford]

The man that designed the 41 mag he was a legend.

 

[Bear44]

He was also one of the pioneers of using a .333 caliber bullet in a hard hitting rimless cartridge. This led directly to the development of the .338 Win Mag.

 

[basstracker89]

He was also one of the pioneers of using a .333 caliber bullet in a hard hitting rimless cartridge. This led directly to the development of the .338 Win Mag.

Yea, most of the new rifle cartridges are a new twist on an old design

 

[cmshoot]

I'm not 100% certain but I believe he was trying to develop a 45 Magnum and made the discovery that the walls were just too thin for the high pressure

Elmer Keith and the .44 Magnum

Legendary outdoors writer Elmer Keith received an early .44 Magnum Smith & Wesson revolver for his role with the new powerful ammunition load.

www.rockislandauction.com

‘The .44 Magnum cartridge lengthened the .44 Special cartridge by 1/8th of an inch so the more powerful new load couldn’t be used in older revolvers. The fear was that older revolvers couldn’t handle the pressure from the higher pressure generated. Elmer Keith's first “American Rifleman” magazine article was about blowing the cylinder and top strap off of a heavily loaded Colt Single Action Army.

"When the gun rose from recoil of the first cartridge I unconsciously hooked my thumb over the hammer spur and thus cocked gun as it recovered from recoil. When I turned the next one loose I was almost deafened by the report and saw a little flash of flame. My hand automatically cocked gun and snapped again but no report. I stopped then knowing something was wrong. The upper half of three chambers was gone. Also one cartridge and half of another case. Also the top strap over cylinder. My ears were ringing otherwise I was all O.K," he wrote in the Aug. 15, 1925 “American Rifleman.””

 

[basstracker89]

Elmer Keith and the .44 Magnum

Legendary outdoors writer Elmer Keith received an early .44 Magnum Smith & Wesson revolver for his role with the new powerful ammunition load.

www.rockislandauction.com

‘The .44 Magnum cartridge lengthened the .44 Special cartridge by 1/8th of an inch so the more powerful new load couldn’t be used in older revolvers. The fear was that older revolvers couldn’t handle the pressure from the higher pressure generated. Elmer Keith's first “American Rifleman” magazine article was about blowing the cylinder and top strap off of a heavily loaded Colt Single Action Army.

"When the gun rose from recoil of the first cartridge I unconsciously hooked my thumb over the hammer spur and thus cocked gun as it recovered from recoil. When I turned the next one loose I was almost deafened by the report and saw a little flash of flame. My hand automatically cocked gun and snapped again but no report. I stopped then knowing something was wrong. The upper half of three chambers was gone. Also one cartridge and half of another case. Also the top strap over cylinder. My ears were ringing otherwise I was all O.K," he wrote in the Aug. 15, 1925 “American Rifleman.””

Hence why there are 2 different loading specs for a Colt and a Ruger 45 Blackhawk. However the Blackhawk wasn't introduced until 1955. Not exactly sure when the 45 Blackhawk came on the market as the first documented Blackhawk was in 357. The first 44 came in 56, so probably around that time