Elmer Keith (March 8, 1899 – February 12, 1984) was an Idaho rancher, highly influential firearms enthusiast, and author. Keith was instrumental in the development of the first magnum revolver cartridge, the .357 Magnum, as well as the later .44 Magnum and .41 Magnum cartridges. March 8 is the 67th day of the year (68th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday [1] of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... February 12 is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar). ... An assortment of modern hand-held firearms using fixed ammunition, including military assault rifles, a sporting shotgun (fourth from bottom), a tactical shotgun (third from bottom), and a sporting rifle (top). ... Look up magnum in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Marlin Model 1894C — a carbine in . ... .44 Magnum Colt Anaconda The . ... The . ...

Personality

Keith's trademarks were his cigars, ten-gallon Stetson and rather bombastic opinions. Keith was an avid handgun hunter in the earliest days of the sport, and often hunted medium game with a double action Smith and Wesson revolver. In the days when handgun cartridges tended to fire large, slow bullets, like the popular .45 Colt, or light, fast bullets, like the .30 Mauser, Keith was always pushing the limits of existing cartridges, pushing large bullets at high velocities. A Browning 9 millimeter Hi-Power Ordnance pistol of the French Navy, 19th century, using a Percussion cap mechanism Derringers were small and easily hidden. ... Hunting is, in its most general sense, the pursuit of a target. ... The term double action was originally applied to revolvers. ... Smith & Wesson is Americas largest manufacturer of handguns, located in Springfield, Massachusetts. ... rEVOLVEr (2004) is the fourth studio album release by Swedish thrash metal band The Haunted. ... A Browning 9 millimeter Hi-Power Ordnance pistol of the French Navy, 19th century, using a Percussion cap mechanism Derringers were small and easily hidden. ... The . ... Categories: Stub | Pistol and rifle cartridges ...

The magnum revolvers

Keith's first major contribution, the .357 Magnum, was the result of handloading the .38 Special cartidge far beyond normally accepted limits, taking full advantage of the greater strength of the revolvers available in the early 1900s compared to those in the late 1800s. The .357 Magnum first became available in 1934 and quickly became a favorite among law enforcement and civilian users. The .357 Magnum had a slightly longer case than the .38 Special, but was otherwise identical, so .357 Magnum revolvers could shoot .38 Special or .357 Magnum, but .38 Special revolvers (most of which are not safe for the pressures generated by the magnum round) would not chamber .357 ammunition. Buying a magnum revolver gave the shooter all the abilities of the well established .38 Special, with the ability to double the available power with by using the magnum cartridge. Keith's contributions to the commercial development of the .357 have been questioned by some writers, and Keith subsequently denigrated the .357 as he had the .38 Special. Handloading is the process used by many shooters to create firearm cartridges by assembling individual cartridge components (bullet, powder, primer and case), rather than purchasing completely assembled cartridges which have been factory loaded and offered for sale commercially, generally in packages of 5 to 50. ... Left to right: .38 Special, .17 HMR and . ... // Public flight demonstration of an airplane by Alberto Santos-Dumont in Paris, November 12, 1906. ... Beginning of the Napoleonic Wars (1805 - 1815). ... Year 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The .44 Magnum, was developed in much the same way, and was released in 1956. Keith started with the .44 Special revolver, and used the same formula of heavy bullets at high velocities that he used for the .357 Magnum. The resulting .44 Magnum was a formidable cartridge for handgun hunting, and remained the most powerful production handgun cartridge until the commercial introduction of the .454 Casull based the .45 Colt. The .44 Magnum is still far more popular, as the recoil of .454 Casull rounds are considered excessive by most shooters, and revolvers in .454 Casull were rare and expensive until the introduction of .454 Casull models by Sturm, Ruger and Taurus in the late 1990s. Keith was not only an avid handgun hunter, but also a very skilled one. He claimed to have shot and killed a mule deer at a range of 600-yards using his 6-1/2 inch S&W Model 29 later Keith had this gun cut to 4-1/2 inch length barrel, and is currently part of the collection with the factory standard 4 inch barel length that he more commonly carried. A credible and documented tale given the capabilities and accuracy of the .44 Magnum. 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The . ... The . ... Sturm, Ruger & Company NYSE: RGR is a Connecticut-based manufacturing company composed of three divisions: Ruger Firearms, Ruger Investment Castings, and Ruger Golf. ... Taurus-PT24/7 (polymer-frame) Taurus Tracker PT111 9mm Forjas Taurus S/A (Taurus Forge) is a manufacturing conglomerate based in Porto Alegre, Brazil. ... For the band, see 1990s (band). ... Smith & Wesson Model 629 (stainless steel) The Smith and Wesson (S & W) Model 29, is a six shot double action revolver chambered for the . ...

The .41 Magnum, released in 1963, was an attempt to reach a middle ground. The .357 Magnum was adequate for hunting deer-sized game, but the limited power meant it needed to be used by a skilled marksman. The .44 Magnum provided far more power, easily taking deer sized game, but the recoil was intense. The .41 Magnum, inspired by the older, obsolete .41 Long Colt cartridge, was intended to provide the middle ground, with more power than the .357 Magnum with less recoil than the .44 Magnum. The .41 Magnum was a completely new case, using a .410" bullet instead of the earlier .41 Colt and .38-40's roughly .400" diameter bullet, and pushing the new bullet to similar velocities to the .357 and .44 Magnums. However, while there was (and still is) a small community of shooters that prefer the .41 Magnum, the round failed to achieve a high degree of popularity. The police, to whom the .41 Magnum was initially marketed, were happy with the .38 Special or .357 Magnum, and had no interest in anything more powerful. The hunters stuck with the .44 Magnum, preferring the power it gave, and willing to live with the heavier recoil it required. Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The . ...

The Keith style bullet

Keith was also responsible for a number of bullet designs still popular today, and collectively called "Keith style" bullets. These bullets were based on the semiwadcutter design, but using a wider than normal front surface, and convex sides. These changes increased the volume of the bullet outside the case, thus allowing more room inside the case needed for large loads of slower burning powders (see internal ballistics). These bullets remain popular for both target shooting and hunting. When shooting paper targets, they cut a relatively clean hole in the target, yet provide more case volume and a better ballistic coefficient than a flat front wadcutter. When used for hunting, the heavy bullets provide excellent penetration; they are often used on dangerous game, for which more reliable penetration than is possible with expanding hollow point or soft point bullets is required. The relatively sharp edges of the flat nose and shoulder cut tissue, rather than pushing it aside like a typical round nosed bullet, which results in more tissue damage and faster incapacitation of the target. A semiwadcutter or SWC is a type of all purpose bullet commonly used in revolvers. ... Internal ballistics, a subfield of ballistics, is the study of a projectiles behavior from the time its propellants igniter is initiated until it exits the gun barrel. ... The ballistic coefficient (BC) is the mass of the object divided by the diameter squared that it presents to the airflow divided by a dimensionless constant i that relates to the shape. ... .357 Magnum rounds. ... A soft point bullet is a lead bullet with a copper or brass jacket that is left open at the tip, exposing some of the lead inside (compare to hollow point bullet). ...

Work with Rifles

Keith was instrumental in the development of various wildcat cartridges, a few of which were later adopted as factory rounds. The .333 OKH, developed in conjunction with Charlie O'Neil and Don Hopkins, was made from .30-06 Springfield brass necked up to take the .333" 250 and 300-grain bullets of the .333 Jeffery. There was also a .333 OKH Belted, based on the shortened .300 H&H Magnum case. This latter round, necked up slightly to take the .338" bullets of the old .33 Winchester, was introduced commercially in 1959 as the .338 Winchester Magnum. The .338-378 Weatherby Magnum is barely distinguishable from another one of Keith's wildcats, the .338-378 KT, which he developed in the 1960s with Bob Thompson. .30-06 Springfield cartridge specifications. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The . ...

An admirer of the old British double rifles, Keith had numerous examples in his collection. He used two of these doubles, a .476 Westley Richards and a .500 Nitro Express, to take dangerous game in Africa on two different safaris. Keith documented the first of these hunts in his 1968 tome, Safari. A double rifle is a type of rifle with two barrels instead of one. ... One of the best and oldest surviving traditional English gunmakers. ... The Nitro Express series of cartridges are used in large bore hunting rifles, also known as elephant guns or express rifles. ...

Works

• Sixgun Cartridges and Loads (1936)
• Big Game Rifles and Cartridges (1936)
• Keith's Rifles for Larger Game (1946)
• Big Game Hunting (1948)
• Shotguns (1950)
• Sixguns (1955)
• Guns and Ammo for Hunting Big Game (1965)
• Safari (1968)
• Hell, I Was There (autobiography) (1974?/1979?)

Keith is also famous for designing and commissioning his No. 5 revolver, largely created by R.F. Sedgeley in 1928. Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ...

References

• Taffin, John. Elmer Keith: 1899-1984
• Bowen Classic Arms Gallery: Keith No. 5 Revolver
• The .41 Mag: if only we could do it over, Guns Magazine, April, 2005 by Clint Smith
• The Reload Bench: 333 OKH
• The Reload Bench: 338-378 KT (338-378 Weatherby)