Elmer Keith was born March 8, 1899. We can all appreciate his strong influence in the development of the 357 Magnum and 44 Magnum .... calibers that many of us living today have enjoyed shooting throughout most of our lifetimes.

Here's a toast to that legendary "one-of-a kind" Idaho/Montana cowboy!

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Truly a pioneer in the world of big bore revolvers. Don

A good time to see "Ian" shooting Elmer's carry gun again.

I regret not buying his "Hell, I Was There" when it first appeared. However, I did read, perhaps an extract, of how horribly he was burned (or is it 'burnt'?) in a fire when he was a little child. Also, with little medical care in that era, how the regular folks helped Keith survive and restored his health. Keith ruefully commented on young fellows riding in convertibles whistling at girls while he enjoyed, at their age, saddling a horse in the early AM and working cattle in freezing temps.

One comment, source forgotten, made of Elmer Keith was that he was called many things, but 'liar' was not one of them. Some of his handgun feats have been duplicated, altho with some difficulty, proving he was truthful. Glad that we have not forgotten him.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

Happy birthday, Mr. Keith.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

A photo of EMK holding the 44 Magnum shipped to him by S&W in January 1956.

Bill

Happy birthday Elmer. Elmer's writings have guided me on many occasions. His wisdom is still applicable today.

I still have a letter from him when I corresponded about some 44 Special loads in a particular gun of mine. He was editor of Guns and Ammo magazine then, but always had time for new shooters.

Based on what I've read about the man, he seemed like a great guy. Elmer Keith was a real cowboy, outdoorsman, and handgun hunter who knew his stuff. He wasn't an arrogant man who pushed his own preferences as the end all, be all like certain well publicized influential figures in the firearms industry, *COUGHcooperCOUGH* just a very knowledgeable man with hands-on experience (some of which may have narrowly avoided costing him his hands) whose humble wisdom helped to shape the industry.

Unfortunately, it seems like many folks know little of the man, thinking of him as some sort of crazed recoil junky whose interest in the development of Magnum handgun cartridges was purely for his own amusement rather than any particular purpose, so you'll often see a lot of folks making comments about how much Keith would have loved the .500 S&W Magnum cartridge or even that Keith would be experimenting with .500 S&W Magnum loads attempting to make the cartridge even more powerful if he were still around.
Meanwhile, in reality Keith seemed confident that a rather moderately loaded 255gr .44 Magnum traveling at 1000fps was adequate for taking any game in North America. If anything, Keith strikes me as a conservative man who would have sooner grumbled about kids these days needing absurdly powerful revolvers to hunt when all he needed was a .44 Magnum than someone who would be excited about .500 Magnum, much less trying to make it more powerful.
I honestly think that folks simply aren't aware of how wimpy most handgun cartridges were at the time, with even otherwise capable cartridges like .45 Long Colt being massively underloaded by mainstream ammo companies out of concern that folks would harm themselves shooting smokeless powder loads out of old black powder frames.

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Shooting Comfort is bilateral.

I once rebuilt an M-1 carbine from GI parts and had a stock on it with the OGEK cartouche stamped on it. I finally took it to the show to sell asking 250$ but I did not get that much for it. It was in fine condition and a good shooter too.

I don’t think I have ever seen this photograph.

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Possum—The other white meat!

Happy B-day Elmer..

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My father gave me Elmer’s little blue book, “Sixgun Cartridges and Loads” when I was 14 years of age (about 1949). Using that book as a guide, I started casting bullets and reloading handgun cartridges. I am still, at age 85, casting bullets and reloading.

Elmer never lead me astray. May he rest in peace!

Dale53

I have great respect for him and his experiences. When he was still writing for Guns and Ammo that was the first thing I read was his column. When he was no longer with them I quit subscribing.

Two books every handgunner should have on their bookshelf .
"Sixguns" ($24.95) and "Sixgun Cartridges & Loads" ($9.95) .
Both have been reprinted and available on Amazon for $24.95 and $9.95 hardcover bound , not a bad price if you don't have a old one .
Not only some historical stuff , straight from the horses mouth but surprisingly still a good bit of relevant information contained in both ...
and entertaining reading to boot .
If you came along after Elmer Keith stopped writing magazine columns then you may have missed some interesting reading .
I'm going to buy a copy of Sixguns ... my old copy is starting to fall apart.
I got the Reloading book last year .
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

After mowing our lawns on weekends, a neighbor and myself would get together over a cold Michelob and frequently discuss the latest Elmer Keith article. Shortly after S&W announced the EK series, I received a call from a relative of a friend who worked in telemarketing at a firearm distributorship. I was offered an option on the first three EK revolvers that would be shipped to Texas at the time (2 standard, 1 deluxe). I opted for one of the "standard" ones and my neighbor opted for the other. We felt that it was pretty cool to own a 44 Mag that was produced to commemorate our favorite "cowboy".

I posted this a couple of months ago. I rescued this Elmer
Keith Deluxe Commerative ( EMK0014) back in December of
last year off of GunBroker. Ironically, it too was in a fire and
suffered smoke damage to the blue finish, and smoke staining
to the ivory magnas. I took it apart and cleaned the inside
parts. All the small springs still had their temper, and the red
ramp insert is intact. It functions great, and I will take it out
to the range come spring to shoot it.

Like the man it commemorates, it too is a survivor.

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