Elmer Keith/S&W .500......

[Mr.Harry]

He would have loved them, but he wouldn't have packed them. He found his ideal. Few can say same about .... anything.

 

[RMFnLA]

Don't forget Elmer was a ".44 guy" which is why he didn't push for a .45 Magnum.

 

[Echo40]

Don't forget Elmer was a ".44 guy" which is why he didn't push for a .45 Magnum.

Actually, his first experiments in hotrodding a big bore cartridge was the .45 Long Colt, but unfortunately he made the mistake of attempting to load a .45 Long Colt cartridge with a .45-70 bullet, and the combination of that plus the thin cylinder walls of the Colt Single Action Army he used in his testing resulted in a catastrophic failure, so he gave up on the .45LC in favor of the .44 Special, since the SAAs in .44 Special had thicker cylinder walls.

Many argue that if Keith had only been wiser and hadn't attempted to load a .45-70 bullet (which has a diameter of .458 as opposed to the .452-454 diameter bullet of a .45LC) then such a catastrophic failure wouldn't have occurred and Keith may have very well gone onto make a ".45 Magnum" but that's besides the point.

Keith was actually a bigger fan of .45LC than he was of .44 Special, but switched due to the aforementioned event.

In hind sight, things turned out for the best regardless, as Keith was satisfied with .44 Magnum, and the ".45 Magnum" as it were came into being regardless in the form of the .454 Casull and later the .460 S&W Magnum.

 

[MTKTM]

I agree, he was a big fan of the 45 Colt and did try to magnumize it. The metalurgy of the guns of that era rendered 45 cylinders comparatively weak as opposed to the 44 Special which was really a .429 but in a same diameter cylinder, meaning thicker chamber walls. A 44 Special was stronger than a 45 Colt, other things being equal, and thus more amenable to being souped up.

 

[diyj98]

I'd say true to Keith form, he'd have claimed he was the one who designed it, but just wasn't given credit!

 

[cowboy4evr]

Elmer Keith seldom fired his " full magnum " 44 magnum load , that 22 grs of 2400 powder with his bullet . His " everyday " carry load , the one he fired the most was 8.5 grs of Unique using his bulllet . He loved his 44 magnum revolver , 4" barrel . I really don't think he would of owned a 500 magnum . Just my opinion .
The beauty of the 45 Colt is that it doesn't need to be " hotrodded " for great performance . A 255 gr cast SWC or RNFP running 900 fps will do about all is needed for penetration and overall performance. Regards, Paul

 

[amazingflapjack]

I think he would have looked for a lever rifle to shoot a 460 or 500 in, after all, he developed the best magnum hand gun, the .44.

 

[RMFnLA]

Actually, his first experiments in hotrodding a big bore cartridge was the .45 Long Colt, but unfortunately he made the mistake of attempting to load a .45 Long Colt cartridge with a .45-70 bullet, and the combination of that plus the thin cylinder walls of the Colt Single Action Army he used in his testing resulted in a catastrophic failure, so he gave up on the .45LC in favor of the .44 Special, since the SAAs in .44 Special had thicker cylinder walls.

Many argue that if Keith had only been wiser and hadn't attempted to load a .45-70 bullet (which has a diameter of .458 as opposed to the .452-454 diameter bullet of a .45LC) then such a catastrophic failure wouldn't have occurred and Keith may have very well gone onto make a ".45 Magnum" but that's besides the point.

Keith was actually a bigger fan of .45LC than he was of .44 Special, but switched due to the aforementioned event.

In hind sight, things turned out for the best regardless, as Keith was satisfied with .44 Magnum, and the ".45 Magnum" as it were came into being regardless in the form of the .454 Casull and later the .460 S&W Magnum.

Good points, and after some thought I remembered that Skeeter was the real .44 fan.

 

[Gregor44Keith]

God bless all of you gun lovers and all the kind words about my grandfather Elmer Kei

I honestly doubt it.

Seriously, for all the reputation he has for wanting to push the envelope when it came to hotter loads, by all accounts Elmer Keith seemed satisfied with the .44 Magnum and never said anything to suggest that he desired something hotter.

If anything, I think that he would be more likely to question the practicality of the .500 S&W Magnum, seeing as he seemed adamant that the .44 Magnum was already plenty strong enough to take any game in North America.

Keep in mind, Keith's desire for more powerful handgun cartridges came from the fact that he was a hunter and was dissatisfied with the power of the comparatively weak .38 Special and .45 Long Colt loads of the time.
Contrary to popular belief, Keith didn't create .357 Magnum nor .44 Magnum out of lust for a hard-kicking cartridge, but out of a legitimate need/purpose. Yes, he enjoyed recreational shooting and was enthusiastic about powerful handgun cartridges, but he wasn't the masochistic recoil maniac who intentionally loaded cartridge past the margin of safety just for kicks and giggles that some seem to think he was.

You are right on and so much of grandpas life was about living off the land and hunting for dinner. If you are afraid of a little recoil you should not be hunting and anyone that wounds an animal should take more time with the shot or use a bigger load. It really pissed him off when animals were left to die and suffer because someon was afraid of a little recoil. I was about 7 when he gave me a 10 guage to shoot with and it was too much for me so he gave me .22 Marlin semi out rifle for hunting ground squirrles in North Powder in Oregon each year to help the famrers. I was born legally blind and that pissed him off, so he said get the kid a bigger scope. Elmer and Bill Jordan would teach me to point shoot and didn't care about my lack of eyesight. Then a long lecture about taking my time. Squeeze the trigger and breathe in and out then wait and squeeze the trigger and shoo that damn magpie.

 

[6string]

It would totally depend on whether or not he could brag about having had a hand in developing it.

If he could say he developed the idea, or worked on it somehow, he'd be all for it.
If, on the other hand, it appeared to be someone else's baby, I doubt he'd even talk about it.

He was, on occasion, a bit too much "braggadocio".

 

[Univibe]

He would have lengthened the case about 0.2 inches, added more powder and a 700 grain bullet, and called it the .501 Keith.

 

[Paul105]

I think Elmer might have gravitated to one of the more packable versions of the 50 calibers like the top gun in the picture.

Paul

 

[memtb]

I'm guessing that Mr. Keith would have "mixed feelings"! He would love the 500 for it's "brute strength",but, may also have a fondness for the 460...for it's higher velocities and long range potential! memtb