Classic Cast Bullets

Guns Magazine, Oct, 2001 by John Taffin

Modern handguanners are the heirs to a century of cast bullet design and development.

Have you ever wondered where the great cast bullet designs we have access to today came from? Lead bullets and bullet molds have been around as long as firearms themselves. The earliest bullets were of course simple round balls, and crude molds to cast them were made of stone and even wood. It would be until the middle of the 20th century before experimenters would modernize bullet designs for handguns. Over the past 70 years such men as Elmer Keith, Phil Sharpe, Ray Thompson, Gordon Boser, Jim Harvey, Veral Smith and J.D. Jones have brought the cast pistol bullet to perfection.

Elmer Keith: The Keith Bullet

It is difficult today, perhaps impossible, to find a dedicated sixgunner who does not know of Elmer Keith, and who does not understand what the term "Keith bullet" means. While this term has become generic for semi-wad-cutter bullets, the truth is that 99.9 percent of such bullets are in actuality not Keith bullets.

Keith was a rancher, guide, outfitter, outdoor photographer and a writer whose career spanned nearly 60 years. A tireless experimenter, Keith had a great influence on shooting. He was an early proponent of using a sixgun both for long-range shooting and for big-game hunting.

As early as 1925, Keith described his experiments directed towards improving the power and long-range accuracy of handguns. His methods were far from normal, involving heavy 300 gr. .45-70 bullets and fine grained black powder in the .45 Colt case. The destruction of a good Colt .45 SAA convinced him that the .44 Special would be a superior cartridge for his continuing experiments. Keith spent 30 years promoting his heavy .44 Special loads that would lead to the .44 Mag. in 1955.

Not being satisfied with bullet shapes available at the time, Keith began designing his own. His first efforts for the .44 Special were extremely blunt nosed 260 gr. and 280 gr. bullets. Although these bullets performed well at short range, they were definitely lacking in the long-range accuracy he wanted.

In search of a better solution Keith turned to the semi-wadcutter shape. The basic design was not original to Keith. His contribution was to take the basic idea and greatly improve it.

A true Keith bullet has three essential attributes: three equal, full-caliber driving bands; a deep crimping groove; and a large square-cornered grease groove. It is nearly impossible to find current molds that drop true Keith bullets. The reason is simple. Because of the three wide driving bands and the square corners of the grease groove, they are rather difficult to cast.

Keith always complained about the fact that the mold makers changed his designs, and by 1974 he wrote that Hensley & Gibbs was the only manufacturer still cutting molds to his original design. Today if one wants genuine Keith designs, the best bet is to find an old Ideal mold. Of current designs, Lyman's #358429 and #429421 are close; RCBS's #44-250KT and #45-255 SWC are good, as is NEI's #260.429.

Keith's four basic original designs from the 1920s and 1930s were cataloged and offered by Ideal, now Lyman, as #358429, 173 gr. for the 38 Special; #429421, 250 gr. for the .44 Special; #454424, 260 gr. for the .45 Colt; and the 240 gr. #452423 for use in the .45 Auto Rim. The only current source I know of for commercially cast true Keith bullets is Beartooth Bullets. They have both .44 and .45 caliber versions.

Phil Sharpe: The .357 Magnum Bullet

Elmer Keith and Phil Sharpe collaborated on pioneering work with Smith & Wesson's .38/44 Heavy Duty revolver. They developed potent .38 Special loads that lead to the .357 Magnum. It is also obvious from reading the writings of both men that the whole experience caused some problems between them.

The .38/44 Heavy Duty arrived three years before the advent of #2400 powder from Hercules, and Keith's early experiments were with #80 powder in both .44 Special and .38 Special.

Keith had also designed hollow based versions of his .38 and .44 bullets, #358431 and #429422 respectively, and Sharpe said, "A certain hollow-base bullet, much praised by its designer and many writers, was tested in heavy loadings in the .38 Special and .44 Special. A sample batch (with #80 powder) was sent to the Peters Cartridge Company for these tests, and Cot. W.A. Tewes wrote the designer who submitted them, condemning the load in no uncertain terms. At the same time he sent me a carbon of his letter..." Those loads in .44 Special averaged 29,000 psi pressure, while the heavy .38 Specials averaged 42,000 psi.

Sharpe went on to say how he worked with Maj. Doug Wesson in developing the .357 Mag. using his own bullet design. As first offered, the .357 Mag. factory ammunition featured a 158 gr. bullet at 1,510 fps from an 8" barreled Smith & Wesson. "This bullet, in its present state, has been driven as high as 1,620 fps," said Sharpe.

Sharpe's design was basically a shortened Keith bullet which was necessary to use the crimping groove in the new longer .357 Mag. brass. Today molds very close to Sharpe's original designs are Lyman's #358477 and RCBS's #38-150 KT. Both are good bullets for the .357 Mag.