The sixguns of Elmer Keith hell, he was there! - The Sixgunner

American Handgunner, Sept-Oct, 2003 by John Taffin

It's difficult to believe Elmer has been gone for nearly 20 years now. This probably means many of the newer readers, unless they are willing to go back and do some research, don't even know who he was. He was born in 1899 in Missouri, moved to Montana as a young boy with his parents, then on to Oregon, then the rustic homestead on the Salmon River in Idaho, and finally spent the last three decades of his life in Salmon, Idaho. He was Elmer Keith, and for nearly 60 years was the voice of bigbore sixgunning.

Keith started his career with a .45 Colt, and in fact, one of his first articles recounted his blowing up of an old black powder .45 Colt Single Action. After that experience, he looked for a stronger sixgun, which proved to be the .44 Special. From late 1929, with his article in the The American Rifleman entitled "The Last Word," until 1955, Keith promoted the .44 Special as the ideal sixgun cartridge when used with his "Keith" bullet, Lyman's #429421. This bullet, a semi-wadcutter weighing 250 grains, was pushed at 1,100 fps using #80 powder and then, when it became available, with Hercules #2400 for a full 1,200 fps.

His writings in many articles, books and letters on the .44 Special, gained followers all over the world, many of whom became members of "The .44 Associates" sharing loading data with each other on a regular basis. He also urged the ammunition companies to load the .44 Special to his specifications, however, they were afraid of some of the older guns. He countered with the idea of lengthening the case just as had been done with the .38 Special to make the .357 Magnum.

Finally someone listened. Remington and Smith & Wesson combined forces in 1955 to produce the first .44 Magnum loading and the Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum -- now known as The Model 29. Keith asked for a sixgun and load combination of a 250 grain bullet at 1,200 fps. He would have been satisfied with that, however even he did not know what the .44 Special was capable of. When the new .44 Special Magnum became reality it was a 240 grain bullet at a full 1,400 fps, and Keith could not have been happier. He did not invent the .44 Magnum as some have asserted. He was however, directly responsible for its appearance. From late 1955 until his stroke in 1981, he was rarely found without a .44 Magnum on his hip.

The Man's Guns

Over the years Keith always featured his sixguns in his articles, and as a teenager I purchased a copy of Sixguns by Keith and proceeded to spend many hours carefully studying the pictures of his many custom sixguns -- all with the impossible hope that someday I too would own such guns. After I met Keith for the first time, he supplied me with a list of all of his old sixgun articles from The American Rifleman and I was able to add all of those to my file. Most of his sixguns where customized, especially when it came to grips. He preferred specially carved ivory grips and also enlisted the help of some of the top gunsmiths and engravers in the country to customize his sixguns. In the 1980s I had the good fortune of not only handling all of his sixguns, I was also able to photograph them. I share some of them now with you.

One of his early favorites was an ivory stocked Colt Single Action Army 7.5" .44 Special with a steer head carved on the right grip, a wide hammer, a Smith & Wesson-type rear sight, a front sight held on by a barrel band and a King short action. This old sixgun shows considerable wear but still locks-up tightly. I would guess it was used extensively. The ivory stocks have the Colt Medallion inset into them and I assume these are original Colt stocks.

The most famous sixgun connected with Elmer Keith at least during the second quarter of the 20th-century was his #5SA. This Colt was featured in the article entitled The Last Word, which appeared in the April 1929 issue of The America Rifleman. Keith considered this the finest possible sixgun that could be created, hence the title. Every possible improvement from his mind, and also the minds of several gunsmiths, was incorporated in #5SA sixgun and it turned out so well Keith tried to interest Colt in making it a factory offered single action. No one in Hartford would listen to him.

Keith, along with gunsmiths and guncranks (as he called them) of the time -- Harold Croft, Neal Houchins, R.F. Sedgley and J.D. O'Meara -- all added their ideas and expertise to the #5SA. The top strap of a standard Colt Single Action was welded-up to make a heavy flat-top target design. Improvements included replacing the flat mainspring with a U-type spring, the hammer shape was made by welding a Bisley wide hammer on a standard hammer, the rear sight is adjustable, and the front sight is a high Patridge-type. The base pin latch was changed to eliminate any chance of the pin jumping forward under recoil, while the grip frame was created by mating a standard Colt SA trigger guard with a Colt Bisley backs-trap. The grip of the #5SA Colt was made for Keith's relatively small hands, however most shooters would find it to be very comfortable. Its influence today is seen in Freedom Arms Model 83 and Ruger's Bisley.