Elmer Keith

Elmer Keith (born March 8, 1899 in Missouri , † February 12, 1984 ) was an American weapons expert, non-fiction author and writer. He was the initiator of the development of Magnum - cartridges .

Life

Keith was born in Missouri and grew up in Montana, Idaho, and Oregon. He was a passionate hunter and hunted, became popular as hunting with handguns, medium large game with a double-action revolver of Smith & Wesson . At the time, when handguns fired either slow heavy (e.g. .45 Colt ) or fast light projectiles (e.g. 7.63 × 25 ), he tried to increase the efficiency of small arms ammunition.

Act

The first successful result of his endeavors was the .357 Magnum . It originated from hand-loaded .38 Specials with significantly increased performance, which took full advantage of the higher quality of the revolvers of the early 20th century compared to those of the late 19th century. The .357 Magnum was available from 1935 and quickly became popular with authorities and private users. The .357 Magnum had a slightly longer case than the .38 Special, but was otherwise identical, so that revolvers designed for .357 Magnum can fire the .38, but conversely the .357 does not fit in .38 revolvers, which are subject to the higher gas pressure Would not withstand circumstances.

The development of the .44 Magnum cartridge was roughly the same. Keith started with the .44 Special cartridge and loaded it with heavier loads and heavier rounds. The resulting .44 Magnum was launched in 1955. It turned out to be excellent for hunting and until the appearance of the .454 Casull was the most powerful cartridge for handguns. The .44 Magnum is still much more widespread than stronger magnum and super magnum cartridges. On the one hand, the costs for weapons and ammunition are comparatively moderate, on the other hand, the sometimes significantly higher recoil and the higher weapon weight limit the practical suitability of the weapons for stronger cartridges.

The .41 Magnum cartridge came out in 1963 and was an attempt to establish a cartridge whose performance was between the .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum. The .357 Magnum was perfectly suited for hunting, but required a precise shot, while the .44 Magnum offered sufficient power, but already generated quite a powerful recoil. The 41st Magnum was supposed to offer a compromise. It was based on the discontinued .41 Long Colt, but in contrast to the .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum, it received a specially developed case and used a bullet with a diameter of .410, while the predecessors .41 Colt and .38-40 Bullet diameters of .400 used. The .41 Magnum achieved muzzle velocities similar to the .357 and .44 Magnum. The cartridge, however, was nowhere near as popular as the .357 and .44 Magnum. Most government customers for whom the .41 Magnum was originally intended found the .357 Magnum to be sufficient, while hunters accepted the recoil of the .44 Magnum given its performance.

Further developments

Keith also developed some types of bullets that are used to this day and are called Keith Style Bullets. The projectiles were derived from the shape of the semi-wadcutter projectile, but had enlarged, curved front surfaces, which increased the volume of the projectile lying outside the case, whereby more volume is available for the propellant charge.

Keith was also involved in the development of some Wildcat cartridges. Some of these cartridge types were later introduced as factory-produced series cartridges. The .334 OKH ("O'Neil, Keith, Hopkins"), which he developed together with Charlie O'Neil and Don Hopkins, was introduced in 1958 as the .338 Winchester Magnum by Winchester.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Frank C. Barnes, Holt Bodinson: Cartridges of the World: A Complete and Illustrated Reference for Over 1500 Cartridges of the World. Gun Digest Books, Iola, WI 2009, ISBN 978-0-89689-936-0 , pp. 198, 66.