{"id":1543,"date":"2023-10-18T16:56:18","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T16:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/?p=1543"},"modified":"2023-10-18T16:56:18","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T16:56:18","slug":"collectible-firearms-for-serious-gun-collectors-129","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/?p=1543","title":{"rendered":"Collectible Firearms for Serious Gun Collectors"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Outdoor legend, handloader, and writer Elmer Keith knew what a good cartridge for game was, and that the .38 Special wasn\u2019t strong enough to stop a man. He helped develop the .357 Magnum<\/a>, .44 Magnum<\/a>, and .41 Magnum rounds. Elmer Keith spun yarns of the mountains, gunfights, and 600-yard shots in the yet untamed American West of the early and mid-20th century.<\/p>\n

A mentor and ally to many, Elmer Keith was also a lifelong student and collector of guns. These Elmer Keith guns: a Colt Model 1851 Navy, a pre-29 Smith & Wesson, an inscribed and engraved Smith & Wesson Model 1917, a factory game scene engraved Victor Sarasqueta double rifle, and a Ruger Old Model Blackhawk single action revolver will cross the podium along with many other high conditioned, historic, and beautiful firearms Dec. 8-10 at Rock Island Auction Company\u2019s inaugural Premier Auction at its new Bedford, Texas location.<\/p>\n

Elmer Keith Guns: Colt Navy<\/h3>\n

Keith wrote in his book \u201cSixguns\u201d that he learned to shoot handguns with the Colt Navy (Model 1851). \u201cWhen a boy, our best small game revolver was an old .36 Navy Colt 1851 model. It accounted for a great many grouse, sage hens and rabbits, both big Montana jacks and cottontails.\u201d<\/p>\n

He expanded further on the Colt Navy. \u201cIts grip was perfect for most men, and while smaller, it was much the same shape as the old Walker grip. In fact Colt pistols show little change in grip shape from the 1847 Walker on down to the Colt\u2019s S.A. Army, manufactured up to the second world war. No other grip will absorb the recoil of a heavily loaded revolver with less punishment to the hand, as it simply turns up in the hand in recoil, allowing the thumb to come up over the hammer for a quick repeat shot. This design was excellent for cavalrymen and both safe and fast when a recalcitrant horse had to be managed at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keith, born in Missouri in 1899, moved with his family to Montana as a young boy. He knew Civil War veterans and gunfighters. Sometimes the two intersected, like Confederate Major R.E. Stratton who served in the 1st Texas Regiment during the Civil War. He carried a pair of Colt Navy revolvers serving under Robert E. Lee and as he rode the West, Keith wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI bought one of them from him and when I asked him what became of the mate to it, he wrote me that he lost it, along with his left arm in a gun fight in Cheyenne, Wyoming and that I might possibly find it in or around Cheyenne somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elmer Keith Guns and Wisdom<\/h3>\n

Keith wasn\u2019t one to bother with automatic pistols. He was a wheelgun man through and through, writing in \u201cSixguns,\u201d \u201cThe sixgun was as important a part of a cow-poke\u2019s outfit as his rope. Throughout the West the sixgun was responsible for most of the law, what little there was, and one of the main deterrents to wholesale outlawry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keith was acquainted with firearms from a young age, with his father teaching him to shoot small game to help feed the family. \u201cTo become an expert sixgun shot, one must live with the gun. Only by constant use and practice can one acquire a thorough mastery of the shortgun. You must work and play with it, eat with it, sleep with it and shoot it every day \u2013 until it becomes a part of you and you handle it surely and easily as you would your fork and knife at the table. Muscles and nerves must be trained for the job in hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

He participated in match shooting at Camp Perry in the 1920s when he served in the National Guard. When an officer asked where he learned to shoot he replied that it certainly wasn\u2019t in the Army.<\/p>\n

As a young man Keith bought a Colt Single Action Army and started hunting with it. In his writing he advised to practice until being accurate up to 50 yards out on a regular basis. \u201cShoot only when you know you can place your shot, is a rule for all hunters and especially so for pistol hunters<\/a>. There is no satisfaction in wounding and losing game.\u201d<\/p>\n

He often decried hunters that used underpowered ammunition that didn\u2019t take down their quarry. In a July 1964 column for \u201cGuns & Ammo\u201d magazine, he reported how a Colorado hunting guide required clients to use rifles rated for at least 3,125 foot\/pounds or 250-gr bullets at not less than 2,800 foot\/pounds. After the season the guide reported his hunters took 14 elk and there were no crippled elk or wounded elk that were lost.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The guide) said he had grown tired of trailing up elk wounded with .270s, .308s, and .30-06s, and this year placed a mandatory caliber limitation on all who booked. It paid off,\u201d Keith wrote. \u201cHe said all hunters did exceptionally well even with rifles having some recoil.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keith considered his guns to be tools of his trade, whether it was hunting or self-protection, and that quality tools were important, he wrote. \u201cYou get about what you pay for in this world, be it guns, autos, whiskey or clothes. Start with the best gun you can afford.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elmer Keith Guns and the Ruger Old Model Blackhawk<\/h3>\n

Keith\u2019s book, \u201cSixguns\u201d came out in 1955 just as manufacture of the Colt Single Action Army, out of production since the start of World War 2, was going to resume. Ruger, knew this and quickly worked to put one of their new single actions in Elmer’s hands. If Elmer Keith could gush over a gun it was this one.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the shooter, be he plinker, peace officer, cow-poke or hunter, this new Ruger is a good, well-made arm. Colt collectors may prefer the original old Peacemaker but any shooter who wants to have first class target sights combined in a really modern arm with all improvements including the rebounding separate firing pin will find the new Ruger Blackhawk the finest single action revolver manufactured to date.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, he wrote \u201cthe finest single action revolver manufactured to date.\u201d And yet there\u2019s more hyperbole about the Ruger, from Keith.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The Colt Single Action) will sell to collectors and to those who just want a genuine Colt Peacemaker, but for the shooter or gun crank, Bill Ruger has a far better single action than has ever came out of the Colt Factory,\u201d Keith wrote.<\/p>\n

Elmer Keith Guns: Presentation Pre-29 with holster<\/h3>\n

As a handloader and writer, Keith was a pivotal figure in the 1930s development of the .357 Magnum cartridge. As mentioned earlier, he didn\u2019t find the .38 Special round to be strong enough, especially for police use, so Keith and others went on lobbying for a more thumping round. Never done tinkering and experimenting, it would be almost two decades before he began development on the .44 Magnum.<\/p>\n

The .44 Magnum was born in the 1950s, again with Keith and other handloaders leaning on ammo makers. Remington acquiesced as long as a gun manufacturer agreed to make a gun that could handle it. Smith & Wesson answered the call with their simply named “.44 Magnum,” which several years latter would be redubbed the Model 29.<\/p>\n

He wrote about trying the new Smith & Wesson in .44 Magnum. He would later carry a pair with 4-inch barrels. \u201cBoth gun and load proved to be all I had dreamed. The 6 \u00bd-inch barrel gun was a masterpiece, both as to accuracy and careful fitting and sighting. In fact I consider it the finest product of the great Smith & Wesson factory.\u201d<\/p>\n

One story that Keith told about the .44 Magnum was during a fishing trip off the coast of California when Keith\u2019s group encountered several sharks on their return trip. Keith, strapped with his .44 Magnum, found an advantageous position on the boat and started taking shots at them.<\/p>\n

\u201cShooting was usually at 50 to 60 yards, but being up in the pilot house gave me a very good angle of fire,\u201d Keith wrote in his July 1963 \u201cGuns & Ammo\u201d column. \u201cBy aiming just below and in front of the big dorsal fin that protruded out of the water, I started getting hits from the outset\u2026 I had one close shot \u2013 at some 25 yards \u2013 at a big one and saw the strike in front of his dorsal fin. He simply curled himself in a half circle and lay there stiff and as the boat rolled around him I tried another shot at the back of his head but never did learn the result (except I know I hit him).\u201d<\/p>\n

Elmer Keith Guns and Gunfights<\/h3>\n

Keith was in Washington D.C., once for an NRA meeting and visited the Smithsonian Institution and its gun collection. As he perused the firearms collection he met three men who told him about practicing their quick draw technique and that two of them shot themselves in the leg. \u201cQuick draw practice should be with empty guns until thoroughly mastered,\u201d Keith wrote, recounting the conversation.<\/p>\n

He also offered some wisdom about gunfights, writing \u201cThe best way to keep from getting hurt in a gunfight is to keep from getting into a gunfight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keith was a proponent of making sure to be well armed when confronted by desperados or hoodlums. \u201cCriminals seldom travel singly and you may have more than one adversary. It is mandatory that you carry a holster gun powerful enough to floor an opponent, with one well placed hit,\u201d he wrote in \u201cSixguns.\u201d<\/p>\n

He praised police departments that committed to harder-hitting ammo for its officers, calling .38 Special a \u201cpip-squeak.\u201d In his December 1962 column for \u201cGuns & Ammo,\u201d Keith singled out the El Cajon PD for permitting officers to use .44 Special.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf all police departments in this country were to emulate El Cajon and train their officers thoroughly in combat firing, we would not lose a fraction of the good police officers we now do annually,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Elmer Keith Guns at Rock Island Auction Company<\/h3>\n

The rugged outdoorsman left a legacy of hard-earned handgunning tales, wildcatting cartridges, and a seemingly infinite knowledge of guns and ammunition that is reflected in the firearms he collected. Elmer Keith\u2019s guns are a reminder of an untamed American West of not so long ago and offer a link to that time and the man who chronicled it.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/h3>\n

\u201cSixguns,\u201d by Elmer Keith<\/p>\n

\u201cHell, I Was There!\u201d by Elmer Keith<\/p>\n

\u201cGun Notes Volume 1,\u201d by Elmer Keith<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Outdoor legend, handloader, and writer Elmer Keith knew what a good cartridge for game was, and that the .38 Special wasn\u2019t strong enough to stop a man. He helped develop the .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, and .41 Magnum rounds. Elmer Keith spun yarns of the mountains, gunfights, and 600-yard shots in the yet untamed American […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}