Setting the record straight - Elmer Keith's blown .45

[JimT]

https://americanhandgunner.com/discover ... traight-2/

[Bill in Oregon]

Interesting. The only one of his blow-ups that has stuck with me was the one involving the 300-grain .45-90 bullets blowing off the loading gate and cutting his finger.

[.45colt]

Awesome Jim. Thank You. I re-member Keith writing about His Brother passing away during the influenza epidemic of 1918-19. could that have been the Brother in the picture?

[marlinman93]

Keith had a habit of pushing firearms to their limits, and on more than one occasion well beyond. Some of the stuff he did still makes me wonder? I can't imagine how he even seated a .458" bullet in a .45 Colt case and still got it to chamber?

[Scott Tschirhart]

Keith had a habit of pushing firearms to their limits, and on more than one occasion well beyond. Some of the stuff he did still makes me wonder? I can't imagine how he even seated a .458" bullet in a .45 Colt case and still got it to chamber?

In Sixguns Keith wrote about sizing that bullet down in order to use it in his Colt.

[GunnyMack]

I have a picture somewhere of the SBH John Gallagher blew up while we were is school. It was a maximum frame, the cylinder was bored out to take a .348 cut down to 1³/⁴" with a 3 or 400 grain .458 bullet. Couldn't tell you what powder it was other than not BLACK.
I didn't see it blow but I was probably one of the closest to the test fire chamber and he was in minor shock.

[Eddie Southgate]

Awesome Jim. Thank You. I re-member Keith writing about His Brother passing away during the influenza epidemic of 1918-19. could that have been the Brother in the picture?

His daughter Druzilla died of Influenza in 1948 while Elmer was just about dead himself. His brother Francis died of pneumonia in 1922 during the Influenza epidemic. Here is his death Certificate. Francis was Forrest and Linnie's youngest child. Their kids were Elmer , Silas and Francis , in that order.

[Eddie Southgate]

Awesome Jim. Thank You. I re-member Keith writing about His Brother passing away during the influenza epidemic of 1918-19. could that have been the Brother in the picture?

That is Silas or Sy as he was called. He was the middle brother and lived till 1987.

[Eddie Southgate]

Awesome Jim. Thank You. I re-member Keith writing about His Brother passing away during the influenza epidemic of 1918-19. could that have been the Brother in the picture?

His daughter Druzilla died of Epilepsy and Influenza in 1948 while Elmer was just about dead himself. His brother Francis died of pneumonia in 1922 during the Influenza epidemic. Here is his death Certificate. Francis was Forrest and Linnie's youngest child. Their kids were Elmer , Silas and Francis , in that order.