The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Rifles Double Rifles Old Elmer on Double RiflesGo | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
| Old Elmer on Double Rifles | Login/Join |
| One of Us |
From my 1967 Gun Digest...."For Africa and the big stuff, I would not recommend anything smaller than the 450 Nitro Express and for such hunting a man should use just as heavy a caliber as he can handle with accuracy and speed. Small men are probably best off with the 450, 465 and 470, while larger men can handle the 476, 475 No.2 and the 500 with ease. Really strong men are best fitted with the 577s." No doubt Elmer Keith was a big bore fan. He once called the 270 Winchester a "dammed adequate coyote rifle". | ||
|
| One of Us |
Elmer keith was an interesting charactor. He was of a strong opinion with everything from revolvers , knifes, saddles, rifles etc. He wasn`t always right though. I have all his books exept for his book on shotguns. I enjoy his writings and he stories from early days and no question he was in many ways ahead of his time in regarding to revolvers and the calibers used in them. In his book "Safari" he states that no one should go to Africa with less than a .338cal rifle!. Why would he say this?. The boes and the british have shot a lot of game with their 7x57 and .303s. I have shot a lot of game with my .270wea down there and things just drop. I believe Elmer loved to do statements and become resolute and stand out as an authority in everthing that had anything to do with guns. That was I believe the reason he disregarded J.O´C for using a puny( viewed in his eyes).270w for a lot of gamehunting around the world. I would have loved to have met him and I do have a plan to see the Elmer keith museum and meet up with his son. His articals in G&A was always those I read first because they were the best. I have a few G&As from the 60s and 70s where Elmers has some articals in them + ofcouse I also have the 1967 GD too. DRSS: HQ Scandinavia. Chapters in Sweden & Norway | |||
|
one of us |
7Kongoni Elmer was one of my favorite gun rag writers! One reason for that is I understood where he was coming from, because we were from the same background, both being from ranch stock from birth, and both being life long shooters and hunters literally from birth. Like Elmer I can’t remember the first time I fired a rifle, or went on a hunting trip. So I guess I felt a kinship with him like family. The opposite side of the Elmer Keith coin was J. O’Connor, and they were polar opposites, not only in personality, opinion on firearms, but in snob factor as well. O’Conner disrespected Elmer as a writer first, and as a gun guru as well because Elmer was educated by the school of hard knocks, and O’Conner was a college educated journalist with a superiority complex. SO we can assume they did not like each other at all. Jens Paulsen I understand why Elmer said nobody should go to Africa with anything smaller than a 338 Win Mag, and a 270 IS a damn good coyote rifle! In Kieth’s time in Africa there were no fenced-in game farms with plains game only. Any place you hunted plains game in those days you were likely to run head long into a member of the very dangerous big four at any time. That being the case I don’t think O’Conners little 270 would be a real good choice. I‘ve never hunted in Africa with anything smaller than a 9.3. However I’ve also never hunted in Africa where dangerous game was not on license either. Times were different in Elmer’s day, than what we see in Africa today. It is one thing for a farmer to use the only rifle he could afford to own, and find surplus ammo for along with the fact that there was no requirement to follow-up anything he wounded, or requirement to use LEGAL chambering for any game he decided to shoot with his 303. Hell farmers and ranchers in Idaho take on grizzlys with little 30-30 pick-up rifles, and nobody in his right mind would book a Grizz hunt with a 30-30 saddle rifle. Look at the picture at the bottom of this post!guess whos' hands those are.  Like Elmer, I never liked O’Conner either!  ....Mac >>>===(x)===> MacD37, ...and DUGABOY1 DRSS Charter member "If I die today, I've had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"~ME 1982 Hands of Old Elmer Keith  | |||
|
One of Us |
Ditto Mac. I never cared for O'Connor and his rat rifle either. | |||
|
One of Us |
I liked them both. And I like the 270. Damn fine coyote rifle. Tom ...I say that hunters go into Paradise when they die, and live in this world more joyfully than any other men. -Edward, duke of York ". . . when a man has shot an elephant his life is full." ~John Alfred Jordan "The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance." Cicero - 55 BC "The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities." - Ayn Rand Cogito ergo venor- KPete “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.” ― Adam Smith - “Wealth of Nations” | |||
|
One of Us |
I enjoyed reading both of them, but when it comes to hunting with the guns I already own or spending $$$ for a new gun, Elmer bit me real hard, and I love the big bores. Another opinionated person of that same era was Parker Ackley. It is really a shame that our modern world has lost something with those folks passing, because most folks these days simply do not want to hear an actual opinion. Even the rocks don't last forever. | |||
|
| one of us |
Read Col. Charles Askins article titled "Elmer's Little Mortar" referring to Elmer's claim of shooting mule deer repeatedly at 500 yds with his 4".44 Smith. He refers to the physics involved, pretty funny. | |||
|
One of Us |
MacD37 I'm with you 100% on everything here! I may not be of ranch stock but of dock worker stock instead and like you can not remember the first time I went hunting - with that dock-worker, my dad. And I never cared one bit for O'Connor's writing style and obvious disdain for "regular" folk. NRA Lifer; DSC Lifer; SCI member; DRSS; AR member since November 9 2003 Don't Save the best for last, the smile for later or the "Thanks" for tomorow | |||
|
One of Us |
Very interesting. Until I read all of this, I honestly thought that I was the only guy who never cared for O'Conner or his writings.  Deo Vindice, Don Sons of Confederate Veterans Black Horse Camp #780 | |||
|
| One of Us |
Back then they did not have the bullets we have. We get a get a lot more out of 30 cal than thay did. Back in the mid 70's I worked for.a.loan company a older gentelman came in to make a loan. He listed the same home town as Elmer. I found out he was a shooter. I told him I just finished Hell I was there. And 6 guns. He told me he shot often with Elmerand hunted also. DRSS 9.3X74 tika 512 9.3X74 SXS Merkel 140 in 470 Nitro | |||
|
| One of Us |
Ran out of rom with this phone. He said Kiethwas the real deal.Saw him do things with a firearm he would not write about because nobody would belive it and he might never be able to.repeat. JD DRSS 9.3X74 tika 512 9.3X74 SXS Merkel 140 in 470 Nitro | |||
|
One of Us |
Everyone on this forum should be required to read Elmers book. "Hell, I was There!". As a kid in the 60s, I read everything he and O'Conner wrote in the gun mags. Elmer liked the big stuff and I agreed with him; the big bores being more interesting than a .270 which was just a common deer round where I was from, but a 500 Nitro or a 50-140 Sharps were pretty exotic things back then. 300 mags are nothing but pest guns, he would say. He is still interesting to read; no nasty comments please from the small bore crowd. | |||
|
| Powered by Social Strata |
 | Please Wait. Your request is being processed... |
|
The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Rifles Double Rifles Old Elmer on Double Rifles
Visit our on-line store for AR Memorabilia