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Was Renowned for His Love of Big-Bore Revolvers. Standard Option for The

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Was Renowned for His Love of Big-Bore Revolvers. Standard Option for The ECIA P L S E D N I T I O BIG like to think I’m continuing in the col- Sadly, Keith orful lineage of gun writers who also died in 1984. served as law enforcement officers Magnum Research in the American West: Bill Jordan, had been around for five Skeeter Skelton, Charles Askins and years at the time, but it wasn’t Jeff Cooper. Surprisingly, larger- until the early 2000s that the than-life gun writer Elmer Keith never company began marketing the Biggest Finest Is erved in law enforcement or the mili- Revolver (BFR) before producing it under the tary. However, his influence was every guidance of gunsmith Jim Tertin, who was instru- bit as great. Before World War II, he developed mental in its design. Now the BFR is available the .357 Magnum by lengthening a .38 Special in several different configurations, with short case. Then, in the 1950s, he did the same thing cylinders for normal pistol calibers and long with a .44 Special, creating the .44 Magnum. In cylinders for traditional rifle calibers. You read the debate over small, fast bullets versus larger, that right. Want a .30-30 revolver to go with your 8 slower bullets, Keith always wanted to make lever action on your next deer hunt? Yep, that’s a The Magnum large bullets go fast, too. Consequently, “Elmer standardstandard optionoption forfor thethe BBFR.FR. Research Custom Keith” and “big bore” became synonymous, and Shop chambered THE RENDEZVOUS its first Elmer Keith his influence is still felt today. commemorative BFR Keith’s influence didn’t end with cartridges, When I met Magnum Research’s Joby Goerges for the .500 Linebaugh, either. He designed bullets, holsters and at the Athlon Outdoors Rendezvous in Driggs, a cartridge Keith shooting positions while being a prolific gun Idaho, last year, he showed me the compa- would’ve loved for its raw power. writer. When he voiced an opinion, shooters and ny’s first Elmer Keith commemorative BFR. manufacturers listened. He was a crack shot with Beautifully manufactured, the stainless steel pistols, rifles and shotguns, an avid hunter and gun was a work of art. Every piece fit together waswas rrenownedenowned forfor hishis lovelove ofof big-borebig-bore revolvers.revolvers. perfectlyperfectly withoutwithout anyany gapsgaps oror tooltool marks.marks. 64 | COMBATCOMBAT HANDGUNSHANDGUNS | SEPT. • OCT | 2020 personaldefenseworld.compersonaldefenseworld.com FR.ICKIN’ MAGNUM RESEARCH CREATES A BFR FIT FOR THE LEGENDARY ELMER KEITH BY ROBERT JORDAN • ALEX LANDEEN PHOTOS personaldefenseworld.com SEPT. • OCT. | 2020 | COMBAT HANDGUNS | 65 BIG FRICKIN’ .500 thumb to easily cock the hammer for the next shot. Elmer’s design still allows the gun to rotate in your hand, but to a smaller degree. According to Joby, the Elmer Keith revolver also has a standard BFR trig- ger, but it’s brass colored to match the head of the ejector rod. Then there’s the front sight, which is extra tall and made from aluminum. It’s paired with an LPA adjustable rear sight. The frame is deeply engraved with Elmer Keith’s signature on one side and the caliber on the other. In this case, it said “.500 LINEBAUGH,” but since it’s a true cus- tom gun, it can be made in virtually any caliber. The rest of the gun is all BFR. Magnum Research uses 416 stain- less steel for the barrel and 17-4 stainless steel for the cylinder and frame. The higher-quality steel manufactured and used 8 today allows for much The custom BFR has Elmer Keith’s more powerful cartridges signature along the frame as well as a than back in Elmer’s day. cylinder-release system of his design. It’s also worth noting that you don’t need to SPEC BOX thumb the hammer back to the half-cock position MAGNUM RESEARCH Magnum Research also delved to release the cylinder and allow it to into the Keith mystique to design the rotate. Instead, you simply open the ELMER KEITH BFR gun. First, the base pin lever and lever loading gate, and the cylinder is freed release bar are of Elmer’s design. They for loading and unloading. Close the CALIBER: .500 Linebaugh work great, and no tools are needed. gate and the cylinder locks back up. By BARREL: 5 inches The lever is also held in place by a thethe wway,ay, tthehe cylindercylinder rotatesrotates clockwise,clockwise, OA LENGTH: 11 inches spring-loaded catch. Swing it out 90 like it should. I say that tongue in cheek WEIGHT: 3.13 pounds (empty) degrees to the side and the base pin because I’ve owned a fair number of GRIPS: Micarta springs forward, allowing the cylinder to Smith & Wesson revolvers through the SIGHTS: Blade front, adjustable rear be removed for cleaning. The enlarged yearsyears tthathat continuecontinue toto serveserve mmee wwell,ell, ACTION: SA head on the base pin is also grooved despite their cylinders rotating the FINISH: Stainless to make it easier to pull forward. The “wrong way.” CAPACITY: 5 base pin comes forward until it hits POWER TRIP MSRP: $2,875 the brass-colored head of the ejector rod. This is a fantastic feature because After the Rendezvous, Joby agreed to PERFORMANCE it keeps the ejector rod from being let me test the same Elmer Keith LOAD VELOCITY ACCURACY removed from the gun and lost. BFR back at my home range Buffalo Bore 435 Joby explained that the new BFR’s in Montana. But they 1,011 3.25 Hard-Cast LBT-LFN Bisley-style grip—originally called definitely don’t stock Buffalo Bore 435 LBT-LFN 1,059 3.31 the “Keith No. 5” style—was another .500 Linebaugh rounds Buffalo Bore 525 1,049 3.15 favorite of his. This grip style origi- at Walmart, even with all Hard-Cast LBT-LFN nally debuted on the Colt Bisley, a thethe grizzliesgrizzlies inin thethe state,state, Bullet weight measured in grains, velocity in target-grade Peacemaker, in 1894. It soso I turnedturned toto thethe goodgood fps by chronograph and accuracy in inches for allows the gun to slide and rotate in folksfolks atat BuffaloBuffalo Bore,Bore, whowho sentsent best five-shot groups at 25 yards. the hand as it recoils, aligning your meme twotwo 435-grain435-grain loadsloads andand oneone 66 | COMBAT HANDGUNS | SEPT. • OCT | 2020 personaldefenseworld.compersonaldefenseworld.com 8 While the BFR was quite a handful at the range thanks to the mighty .500 Linebaugh recoil, the author was still able to produce tight groups. ECIA P L S E D N I T I O 525-grain load. And I’ll just say that nificantlynificantly harderharder thanthan a 1212 gaugegauge shoot-shoot- as I tested its accuracy: “Sharp you can forget the bears! Having fired ing 3½-inch magnum shells. recoil,”recoil,” “Don’t“Don’t putput youryour elbowselbows onon thethe all three loads now, I feel 100-percent Nonetheless, the gun was very accu- table” and “This is soul-crushingly pain- confident that they could take down a rate. I’m sure I could get smaller groups ful.” I kept a running log of the number charging rhino…behind an elephant… if I had (a) used a scope instead of iron of times the barrel came back and behind a cement wall. sights, and (b) not been wondering smacked my forehead (four) despite I decided to test the BFR’s accu- each time I fired the gun if it was going knowing what was coming. racy at 25 yards. I set up my DOA to hurt so badly my unborn grandchil- Is the Elmer Keith BFR amazing? Shooting Bench, pistol rest, LabRadar dren would feel it. I began to wonder if Absolutely! Even more than words can and targets and settled in. And I should the .500 Linebaugh rounds would be describe. Is it for everyone? No. This mention that I try to let every round I fire able to pierce an armored truck or hurl gun is for the aficionado, the history surprise me to maximize my accuracy, it down the street. I also made a mental buff, the meat-eater alpha who wants to with a hard focus on the front sight and note to drive to Cody, Wyoming, find hunt American bison or Cape buffalo on a slow, smooth trigger press to the rear. John Linebaugh and kick his butt. their turf with nothing but sheer will and I also hold the gun lightly to negate any Normally, after testing a gun’s the finest piece of steel Americans have human wobble. But that’s obviously accuracy, I’ll run some tactical drills ever produced. That said, I must admit incredibly hard to do when you’re with it to see how it operated in the that the .500 Linebaugh simply isn’t for holding a gun that kicks sig- real world, under stress and in me. I’m sending the Elmer Keith BFR adverse conditions. But I back to Magnum Research. But there didn’t with the BFR. I is something about it that makes me made notes on my go back to my writing room every day range sheet and pick it up and hold it and cock it and aim it again and again. This is a gun that intertwines with your soul. I always thought magnum revolver guys were a crazy lot of old masochists. But today, I get it. I just think I might prefer it in .44 Magnum. For more information, visit custombfrrevolver.com. 8 Want to change up the caliber or grips? Those are just two of the many options at custombfrrevolver.com.
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