I'm going to be an iconoclast and say neither. I've never owned a .44 Magnum, and always preferred a .45 Colt -- which in a Ruger Blackhawk will duplicate the .44 Mag.
I've often wondered what would have happened if, instead of having his Number 5 made on a Colt SA platform in .44 Special, Keith had simply hot-rodded a Colt New Service or Shooting Master.
Elmer Kieth worked it up and......... He did all the work and deserves all the credit.
I have a very similar gun -- made in 1906, and reblued (so not a collector's item) I chopped the barrel to 5 1/2 inches, mounted adjustable sights and Herrett Shooting Master grips. The New Service is one hell of a strong revolver, and by 1903 Colt was heat treating the cylinders. Just out of respect to it's age, I hold my loads to around 19,000 psi, but that gives me enough power to shoot through deer.That is sort of what I did back around 1954 or so with this New Service. Originally a .455, rebored to .45 Colt, then rebuild to .44 Special. Added S&W rear sight, Micro front, and home made walnut grips.
View attachment 778457
But the Single Action Army was cheap, plentiful, and had lots of screws holding parts on that begged to have custom touches added. Plus the solid frame of a Single Action lending that extra bit of strength. The built-up design of a Single Action just begs for customizing!
Bob Wright
I've never seen a single Dirty Harry film, either the original or its sequels.
I read "Hell, I was there" by Elmer Keith, that did more to enthuse me about the .44 special and magnum than any film ever did.
Finally someone knows what they are talking/writing about!Not so fast Frank!
Yes Elmer got all the credit, but he did not do all the work.
And his work was with .44 Special cases.
John Lachuck was making his own wildcat .44s for use in Colt Frontiers as early as 1950 with
.405 Winchester cases shortened ( to the exact length that Remington chose 6 years later for the .44 Magnum), reamed and lathe turned.
Capacity (heavier case walls and web) was slightly under the later factory .44, but John's load for this wildcat was .22.5 grs. of 2400
with the 240 gr. Thompson gas check.
John was a nationally known gun writer (also known as the .22 guru of his time) as well, and
there can be no doubt his contributions figured into both Remington's and Elmer's designs.
JT
So was Jack O'Connor. But neither of these guys had as much experience, intuition and savvy about all three (handguns, rifles and shotguns) as Elmer.Actually, Bill Jordan's writings were as interesting as Elmer Keith.
Keith did a lot but he's far from the only one. Somehow he gets all the credit but in truth, he wasn't even included in the actual development of the .44Mag.
Then who was involved in the actual development of the .44 Mag?
But despite lore and legend, and common misconception propagated online and in print articles, it was really the house engineers at Remington who “actually developed” the .44 Remington Magnum, in congress with the house engineers at S&W to produce the firing platform - aka, the 29.