Keith was a product of his times and his environment. Read his books, or summarized biographies. Such as:
MISTER MAGNUM – ELMER KEITH Keith did his early ranching, horse riding/cowpunching, and hunting out in the middle of no where. People today cannot imagine a world without paved roads, electricity, no indoor plumbing, integrated heating or A/C. But that was the times in 1920. Back then, you wanted to get between point A and B, it was by foot, horse, maybe someone had a vehicle, and train. Train stations linked the country together, not interstates, train travel was the primary mode of movement between towns. If it was not in the local country store, then you had to find it in a catalog. USPS loaded everything up on rail, it arrived in town in a rail car, was taken to the Post Office, and pretty much stayed there till you picked it up. Keith would have been buying the firearms that were available, and what he could afford. People today look at prices from back then and think things cheap. Inflation has ruined our ability to compare prices without an inflation calculator, but if your weekly wage was $4.00, then this was was expensive
View attachment 1015710 One thing everyone forgets Keith spent WWII at a US Army Arsenal on the west coast getting 1911's in the best mechanical trim before going off to war in the pacific.
I have not scanned the Sears Colt SAA ad, but it was more than these top break revolvers.
Keith was buying used pistols that were available, and for his job, a Colt SAA was what everyone else was using (mostly) and it was a fine secondary weapon, for ranching.
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You can look at pictures of Cowpokes back in the 1920's, few are carrying anything more lethal than a knife. Keith probably shot more angry cows, coyotes, game animals, based on his writings, than anything else, as a ranch hand. The Colt SAA was compact, light, powerful. A Colt SAA can break a surprising number of parts, and as long as that hammer and hammer spring function, you can rotate the cylinder, (by hand if need be) thumb the hammer back, and it will go bang once the hammer is released. Ignition was reliable due to the massive hammer and heavy mainspring. That is important in the cold and rain. The calibers that were available, Keith gave the factory 45 LC high marks. The black powder load was actually more powerful than the smokeless, from what I have read, the blackpowder load would push a 250/255 lead about 1000 fps. That is pretty good for the era.
It takes work to shoot your self with a Colt, as long as you have an empty under the hammer, there were lots of good holster designs for Colt SAA's, and Keith saved his life many times with a Colt. The gunfights of the era were short, and typically just between a few rascals in bars. There was not a big difference in firepower between a six shooter and a seven shot 1911, and I don't know how a civilian would acquire a 1911. If he did, it would be much more expensive than a used, black power Colt SAA.
The Colt was obsolete as a military weapon, by the late 1880's, 1890's. In his book, "Cooper on Handguns", Jeff Cooper alluded to a "current gunwriter" who recommended the Colt SAA as a combat weapon, and how he, Jeff Cooper, found it was a horrible weapon to load in the dark, with angry Japanese with pointy things near by.
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Jeff's experience proved to him the 1911 as a combat pistol was the way to go. Keith never got messed up in a major shooting war. Keith was well aware of brawls between bullies, drunks, and the occasional shoot out between a Cop and Crook.
Once Keith became an elder statesman, he was very familiar with the 1911, and in the early 80's, based on his review of a Heckler and Koch pistol, the H&K could not hold a candle to the 1911. But he never lost his faith in the Colt SAA as a dependable, reliable sidearm.
