Elmer on Big Game

Most shooters will need no introduction to the name Elmer Keith, for those that do I can tell you that he was arguably the most prolific and well known gun writer of the last 50 years. He quite deservedly became known as “The Dean of American Firearm Writers”. Between Elmer Keith and Jack O’Conner they pretty well covered every topic of interest to keen shooters and hunters in their many years of writing regular columns for the leading US gun magazines Guns and Ammo and Outdoor Life. O’Conner was a great supporter of the 270 Winchester and its ability on large game. On this point he and Elmer disagreed intensely, Elmer being a promoter of the big and slow bullet over the small and fast bullet preference of his rival. This disagreement became the subject of a famous long running feud that played itself out over decades in the regular magazine columns they wrote for competing shooting publications. But Elmer was perhaps best known for his bigbore handgun shooting and was instrumental in the development of the 44 Magnum cartridge. He wrote many columns and books about “sixgunning” but he was definitely no slouch when it came to rifles and rifle hunting either.
During the 1920’s and 1930’s, Elmer was a rancher and big game guide in Oregon and Idaho with his first articles starting to appear at this time. His first published work was in the American Rifleman in 1924, and 60 years later, his works were still being published in Guns and Ammo. In World War II, he served as an inspector at the Ogden Arsenal (as did P.O. Ackley) and went full time as a writer in the ‘50’s. During his career, he served on the staff of The Outdoorsman, The American Rifleman, Western Sportsman, Guns, and Guns and Ammo. It wasn’t long before he was receiving hundreds of letters a year asking advice on rifle and caliber recommendations for big game hunting. To help reduce the incoming mail burden he decided it might be more expedient to write a book that would outline all his recommendations in one fell swoop. Thus in 1936 “Big Game Rifles and Cartridges by Elmer Keith” was born.


One thing to note is that when Elmer says big game he is referring to American big game such as Deer, Elk, Moose, Grizzly etc and not African big game. Though they can be dangerous at times, they are not quite as guaranteed lethal as the big five of African game. Elmer admits that Africa’s dangerous game require a whole different approach when it comes to rifles and calibers.

Elmer was famous for his saying “use enough gun” in effect meaning to choose a caliber that has more power than you need rather than trying to get away with one that is barely adequate for the job. The whole book is basically centered on this premise. His only condition was that you must be able to shoot that big caliber well otherwise your wasting your time, and that means familiarisation and practice with your chosen caliber/rifle combination. Elmer found that in most hunting situations the game rarely presented the perfect shot and quite often you needed a bullet that would give adequate penetration on less than ideal angles such as rear raking shots. So therefore you needed a bullet with strong construction, adequate sectional density and energy to reach those vital areas even in the worst of situations.

He was of the school who believed in complete penetration, meaning that the bullet should pass completely through the game. This he reasoned caused greater blood loss and accordingly a larger blood trail. Therefore if the game animal was wounded it was consequently easier to track. Also he stated that you can’t have a bullet that stops in the animal on broadside shots and at the same time have enough penetration to get into the engine room on a rear raking shots. That’s hard logic to argue with unless you’re only going to take text book broadside shots and forego any other angle. Even so, the debate still rages to this day as to whether the bullet should stay in the animal or pass through. With today’s modern controlled expansion bullets the consensus seems to be in favor of the bullet staying in the animal thus expending all its energy and doing the most damage. Even so, there are still many on both sides of the debate that vehemently defend their side of the argument.

That being said, Elmer did not like wounding game and was a strong advocate of humane killing, saying that no man can call himself a true sportsman if he doesn’t do his utmost to ensure a clean quick kill. In fact, it’s this belief in humane killing that is the whole reason for the term “use enough gun” and the purpose of trying to educate hunters to use larger calibers.
Many at the time were experimenting with the new high velocity 22 centerfires on large game and Elmer was aghast at such a thing taking place, and I quote:

“Many hunters today are apparently small bore crazy, seemingly wanting to kill as large a game as lives with as light and small a bore of rifle as possible, throwing the lightest bullet obtainable; even to hunting big game with a 22 Hornet. Such men need their heads examined. Certainly it is not sportsmanship they display.”

At the time the book was published there was a lot of experimentation and wildcatting being done. Pioneers such as Parker Ackley (P.O.Ackley), John Dubiel and Charles Askins were contemporaries of Elmer’s and were no doubt influential in forming some of his opinions about rifles and cartridges. One of Elmer’s favorite rifles was a Magnum Mauser in 280 Dubiel Magnum which pushed a 150gn bullet at around 3200-3300fps. Quite remarkable ballistics for the 1930’s. The 280 Dubiel Magnum is one of many cartridges that have fallen into obscurity over the years but it’s not for reasons of poor performance. Elmer certainly loved it.

As far a calibers and cartridges went Elmer had plenty of advice to give, which normally leaned towards the larger side of things as you would expect. For starters he was not a fan of the 30-30 Winchester, the 303 British, or the 7mm Mauser as he had seen too many animals lost by other hunters to these calibers. Elmer relates the story of his friend Bill Bell to illustrate this point:

......Bill used a .30-30 for a good many years until he had trouble bringing down a big Idaho grizzly. The grizzly didn't take too kindly to being stung by such an inadequate caliber and became quite agitated to say the least. Bill was perched up high above the grizzly in a jumble of rocks and the bear never did locate him, or the results may have ended in favour of the bear......


Even the popular 30-06 was quite often not enough according to Elmer. He advised the 30-06 could be used by the experienced woodsman with careful selection of bullet construction and weight, usually the of the heavier 220gn variety. For use in timber country he came to the conclusion he would use nothing less than a 35 caliber rifle firing a bullet not less than 250gn at no less than 2000fps. Consequently his favorites for all large species was the 35 Whelan, 400 Whelan and the 375 H&H Magnum.

One surprising thing is Elmers’s love of the double rifle especially in heavily timbered or brush type hunting where most shooting is at ranges under 100 yards and more often at less than 50yards. Elmer says:

“I firmly believe the double barrel rifle to be the most reliable of all types from the standpoint of safety to the hunter, when facing wounded or dangerous game.”

This fact has been well demonstrated by generations of African professional hunters and is hard to argue with. The smooth breech of the double rifle is not apt to catch on branches or undergrowth and is better sealed against the entry of sand and water than the bolt or lever rifle. Also the fit and balance of the double is more like that of a fine shotgun and so enables the rifle to come to the shoulder more naturally for faster snap shots to be taken. The most obvious advantage is of course the ability of the double for a quick second shot. This may make the difference between loosing your once in a lifetime trophy or spending three grueling days tracking a wounded beast only to loose the trail and possibly still come up empty handed. There is much to be said for the double rifle but there are two major disadvantages, the first one being the need for regulation. For those unfamiliar with the peculiarities of double rifles, regulation is where each barrel is adjusted so that both barrels shoot to the same approximate point. Thus the rifle is tuned or ‘regulated’ to this particular bullet weight and velocity combination. This has the result of limiting the choices of loads one can use in the rifle. Regulation also reduces the effective accuracy at long distance but this is no problem when used in close quarter shooting. The other drawback is the sheer cost of a fine grade double from a reputable gun maker, but for those not financially challenged they certainly are an excellent choice for close contact big game hunting.

Elmer’s attitude to scopes is interesting as it shows that even in the pre-war years scopes were a popular and much welcome addition to any hunting rifle, if you could afford one. He was of the opinion that low magnification scopes in the 1.5-2.5x range were the best choice for general hunting and the 4 power was advised for long range work. His observation showed that when offhand shooting, the high magnification scope only served to magnify the shooters natural shake and create a psychological barrier to pulling the trigger, thus causing the shooter to hesitate and most often ruin the shot. This is still sage advice to consider when choosing a hunting scope even to this day. For low light situations the scope he said was always superior to any iron sight. The only time he conceded anything to iron sights was when extolling the virtues of the deep-V express sight for close range dangerous game work.
It was around this time that scope makers were discovering the benefits of internal reticle adjustment and the Noske was one of the first to begin offering this feature. The best at the time and Elmer’s favorites were the German made Zeiss, the Hendsolt, and the American made Noske. It’s interesting to note that all these years later Zeiss are still market leaders in the optics game and still a popular choice for the discerning buyer provided money is no obstacle. In that era Bill Weaver was the first to break the price barrier and start producing a decent quality scope that the average man could afford, and so started the gradual rise in popularity of the scope to the level we know today.


Although it’s been 80 odd years since Elmer put his thoughts in print it’s apparent that very little has changed from the standpoint of rifles, cartridges and hunting. It may be surprising to learn that parallax error, sectional density and bonded bullet construction were not subjects foreign to the hunter of that bygone era. So it seems that almost all we know today about these subjects was known about by the 1930’s. Somehow I think it’s comforting to know that very little has changed, and to know we are continuing the traditions of generations past in much the same way as they did it back then.
But whatever you do, don’t forget to “use enough gun!” and make Elmer proud.