“Keith’s Rifles for Large Game” was probably his best book
on rifles and rifle shooting and is definitely one of the best books on the
subject. I have been re-reading “Keith’s
Rifles for Large Game” and once again find very little to fault. The only real problem is that some of the
technical information is dated. Many of
the calibers and rifles mentioned haven’t been available except as collector’s
items for decades.
I really enjoyed the entire chapter on where to place a
rifle scabbard on a horse. Keith
obviously had a lot of experience with horses and pointed out potential
problems with many of the common scabbard positions.
There have been some technical advances since Keith’s time,
but not nearly as many nor as great as some would claim. Optics have been improved but functionally
differ little in the field. Also, there
have been some improvements in bullet design such as the Barnes X bullet that
allow lighter bullets and higher velocities without giving up terminal effect.
Still, Keith’s observations and conclusions will remain
valid until chemically powered firearms are obsolete.
I get amused at many of Keith’s critics who have never
actually read Keith. I had one customer
proclaim that Keith had no match experience and wasn’t around when the 7mm
Remington magnum was invented. I pointed
out that Keith placed quite well at the National matches a number of times and
was alive to see the 7mm magnum. Keith
remarked that the 7mm magnum (invented in the late fifties) was a good
cartridge. In fact, it was nearly
identical to the 7mm magnum wildcats he designed and used clear back in the
nineteen twenties thus required little testing on his part as he already had
extensive experience with it.
Part of the problem was that Keith had done virtually all
the experimenting he required prior to the nineteen sixties. Thus, most of his later writings were somewhat
repetitive and he often failed to explain his conclusions.
Most of Keith’s books are available as reprints but the
collectors have run the prices of even the reprints quite high. I highly recommend “Hell, I was There!”,
“Sixguns”, “Gun Notes” volumes one and two, and “Keith’s Rifles for Large
Game”. His book “Shotguns” was
educational but it is severely dated and there are probably better books on
shotguns available. Keith did not
consider himself a shotgunner.
