KEITH TYPE / SWC BULLETS
When I started making molds 27 years ago, I did about 6 months of heavy experimentation with bullet profiles for handguns. My conclusion was that SWC bullets ranged from inferior to very inferior compared to the designs that I came up with, so I decided to never make them.
About 12 years later it seemed like several customers came out of the woodwork, all at one time, with authentic Keith bullets and documentation to prove it. Since no moldmaker was making authentic Keith bullets, (and still aren’t except for LBT), I decided to add Elmer Keith’s bullets to my line. The three which I had samples for were his 44 250 gr, 45 250 gr and 45 315 gr, so those were all I offered till this week.
A few days ago a customer ordered 14 molds for “Keith” bullets, calibers included 38, 41, 44, 475, and 512, with more than one weight for each caliber. So I made them, using the authentic Keith patterns, and was pleased enough with the outcome that I decided to offer them for those who love the profile, or are Keith admirers. After all, I became a Keith admirer at 16 and have stayed one for the following 50 years! He deserves remembering, and probably the best way to do it is to shoot some bullets that look like his did. Inferior to LBT designs or not. Most of us would drive a nice Model T Ford if we could own one, even though we all know the ride won’t be up to modern auto standards!
I’m going to give the list I’ll be offering at the end, but first I’m going to give you a bit of SWC / Elmer history, then I’ll try to dispel a few myths which were partly started by Elmer and partly by gun writers and shooters.
1. About the Keith design: In his early writing, Elmer stated that when he “developed” the 44 bullet, he chose the 38-55 Lyman bullet for the nose profile because it had the best accuracy record with cast bullets, and asked Lyman to add driving bands to take it up to 44 caliber and get the weight at 240- 250 gr. (If you measure the largest diameter of the nose on a true 44 Keith bullet, it is .375!)
2. Elmer was definitely a hay bale wire mechanic, and a good one, which was his only option in “designing a bullet”, as nothing suitable was available. In fact, being a backcountry cowboy, hunting guide, haybale wire repairs was his life as it is with all people fortunate to live in remote places like he did. I was raised on a poor farm where we did the same. The point here is that Elmer had no machining abilities, and Lyman wasn’t really interested in doing any development, or Elmer’s bullet preferences would have turned out very similar to the LBT styles, and his recommendations would have been far more scientific. To design a bullet the way Elmer did, and had to, then consider it the last word in performance, because he made it work pretty good, leaves a bit to be desired so far as sound thinking. That’s a painfully candid statement, but definitely not intended to be an insult. Just facts so my customers don’t buy the Keith bullets I’m now offering with the idea that they are equal to or better than the LBT designs, with were designed to be superior to all other cast bullet designs, and are. But LBT designs don’t pull the Elmer nostalgia trigger, which is why I’m offering them.
2. Elmer said his bullet design was ‘best with flat bottom grease groove”. This after mold makers started putting round grooves in his bullet to make it cast easier. The reason round grooves degraded performance was because they put narrower grooves in, so it leaded easier because of more lead rubbing the barrel. With a round groove that displaces the exact same amount of bearing surface as the flat bottom groove, performance is identical, but Elmer had no way of proving such things. Nor did he have high quality bullet lubricant. His favorite was Ideal Banana lube. (Back then, bananas were a new novelty fruit, littering wasn’t considered a crime, and stepping on a banana peel was considered about as slippery as it got!)
In the three Keith bullets LBT offers I have retained every detail of the original design, including the flat bottom grease groove. However, if customers want improved performance, I will cut them with round lube grooves so they cast a little easier, and gas check shank so they give a bit higher velocity and no leading.
3. Elmer stated, “I neither like nor use gas checks in handguns. Their place is in rifles.” He further claimed that they could off in cylinder throats. – Little did he realize that the checks are clamped up to the bullet and are propelling it with very close to three tons of pressure while chamber pressure is at the peak of 40,000 psi! – The old Lyman checks did come off after bullets left the barrel, sometimes, which hurt accuracy, so his real reason for not liking them was right, but his reasoning was wrong.
4. Elmer did a lot of complaining that mold makers shortened the first driving band on his bullet design. I don’t believe he had a clue that the reason mold makers insisted on shortening the forward driving band and or reducing the diameter of it was so shooters wouldn’t complain about the bullets not chambering in tight cylinder throats. Mould makers haven’t changed. -- One mold maker who is now making what they claim to be authentic Keith 44 bullets, and copied their bullet using bullets from the exact same lot which I used, and started producing it at the same time I did, shortened the forward driving band by about 1/3! In all mass production manufacturing the most important factor is to eliminate customer complaints. Since degrading performance of a bullet design is easier than training the complaining customers, the above is how the problem is handled. In the interest of providing unsurpassed performance, I’ve chosen to flay it out with whoever has problems, teaching each customer individually if need be. I’ve done this for 25 years now with my own designs which all have heavy drive bands outside the case, as it’s as critical to performance on LBT designs as it is on Elmer’s bullets. I’ll continue in this vein as long as I can keep LBT in business.
5. Another factor that makes most SWC bullets less effective than they should be is too small a meplat. SWC mold customers for the most part, are content with any diameter meplat, because it has been commonly believed that the SWC shoulder is what does the wounding in game. However, the shoulder never gets wet or touches anything during game penetration, unless it stops inside the animal, but it does drag air in flight and hurts ballistic coefficient seriously. The true Keith bullets have a large enough meplat to be effective if driven at magnum power, and I retain it exactly. Please notice that I list only three bullets as K, and these are authentic in every detail. I also make 41, 45, and 500 calibers using the EXACT 44 Kieth profile, simply changing diameter as required, as all these can handle a .45 nose length. These are authentic in form only, so I call them LBTK, which is the definition I use for the shortened nose bullets for 45 cal FA revolvers, 457 and 500 Linebaugh, which all require .4 nose length. On all the shortened nose bullets, the meplats diameter relative to body diameter is larger, because the noses are shortened from the front, using the 44 K profile. Because the meplats on 38 and 32 caliber bullets are too small to be effective game getters, I make these using the exact Keith nose profile or curve, but have a more shallow shoulder and wider nose, which duplicates the meplat diameter of the extensively proven LBT FN profile. With the strong forward driving band, they ‘look Keith’y’, but perform on game far better than any other SWC available in these calibers, to my knowledge. The advantage of these two is esthetic value only, without compromising accuracy or game performance.
6. Another drawback with SWC bullets, and especially if the lube grooves are relatively square, is that wheel weight alloy, which is the most common casting alloy today, will not fill the sharp corners uniformly around the bullet. More clearly, the driving bands tend to fill out quite sharp on one side, more rounded on the other. This in effect throws the bullets out of balance slightly when bullets are sized and again when they enter the rifling and sized till pressure on the bands is uniform all around the bullet. To give a more scientific explanation, the most rounded side of the drive bands size down more and embed deeper into the rifling, than do the wider side, until compression, or sizing pressure, becomes equal on all sides of the bullet. With the bullets center of mass thrown considerably out of balance, accuracy is co
[/u]mpromised. The only solution is to run the mold very hot, pour fast as possible to ‘pack’ the lead a bit, and use a fairly high tin, easy to cast alloy. (Elmer favored Lino for heavy loads, tin lead for light loads.)
7. Because the SWC nose is lighter than LBT style bullets, more lead has to be pushed down into the case, which limits velocity potential more dramatically than most shooters realize. For example, my 250 LFN, when gas checked, when pressure tested with the same charge as an authentic Keith bullet, produced higher speed but almost 10,000 psi lower pressure. When loaded to equal pressures by increasing the powder charge, the LBT bullet produces almost 300 fps more velocity. The flip side of this issue is, this is a moot point if one doesn’t want maximum velocity potential. Also, if one orders a Keith nose bullet with round lube groove and check shank, and if LBT bullet lube is used, velocity potential will only be degraded about 50 to 100 fps. If the heavy weights are ordered, powder capacity and velocity potential will by far lower than with equal weights of any LBT design.
LBT KIETH BULLET, OR SWC OFFERINGS
To differentiate all bullets which are not authentic Keith copies I have stamped the profile as LBTK, because all use the Keith nose pattern. Same designation applies if the nose is modified, or, if gas checked, or of heavier weight, or a caliber that Kieth didn’t use.
All specified weights and diameters are with WW alloy.
On all bullets which state Authentic Keith 44 profile and length, the flat bottom grease groove, plain base, and three equal length drive bands is maintained, and I mark the mould designation K. However any of these bullets can be ordered with the superior round grease groove and gas check, if desired, in which case I stamp them LBTK. Contact LBT if you have any questions on the details.
32 100 SWC PB or GC The shortened wider than Keith nose makes it a very nice live target performer, with very slightly superior wounding effect than the proven LBT FN design, with identical impact velocities.
38 160 gr. SWC .35 nose, PB or GC. This bullets nose is suited to small frame 38’s, and works very well in any 38 - 357 revolver. SWC specs same as 32 above.
38 180 gr LBTK .35 or .4 nose PB or GC This bullet and following one have meplats considerable smaller than the LBT FN, both being exact 44 Keith profile shortened from the front as needed to maintain a .1 inch wide drive band outside the case. Game performance, i.e. wound diameter will be inferior to the LBT FN and superior to the LBT LFN, which we do not recommend for game bullets in 38 caliber hand guns.
38 200 gr LBTK .35 or .4 nose PB or GC Nose same as above.
411 230 LBTK .45 nose. PB Authentic Keith 44 profile and length.
411 265 LBTK .45 nose. GC Authentic Keith nose profile but longer body, and gc. PB if desired
430 250 K .45 nose, PB. Authentic Keith 44.
430 300 LBTK .45 nose, gc. Authentic Keith 44 from crimp forward, longer body and gc shank.
452 250 K .4 nose, PB. Authentic Keith 45 Colt bullet for Colt revolvers.
452 280 LBTK .45 nose PB Authentic 44 Keith profile and length, cut to 45 caliber.
452 315 K .45 nose PB. This is the authentic duplicate of Keith’s heavy 45 bullet, which has a little shorter and more rounded ogive than the 44 K, and all drive bands are longer, and grease groove flat bottom but wider than the authentic 44. Can make with GC if desired.
476 340 LBTK .4 nose PB. Keith 44 bullet profile with nose shortened from the front on this and the next three, to allow a .4 nose length and retain the heavy forward drive band mandatory for Keith and LBT performance. Can also provide .45 nose on any of these if you have a gun that will chamber it.
476 345 LBTK .4 nose GC As above except longer and gas checked.
500, 400 to 600 gr. Specify weight you want. Exact 44 Keith nose profile on all. If for use in the S&W gas checks should be used even for moderate loads, to get through the porting without leading. The forward driving band will be made some heavier than the standard .1 inch on the heavier weights, with total nose length up to .5 inch, as these cylinders are very long.
512 440 LBTK .4 nose PB Exact Keith 44 profile but nose shortened as above. Can but authentic .45 nose length on both if you have a gun that will chamber it.
512 460 LBTK .4 nose GC Same length as above, but GC adds weight.
