Boasting its own specialty ammo, it has the capability to kill a healthy hunter in a single shot within close to medium ranges. Woodleigh 480 grain soft and solid bullets appear to be the best choice for projectiles. Woodleigh Bullets continues to be the most comprehensive supplier of bullets for the old British classic cartridges. There are three pictures of the rifle and the caption describes the custom, return to zero scope mounts. Much of the interest in the classic British big game rifles and cartridges was in the United States and as a consequence a number of American ammunition manufacturers put some of the more popular classic cartridges into production. Find reloading information on Nitro Express cartridges, reloading for double rifles and other rare firearms as well as modern cartridges. 9 lubricating oil, and an aluminum rod with a knob, slotted ends and brush to keep your gun clean and shooting properly.</p> Jeffery, Charles Boswell, and Cogswell & Harrison, who made the sole original.475. per page . List of rifle cartridges, by primer type, calibre and name. The original cartridge is slightly tapered, whereas the No.2 is bottle-necked. Australia is home to a healthy Asian Buffalo and Banteng population so hunting dangerous big game is accessible and affordable. When it does (officially with the introduction of pin-fire in 1851 but practically not until the mid 1860s, when breech-loaders finally won the argument and production of muzzle-loaders fell off significantly) express rifles moved into their next phase of development. These modified bullets expand and shred on impact, causing severe bleeding. It pays to be hard-headed when choosing guns to restore. 2023 Rock Island Auction Company. 500 Nitro Express Safari double rifle features Merkels modified Anson & Deeley boxlock, Ejectors and Greener crossbolt locking mechanism. (To see the sale and information page for the above rifle on Holland & Hollands website click here). 66 Asia books The British brand J.& L. Wilkins was the result of a collaboration between the late Chris Soyza, well -respected gun enthusiast and hunter who went on to become production manager at Westley Richards, and British gunsmith Bob Harvey. .500 Nitro Express ammo is a commonly available item and there is a good selection on Midway USA with prices around USD$132-$225 per box of 20. by comparison .458 Winchester Magnum ammo on Midway USA is listed around USD$100-$180 per box of 20, and .375 Holland & Holland Magnum ammo sells for USD$60-$96 per box of 20. It comes in a brass cornered and leather wrapped takedown case with dark green lining on the fitted interior, two snap caps, a Westley Richards & Co. oil bottle, and a takedown cleaning rod. The chequer has been refreshed, the stock finished and the blacking re-done. It fires a 500 grain bullet at 2200 FPS. The real game changer was Cordite, which arrived in the late 1880s and revolutionised the nature of sporting rifles; express rifles included. The .475s origins stem from the same root as the more popular .470 Nitro Express, created by Lang, in 1907, to work around the British ban on .450 ammunition for civilian use in much of the Empire; a move which saw the demise of the, then commonly used, .450 Nitro Express. To complicate matters further, the No.2 Eley and No.2 Jeffery differ enough to not be interchangeable, the Jeffery using a slightly larger diameter bullet. Because the wings fitted neatly into the broad grooves and did not strip, even when propelled by heavy charges, the result was a long point blank range, flat trajectory and a high bullet speed for weight ratio. <p>Twenty-five years ago, from a humble manufacturing facility in Brooklyn, New York, Henry began shipments of their first rifle: an affordable, reliable, and classically styled rimfire lever action, designated the H001 Henry Classic Lever Action .22.</p> <p>Today, a quarter-century and more than a million H001's later, Henry Repeating Arms has grown to become America's leading lever . Some useful phrases for the Modern Teacher; Stuff you NEVER do in Class! (Note: Modern experience has tended to demonstrate that elephants are not always stunned if the brain is missed, even when using a .600 Nitro Express). The .475 and the .475 (No.2) are quite different. The wood has very attractive figure patterns, sharp checkering, and slight storage and handling blemishes. Ballistics and Drop for the .470 Nitro Express. Black powder express rifles were most effective at ranges of up to about 250 yards. This led to the .500 Nitro Express being somewhat less popular yet this was not a case of its being in any way inadequate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqzo3O-uuBESupport the Channel! Point of impact was different than the 570-grain jacketed bullets, but the rifle can be sighted-in at 100 yards by drifting the rear sight assembly slightly and using the 75-yard/meter rear sight leaf. We began this post considering the delightful problem of choosing a suitable cartridge for the double-rifle you might be considering purchasing. The potential for the large and gently tapered case of the .500 as a pure-bred nitro cartridge for dangerous game was seized upon quickly in the 1890s and the new .500 Nitro Express made its debut running at nitro propellant pressures and driving a 570 grain jacketed bullet at 2,150fps producing 5,850 ft/lb energy. By comparison a typical heavy sporting rifle in one of the small bore magnums such as the popular 7mm Remington Magnum or .300 Winchester Magnum will commonly weigh 8.5lb before a rifle-scope is attached and up around 9.5lb-10lb with rifle-scope and mounts, depending on how big and heavy or small and light the rifle-scope is. A number of gun makers developed proprietary chamberings in these calibres, designed to deliver the attributes of flat trajectory, high-velocity and long point-blank range. Our classic bullet designs are tailored to meet the needs of the serious safari hunter. However, it was not until the 1850s that the term express was used to describe a rifle and the coiner of the phrase was not John Dickson, but James Purdey, the second of his name, (to borrow a Game of Thrones line). The sight picture is straight down the rib and the front sight shows clearly even with a dark background. The big question however will not be how much energy your chosen caliber can deliver, nor how much shock power or knock-out value it has. One of the things that sparked my interest was his choice of rifle. Kynoch loads were not available when this was written but are advertised to push a 570-grain bullet at 2,150 fps. While they were not the smoothest barrels I have seen, their finish is respectable, and they did not produce unusual fouling during many shooting sessions with jacketed and cast bullet loads. Advertisement: swisswaffen.com. he did several articles on modern smokeless loads for Cordite proofed Nitro Express calibers, he was a real asset to our passion and hobby. Check it out and enjoy untold thousands of pages of reading. The big .500 Nitro offers the large-caliber, bone-breaking and deep-penetration qualities that are required to reach the vitals of Africas heaviest game under all conditions and is generally considered a stopping cartridge, but it is also fun to shoot! The bullets had to be rammed carefully down the barrel to seat correctly, making loading a relatively slow process but once correctly seated, the benefits were obvious to a sporting or target shooter. This week, we talk about one of my new favorite guns in Hunt: Showdown, the Nitro Express Rifle. Those advantages were its ability to be used in much lighter rifles, typically around 11lb in weight, and the jacketed bullets ability to penetrate and deliver dangerous game stopping power where it did the most good. These two-shot groups were fired offhand. I hope you enjoy the video and thanks. In 1899 Rigby approached the engineers at Mauser to make a special Gewehr 98 bolt action to handle their .400/350 Nitro Express. Today, we think of bullets as smooth-sided projectiles but in the mid 19th century they took many forms. The Watson Bros is a good example of how some of the less widely understood calibres designed for sporting use, but rendered obsolete in the 1960s, as ammunition for them ceased to be listed in manufacturers catalogues, can quite easily be prepared for another lifetime of proper hunting. The casehardened back action sidelocks have gold lined cocking indicators, gold inlaid border lines, and are respectively finely inlaid and low relief engraved with a cape buffalo and a rhinoceros in gold. Experiments with bullets included varying the hardness of the lead (or alloy), altering the shape and length bullets and even casting them to fit the grooves in the rifling. Commentaries on various calibres, nitro express cartridges and firearms. Rizzini 7001-500 Rhino Express .500 Nitro 26" Out of stock View Details View Details Filter By . They are named after the propellant they use, cordite, which is composed of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. (You will find the article on the above pictured rifle if you click here). Nitro Express RiflesWhen smokeless powders, with their increased power to move a bullet at speed, became available, everything changed. It has Birmingham nitro proof marks. RIAC believes that this website is accessible to the widest possible audience pursuant to the guidelines of the Americans with Disability Act. So, if you can manage a .458 Winchester Magnum comfortably then you can handle a .500 Nitro Express equally comfortably. It is probably fair to say that the Nitro Express calibres transformed big game hunting in Africa, but the .470 was not the first. The Sidelock Double Rifle The 'express' train of firearms, our Sidelock Double rifle is the high-speed heavy-weight with an aptitude for accuracy. BUILT BY JOSEF JUST OF FERLACH, AUSTRIA, COMPLETED IN 2000, THIS IS A ONE OF A KIND DRILLINIG WITH TWO SETS OF BARRELS.FIRST SET IS .600NE X2 WITH A .500/416 ON TOP, SECOND SET IS .470NE X2 AND . This means that the Nitro won't necessarily one-shot a full health hunter even at close range if the bullet hits the arms or legs. A good indication of the improvement in performance that cordite offered is the .577 Magnum Express black-powder rifle, one of the most powerful BPE cartridges ever devised. Current industry maximum average pressure is established at 40,611 psi. It . In other words, one load may cause bullets to cross then diverge while other loads may produce parallel groups or begin to diverge soon after leaving the muzzle. Editor's Note: The original price of $115,000 for a .700 H&H back in 1990 now looks like quite a deal. Enjoy extensive archives of Double Rifle pictures, Mausers, Mannlichers, Lee Speeds, Combination guns, single shots, fine shotguns and other vintage firearms as well as modern ones.. Open sights with flip up leafs and visible orange front beads for quick target acquisition come with every rifle. Peter, the current owner has had it for some years and his most recent quarry was cape buffalo. The sunken concave rib has a matted stepped front sight block with bead sight, matted stepped quarter rib with blued standing notch rear sight with gold inlaid center line and calibrated for 50 yards, J.&L. Chin. It is worthy of note that the .500 Nitro Express is the favorite big game rifle of Geoff McDonald, the founder of Woodleigh Bullets, his having taken many buffalo, elephant and other game over a 30 year period with it. During the late 1970s when I first began shooting and experimenting with big-bore double rifles, ammunition was very difficult to find in the U.S. and was generally considered obsolete. The targets used are the standard 50m ISSF (i.e. People who have used the .500 Nitro Express tend to report a noticeable improvement in knock-down power by comparison with the .458 Winchester Magnum. This is ideal; however, a rifle that groups both barrels properly within normal hunting distance is most certainly effective and adequate. Kuduae shared "It was proofed for a service charge of 2.7 gramm = 42 gr GBP = smokeless rifle flake powder. HuntZone.pro is not an official site of the Hunt: Showdown game. Assuming a 4 vital zone the Maximum Point Blank Range calculation comes up at 180yards, and if zeroed at 200 yards the trajectory height at 100-150 yards only slightly exceeds 4 with the Barnes Triple Shock X bullet which has a spitzer point and a ballistic coefficient of .369. Made in 1906 for the Honorable Captain Guy Wilson, serial number 17311 is a Class C double rifle wearing 28-inch barrels with a beaded blade front sight, . About 1900 W.J. The casehardened bolstered action is signed J.&L. Two triggers Action Calibre: .500 Nitro Expres .Click for more info Seller: Holland & Holland United Kingdom Area Code: 203 POR Holland and Holland Royal Grade 303 with factory 20ga barrels.ON SALE! Published by Vintage Guns Ltd on 28th June 2018 (modified 29th June 2019). Attempts to perfect the concept can be divided into three eras: The percussion era, when muzzle loading placed certain constraints on rifling and bullet size relative to the bore, as well as favouring or hindering certain types of rifling. . If you are able to send your used brass, we may be able to produce this product for you. Happily the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum remained in continuous production both in the United States and Europe, and also served to provide a viable cartridge option for dangerous game, especially buffalo culling. Second, the Breech-Loading Era, in which the ability to load the cartridge into a chamber, without having to negotiate two feet of rifled barrel to seat the bullet. 450 Nitro Express 3 1/4" 480 gr DGS. At that time the preferred elephant cartridge was the black powder 8 bore, although a few intrepid souls used a 4 bore. As we have seen, the .500 Nitro Express delivers about 30% more power (as measured in energy) by comparison with a .458 Winchester Magnum, and does it with almost the same recoil, in a rifle that is only 1lb heavier. Plus members articles inaddition to numerous articles in other parts of the forums. Last edited on 19 December 2022, at 06:43, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nitro_Express&oldid=1128257946, This page was last edited on 19 December 2022, at 06:43. Jamison .500/416 Nitro Express Unprimed Brass/100 per bag, $2.25/cartridge, ON SALE!!!! As far as I can tell, the Nitro Express era started in 1898 with introduction of the .450 NE from John Rigby. Read articles on African The Nitro Express (NE) series of cartridges are used in large-bore hunting rifles, also known as elephant guns or express rifles. 66 Asia books 458 Winchester. The Long-Lee style action with bolt-head safety and blued dust-cover, fully-detachable magazine, figured stock with semi-pistolgrip and B.S.A. Enter the forums, join as a member, its FREE, and join in the discussions. There are currently no customer product questions on this lot. The debate around the best calibre for Africa has raged since the nitro express rifles we recognise today first burst onto the scene, as the nineteenth century turned into the twentieth. Nonetheless, there are newly manufactured rifles with properly regulated barrels that can be purchased for a fraction of the costs listed above. The screws are qualified and the firing pins are bushed, all of which denote a quality double rifle. Though the Nitro Express has a short range, its shot is incredibly powerful, with an equally powerful recoil. Both these cartridges were good for boar, deer and antelope species but were not intended for dangerous game. In 1903 Jeffery & Co decided to outdo them all, creating the .600 Nitro Express, the most powerful sporting cartridge commercially available for over half a century.[2]. A 500 grain load is also available, at a slightly slower 2,125 fps. The Rhino Express Double Rifle chambered in .416 Rigby .470 Nitro and .500 Nitro is one of Rizzini's finest products to come out of their shop. David Baker thinks you only really know a gun when you have shot with it, taken it to pieces and researched its story. I tend to think that the fashion of having a carry rifle and an emergency stopping rifle was perhaps the result of some salesmanship on the part of gun-makers. A break-action, double-barreled rifle ideal for hunting large game, the Nitro Express was often used by British colonials on elephant hunting expeditions. (Black Powder Express). Continental makers included Merkel and Francotte. The front sight features a traditional gold bead. the NitroExpress.com Forums are for you. So if you plan on going out after dangerous game you need to practice, and that practice needs to simulate as far as possible what you can expect to face in the field. Crafted over a 15-year period by N.J. Makinson & Son, this spectacular .600 Nitro Express is the only rifle of this caliber Makinson ever produced and one of approximately 30 firearms which comprise their total output. 1 wad cutter, cleaning jags, oil bottle not by Rigby and a pouch holding a drop through patch jag. Wolfe Publishing Company | 2180 Gulfstream Suite A | Prescott, AZ 86301. These makers are the ones with a long and solid history of making double rifles, ones who bring years of experience to the bench and ultimately to the rifle. Bolting is by the conventional means of a Purdey double under-bolt. To get used to it, he hunted fallow deer in New Zealand prior to his African trips and once managed a 200 yard kill, shooting from a sitting position. Here, we take a look at a rarely encountered dangerous game rifle. ! The forend houses the ejectors and is attached by an Anson pushrod. Among the dangerous game cartridges which successfully made the transition to earn its place as the industry standard is the .450 3-inch Nitro Express. When modern nitro express cartridges replaced black powder rifles for dangerous game, gunmakers worked to develop the ideal double rifle: one that would handle like a shotgun, be fast and instinctive to use and with the strength to weight ratios necessary to fire powerful cartridges and heavy bullets. 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