The .475 No 2 Nitro Express is a British

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with b ...

cartridge developed by Eley Brothers in the early 20th century.

Design

The .475 No 2 Nitro Express is a rimmed bottle necked cartridge designed for use in

single-shot Single-shot firearms are firearms that hold only a single round of ammunition, and must be reloaded manually after every shot. The history of firearms began with single-shot designs, then multi-barreled designs appeared, and eventually many cen ...

and

double rifle The double rifle, also known as a double-barreled rifle, is a rifle with two barrels mounted parallel to each other. Synonymous with big game hunting found primarily in Africa and India, the double rifle is a purely sporting weapon with no militar ...

s. The .475 No 2 Nitro Express is a very large, impressive cartridge, the empty round is long with an overall length of . The standard factory load fires a diameter bullet at , although two powder charges were available with either or of cordite.

.475 No 2 Jeffery

W.J. Jeffery & Co offered an alternate loading, known as the .475 No 2 Jeffery which fired a slightly larger diameter projectile at , although again multiple powder charges were available, with either , or of cordite. Jefferys built a very fine handling double rifle for this round with a barrel that weighed only but retaining moderate recoil.

History

The .475 No 2 Nitro Express is one of several rounds developed in response to the British Army 1907 ban of .450 caliber ammunition into

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

and the

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic ...

which saw the development of the ballistically very similar .500/465 Nitro Express, .470 Nitro Express, .475 Nitro Express, and .476 Nitro Express. Eley created the .475 No 2 Nitro Express by necking up their earlier .450 No 2 Nitro Express.

WWI service

In 1914 and early 1915, German snipers were engaging

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

positions with impunity from behind steel plates that were impervious to

.303 British The .303 British (designated as the 303 British by the C.I.P. and SAAMI) or 7.7×56mmR, is a calibre rimmed rifle cartridge. The .303 inch bore diameter is measured between rifling lands as is the common practice in Europe which follows th ...

ball ammunition. In an attempt to counter this threat, the British

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from t ...

purchased sixty-two large bore sporting rifles from British rifle makers which were issued to Regiments, including a single .475 No 2 Nitro Express rifle. These large bore rifles proved very effective against the steel plates used by the Germans, in his book ''Sniping in France 1914-18'', MAJ H. Hesketh-Prichard, DSO, MC stated they "pierced them like butter."

Use

The .475 No 2 Nitro Express is considered good general purpose round, suitable for all big game in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

, its power is very similar to the

.450 Nitro Express .450 Nitro Express also known as the .450 Nitro Express 3-inch is a rifle cartridge designed for hunting dangerous game such as elephant, rhino, cape buffalo, lion, and leopard. This cartridge is used almost exclusively in double rifles for hunti ...

, with a larger diameter bullet; whether this is an advantage remains in dispute. In his ''African Rifles and Cartridges'', John "Pondoro" Taylor stated the .475 No 2 Nitro Express is "an eminently satisfactory shell and a certain killer - but don't let yourself be hypnotised by that great fat gleaming shell into the belief that you have something comparable with the atomic bomb to play with!" Because of the larger diameter bullet, .475 No 2 Jeffery rounds cannot be fired through .475 No.2 Nitro Express rifles.

References

External links

Cartridgecollector, ''.475 No. 2 Nitro Express (")'', cartridgecollector.net
retrieved 16 December 2016.
Cartridgecollector, ''.475 No. 2 Jeffery Nitro Express (")'', cartridgecollector.net
retrieved 16 December 2016. {{DEFAULTSORT:475 Pistol and rifle cartridges British firearm cartridges Military cartridges Eley Brothers cartridges W.J. Jeffery & Co cartridges