The .470 Nitro Express is a rifle cartridge developed by Joseph Lang in
England for dangerous game hunting in Africa and India. This cartridge is used almost exclusively in
double rifles. It is in wide use in the Southern and Central-East African region, favoured by hunting guides, primarily while out for hunting
Cape buffalo and
elephant
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...
.
Overview
The .470 NE was originally designed by Lang's as a replacement for the
.450 Nitro Express, after the .450 NE
was banned in several British colonies including India in 1907 (its bullets could theoretically be removed from loaded rounds for use by natives in stolen .577/.450 Martini Henry rifles).
Due to the heavy bullet and powder charge, the gun has significant recoil but this is mitigated by the low velocity, resulting in recoil being delivered as a strong push rather than a violent blow. Rifles chambered for this cartridge tend to be heavy double-gun style, and are typically quite expensive.
[Twin-Tube Dreamin']
" by Ted Hatfield, in American Rifleman
The .470 NE continues to be the most popular of all the
Nitro Express The Nitro Express (NE) series of cartridges are used in large-bore hunting rifles, also known as elephant guns or express rifles, but later came to include smaller bore high velocity (for the time) British cartridges.
Name
The term "Express" was ...
cartridges. Ammunition and components are readily available.
Handloading
Like other 'dangerous game' cartridges, ammunition is expensive compared with standard hunting cartridges, often costing up to 10 times more per shell than typical cartridges such as the
.30-06.
[An Adventure with Lead Bullets In The .470 Nitro Express]
" by Leo Grizzaffi Because of this many shooters choose to
handload the .470 NE.
Brass can be obtained from a variety of sources, and like most reloading components varies in quality. Lighter loads for practice can be created that are more enjoyable and cheaper to shoot.
In popular culture
Author and adventurer James S. Gardner provides a realistic, detailed account of the capabilities of a Nitro Express during an ill-fated safari, and again in a graphical account of a desperate firefight against men and a helicopter in his book, ''The Lion Killer''.
See also
*
List of rifle cartridges
List of rifle cartridges, by primer type, calibre and name.
File:Cartridge Sample 2.jpg, 350px, From left to right: 1 .17 HM2,2 .17 HMR, 2.5 .17 wsm, 3 .22LR, 4 .22 WMR, 5 .17/23 SMc, 6 5mm/35 SMc, 7 .22 Hornet, 8 .223 Remington, 9 .223 ...
*
11 mm caliber
This is a list of firearm cartridges which have bullets in the to caliber
In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – ...
other cartridges of similar size.
*
Nitro Express The Nitro Express (NE) series of cartridges are used in large-bore hunting rifles, also known as elephant guns or express rifles, but later came to include smaller bore high velocity (for the time) British cartridges.
Name
The term "Express" was ...
References
* Cartridge capacity:
External links
.470 Nitro Express
* https://web.archive.org/web/20180123113335/http://www.458express.com/
*
from Accurate Reloading
*
by Chuck Hawks
*
470 Nitro Express ballistic data from Norma
*
.470 Nitro Express history and loading data from Norma
{{DEFAULTSORT:470 Nitro Express
Pistol and rifle cartridges
British firearm cartridges