The .475 No 2 Nitro Express is a British

rifle A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...

cartridge developed by

Eley Brothers Eley Limited is a British manufacturer of firearms cartridges. Historically the company has produced a broad variety of ammunition, but today specialises in .22 Long Rifle cartridges for competitive target shooting. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, ...

in the early 20th century.

Design

The .475 No 2 Nitro Express is a

rimmed A rim is an external flange that is machined, cast, molded, stamped, or pressed around the bottom of a firearms cartridge. Thus, rimmed cartridges are sometimes called "flanged" cartridges. Almost all cartridges feature an extractor or headspaci ...

bottle necked cartridge designed for use in

single-shot In firearm designs, the term single-shot refers to guns that can hold only a single round of ammunition inside and thus must be reloaded manually after every shot. Compared to multi-shot repeating firearms ("repeaters"), single-shot designs have ...

and

double rifle The double rifle, also known as a double-barreled rifle, is a rifle with two barrels mounted parallel to each other that can be fired simultaneously or sequentially in quick succession. Synonymous with big game hunting found primarily in Africa an ...

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 Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in Britain since 1889 to replace black powder as a military firearm propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burni ...

.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, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and the

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

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 A sniper is a military or paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with telescopic si ...

were engaging

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

positions with impunity from behind steel plates that were impervious to .303 British ball ammunition. In an attempt to counter this threat, the British

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

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. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and

, its power is very similar to the .450 Nitro Express, with a larger diameter bullet; whether this is an advantage remains in dispute. In his ''African Rifles and Cartridges'',

John "Pondoro" Taylor John Howard "Pondoro" Taylor (1904–1969) was a big-game hunter and ivory poacher of Irish descent. Born in Dublin as the son of a surgeon he developed an urge to go to Africa and become a professional hunter. Taylor mainly hunted for his own ac ...

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 British firearm cartridges Eley Brothers cartridges Military cartridges Pistol and rifle cartridges W. J. Jeffery & Co. cartridges