.600 Nitro Express

The .600 Nitro Express (15.7×76mmR) is a large bore Nitro Express rifle cartridge developed by W. J. Jeffery & Co. for the purpose of hunting large game.

Design

The .600 Nitro Express is a slightly tapered walled, rimmed, centerfire rifle cartridge designed for use in single-shot and double rifles.

The cartridge fires a diameter, projectile with three powder loadings: the standard being of cordite at a muzzle velocity of ; a loading which generates a muzzle velocity of ; and a loading which generates a muzzle velocity of .

To handle the recoil forces generated by this cartridge, rifles chambered in it typically weigh up to .

Dimensions

History

The .600 Nitro Express was developed by London gunmakers W. J. Jeffery & Co. Sources vary about the date of its introduction, although it would seem in 1900 the first .600 Nitro Express rifle was produced by W. J. Jeffery & Co., a double barrelled hammer rifle. Jefferys produced around seventy rifles in .600 Nitro Express in four actions, double barrelled hammer break-open, single barrelled break-open, falling block and double barrelled break-open with and without ejectors.

Until the introduction of the .700 Nitro Express in 1988, the .600 Nitro Express was the most powerful commercially available hunting rifle cartridge in the world. Aside from W. J. Jeffery & Co., several gunmakers have made and continue to offer rifles chambering this .600 Nitro Express, although in 2009 it was estimated by Holland & Holland that only around one hundred .600 Nitro Express rifles had ever been produced in that time.

WWI service

In 1914 and early 1915, German snipers were engaging British Army 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 purchased sixty-two large-bore sporting rifles from British rifle makers, including four .600 Nitro Express rifles, which were issued to regiments. These large-bore rifles proved very effective against the steel plates used by the Germans. In his book, ''Sniping in France 1914-18'', Major H. Hesketh-Prichard, DSO, MC stated they "pierced them like butter".

Stuart Cloete, sniping officer for the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, stated "We used a heavy sporting rifle - a .600 Express. These had been donated to the army by big game hunters and when we hit a plate we stove it right in. But it had to be fired standing or from a kneeling position to take up the recoil. The first man who fired it from the prone position had his collar bone broken."

Use

The .600 Nitro Express, along with the .577 Nitro Express, was a specialist backup weapon for professional elephant hunters. Too heavy to be carried all day and used effectively, it was usually carried by a gun bearer. It was used when in thick cover and when an effective shot at the heart and lungs was not possible.

In his ''African Rifles and Cartridges'', John "Pondoro" Taylor says the shock of a head shot from a .600 Nitro Express bullet is enough to knock out an elephant for up to half an hour.

Prominent users

In the course of his career, Taylor owned and used two .600 Nitro Express double rifles, the first was regulated for loadings, the second was a W. J. Jeffery & Co. double rifle that weighed with barrels and was regulated for 100 gr loadings. He states he was very fond of his Jeffery .600 which he used as a second backup rifle to a .400 Jeffery Nitro Express, and with it he killed between 60 and 70 elephants.

Bror von Blixen-Finecke, Karl Larsen and Major Percy Powell-Cotton all used W. J. Jeffery & Co. .600 Nitro Express rifles extensively.

Parent case

In 1929 Holland & Holland produced the .600/577 Rewa by necking down the .600 Nitro Express to accept a bullet.

The .50 British ammunition used in the Vickers .50 machine gun was initially a necked-down .600 NE.

Regulation

In the United States a .600 Nitro Express is classified as a destructive device by the National Firearms Act (NFA), which classifies any firearm with a rifled barrel that has a bore diameter larger than 0.50 inches (12.7 mm) as a destructive device; along with bombs, missiles, rockets and explosives in general. Machine guns, short-barreled rifles, short-barrel shotguns and suppressors are also considered to be NFA firearms and are strictly regulated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). All NFA firearms are required to be registered with the ATF and registered with the owner's local law enforcement agency, which is the local agency that issues firearm and conceal carry permits for their jurisdiction and is typically either the county sheriff or state police. In order to legally purchase a .600 Nitro Express, if one was being purchased internationally (most makers of the .600 Nitro are international like H&H), an individual would need to fill out and submit the ATF Form 6: Application and Permit for Importation of Firearms, Ammunition and Implements of War to import the rifle into the United States, the form would then be submitted by a firearms dealer with a Type 11: Importer of Destructive Devices, Ammunition for Destructive Devices or Armor Piercing Ammunition Federal Firearms License (FFL). Once the rifle has been imported the purchaser would have to go through the steps involved with registering a NFA firearm, which involves filling out the ATF Form 4: Application for Tax Paid Transfer and Registration of a Firearm, the form must include the firearm's make, model, caliber, length, serial number, the dealer's FFL license number, & the purchaser's name, address, Social Security number, a passport style photograph and a copy of the purchaser's fingerprints. The form is then submitted to the ATF, along with $200 for the NFA Tax Stamp, this stamp and the form it is stamped on will act as the "permit" to legally own the rifle, once the ATF receives the form they conduct a thorough background check on the buyer, if the ATF approves the application a copy is kept by the ATF, two are sent to the FFL dealer selling the gun with one copy being for the buyer, and a copy is sent to the buyer's chief local law enforcement officer. A mandatory seven-day waiting period begins after the LEO notification, in order to give them time to inform the ATF if the buyer has violated any state laws that would prohibit them from legally possessing a firearm in their state of residence. Once the seven days have passed the purchaser fills out one last form, the ATF Form 4473: Firearms Transaction Record, which officially transfers control of the firearm from the dealer to the buyer.

In popular culture

In the 1997 film '' The Lost World: Jurassic Park'' the character Roland Tembo carries a Searcy Double Barrel Rifle chambered in .600 Nitro Express.

See also

* 13 mm caliber and over
* List of rimmed cartridges
* List of rifle cartridges
* Pfeifer Zeliska .600 Nitro Express revolver

Explanatory notes

References

External links

".600 Nitro Express"
()—Ammo-One; retrieved 14 September 2017.

".600 Nitro Express"
€”Cartridgecollector, retrieved 14 September 2017.

{{DEFAULTSORT:600
British firearm cartridges
Military cartridges
Pistol and rifle cartridges
Rimmed cartridges
W. J. Jeffery & Co. cartridges