476 Nitro Express
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The .476 Nitro Express, also known as the .476 Westley Richards, 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 introduced by Westley Richards around 1907.


Development

The .476 Nitro Express is one of several rounds (including the .500/465 Nitro Express, .470 Nitro Express, .475 Nitro Express, and .475 No. 2 Nitro Express) developed as a replacement for the .450 Nitro Express following 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 ...
, all with comparable performance.Barnes & Amber, p 229. Westley Richards created the .476 Nitro Express by necking down the .500 Nitro Express 3".Wieland.


Use

Available 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, it was less popular than the above-mentioned rounds. It is nearly identical in performance to a number of others in the same class. The .476 is considered adequate for all African and Indian big game, including
elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...
and
rhinoceros A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...
. Its ballistics resemble the .458 Winchester Magnum, with a larger diameter bullet; whether this is an advantage remains in dispute. Commercial rifles are no longer available in .476 Nitro Express except by special order, ammunition is no longer commercially available, and handloading data are scant, the factory load used 75 gr (4.86 g) 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 ...
under a 520 gr (33.7 g) slug.


See also

*
List of rifle cartridges List of rifle cartridges, by primer type, Caliber, calibre and name. File:Cartridge Sample 2.jpg, 350px, From left to right: 1 .17 Hornady Mach 2, 2 .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire, 3 .22 Long Rifle, 4 .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire, 5 .17/23 SMc, 6 5mm ...
*
12 mm caliber This is a list of firearm cartridges which have bullets in the to range. *''Length'' refers to the cartridge case Case or CASE may refer to: Instances * Instantiation (disambiguation), a realization of a concept, theme, or design * Specia ...
* Nitro Express


References


Footnotes


Bibliography

* Barnes, Frank C. & Amber, John T., ''Cartridges of the World'', DBI Books, Northfield, 1972, .
Kynoch Ammunition, ''Big Game Cartridges'', kynochammunition.co.uk.
2015-01-01), retrieved 30 Dec 14.
Wieland, Terry, ''Nitro Express: The Big Bang of the Big Bang''
2015-01-01), retrieved 30 Dec 14. Pistol and rifle cartridges British firearm cartridges Westley Richards cartridges {{ammo-stub