.450 Nitro Express

.450 Nitro Express is a name given to several cartridges designed for the purpose of hunting large game such as elephant, not just one specific cartridge. All of these cartridges use a .458" bullet at roughly the same ballistics. They are to be used with almost no exception in the "express rifles", side by side shotgun-like firearms, ever popular in Africa and turn of the century India, associated of course with safari's and shikari's.

.450 Nitro Express 3.25"

The first Nitro Express was developed around 1895 by J. Rigby. This cartridge was based on the then popular .450 Black Powder Express case with 70 grains of Cordite and a 480 grain jacketed bullet. Muzzle velocity is listed at 2,150 feet per second with 4,909 ft/lb of muzzle energy. This straight case has a length of 3.25" long with a .670" rim.

Early cartridges used the black powder case that was designed for around 11 tons of pressure per square inch and not the 17 tons of pressure that the Cordite load generated. Case extraction was difficult, especially in warmer climates such as Africa and India where the cartridge was primarily used. To remedy this problem, a reinforced case was produced and Kynoch made a reduced load to lower the case pressure.

.450 Nitro Express #2 3.50"

The .450 Nitro Express #2 was developed by Eley Brothers in 1903. This cartridge used several loadings between 70 grains and 80 grains of Cordite with a 480 grain bullet. The lighter loadings were typically used by Jeffery rifles for regulation.