.450/400 Jeffery Nitro Express bullet and cartridge
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.
The term "Express" was coined by James Purdey in 1856, derived from the express train, to publicise the bullet velocity of his double rifles and became common parlance for many rifle cartridges. The addition of the word "Nitro" stemmed from the propellant used in these cartridges, cordite, which is composed of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine.
Early extraction problems with the .450 NE was the catalyst for Holland & Holland to develop the .500/450 Nitro Express and Eley Brothers the .450 No 2 Nitro Express both with very similar ballistics and performance to the original.[1] Rigby soon solved the problems with the .450 NE, which quickly became the standard big-game cartridge used throughout Britain's African colonies and India.[1]
Whilst more powerful, the .500, .577 and .600 NE rifles were all too heavy for everyday use and remained specialist tools for the professional hunter, the .450s remained the most popular, but political events were to soon change this.
Rise of the Mauser
In 1899 Rigby approached the engineers at Mauser to make a special Gewehr 98bolt action to handle their .400/350 Nitro Express. The introduction of this rifle in 1900 was the birth of the magnum length bolt action, paving the way for such cartridges as the .375 H&H and .416 Rigby[3]
The term Nitro Express came to be applied to many of these rimless cartridges also.
In the late 1890s, the British Empire was facing a series of internal insurrections in India and the Sudan, and the .450 calibre .577/450 Martini–Henry rifle was the most widely distributed firearm in the hands of the anti-British forces. In 1907 the British Army banned all .450 calibre (as well as .303 and .577, two other military calibres) sporting rifles and ammunition from importation into India and East Africa, the two major destinations for .450 NE rifles and ammunition. Whilst the .450 cartridges could not be loaded into a Martini–Henry rifle, it was feared the bullets could be pulled and used to reload expended .577/.450 cartridges.[1]
