.470 Nitro Express

The .470 Nitro Express is a cartridge developed in England for very large or dangerous game hunting. These cartridges were very commonly used in the "express rifles", side by side rifles popular in Africa and turn of the century India. Hunters enjoyed using the .470 NE because of its effectiveness on dangerous game such as elephants.

Overview
The .470 NE was originally designed as a replacement for the .450 Nitro Express. This was because the .450 NE had been banned in several countries such as India. Because of the large bullet and heavy powder charge, this gun has very strong recoil. Rifle chambered for this cartridge tend to be heavy double-gun style, and are typically quite expensive.

The .470 NE continues to be popular and is the most popular of all the Nitro Express cartridges. Ammunition and components are readily available.

Handloading
Like other dangerous game cartridges, ammunition is expensive compared to standard hunting cartridges, often costing up to 10 times more per shell than typical cartridges such as the .30-06. Because of this many shooters choose to handload the .470 NE. Brass can be obtained from a variety of sources, and like most reloading components varies in quality. Lighter loads for practice can be created that are more enjoyable and cheaper to shoot.

Categories
Cartridge:rifles