.700 Nitro Express
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The .700 Nitro Express is a rifle cartridge made by Holland & Holland. It was developed for a few very wealthy individuals who wanted a large cartridge adapted for double-barreled rifles for hunting dangerous game. It more or less parallels the .600 Nitro Express, but is somewhat more powerful. The round was developed because Holland & Holland officially stopped production of the .600 Nitro Express guns, however a limited demand for large bore rifles continued, so Holland & Holland created the .700. Double rifles are extremely expensive (many will sell for $60,000 or more in 2005 American currency) and have generally been replaced by rounds like the .458 Winchester. Single factory loaded .700 Nitro cartridges typically are available at $100 each, although they have been sold on the internet for $65.
While the .700 Nitro Express is sometimes touted as the "most powerful commercial round in the world", especially by the manufacturer, this is not exactly true. The .700 Nitro Express is only available on a custom order basis, and has never seen regular production, while the .585 Nyati which is built under similar circumstances is significantly more powerful. Currently the most powerful rifle cartridge available on a commercial basis is the .50 BMG. While the most powerful commercial cartridge meant to be fired from the shoulder remains the .460 Weatherby Magnum. Still, the .700 Nitro Express is a powerful round, known worldwide by serious game hunters. To give the size of this cartridge scale, from nose to primer a .700 Nitro Express round is about the same length as a Pez Dispenser.
Power
The .700 Nitro Express develops an average of 11,500 foot pounds of muzzle energy. However handloaders can push the cartridge to generate at much as 15,000 foot pounds. However doing so makes the action of the rifle firing the cartridge nearly inoperable. (Especially in the case of a bolt action rifle) While at the same time rupturing the casing, and primer of the cartridge. The average muzzle velocity of the cartridge is 2,000 feet per second.Comprable Calibers
Some shoulder-fired calibers comprable to the .700 Nitro Express in terms of power include the following:
- .600 Nitro Express
- .585 Nyati
- .577 Tyrannosaur
- .475 A&M Magnum
- .460 Weatherby Magnum
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