.700 Nitro Express

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The .700 Nitro Express is a big game rifle cartridge made by Holland & Holland, London, England. It was developed in the 1980s for H&H customers who wanted a large cartridge adapted for double-barreled rifles for hunting dangerous game. In many respects it parallels the .600 Nitro Express, but is somewhat more powerful, and fires a heavier bullet. The round was developed because Holland & Holland had officially announced that it had ceased production of all its .600 Nitro Express guns. But a limited and significant demand for large bore rifles continued, so Holland & Holland created the .700 to cater for that market. Double rifles are extremely expensive (many will sell for US$60,000 or much more in 2005 American currency) and have generally been replaced by magazine-rifle rounds like the .458 Winchester. Single factory loaded .700 Nitro cartridges are available, typically at $100 each, although they have been sold on the internet for as little as $65. This round, like many other big bore cartridges, can be hand reloaded, drastically reducing the cost - although few users are likely to expend much of this massively-recoiling ammunition. Factory ammunition is available from A-Square and Kynoch, bullets from Woodleigh or A-Square, cases from A-Square, and reloading dies from CH Tool & Die.

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 double rifle 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. Still, the .700 Nitro Express is a very powerful round, and is known worldwide by its reputation among serious big-game hunters.

[edit] Ballistics

The .700 Nitro Express develops an approximate average of 8,900 foot pounds of muzzle energy with a 1000 grain bullet at 2000 f/s. However handloaders can push the cartridge to generate as much as 15,000 foot pounds in a modern bolt action, by using a 1000 grain bullet fired at 2600 f/s. However, doing so makes the action of the rifle used nearly inoperable (especially in the case of a boxlock or sidelock rifle), while at the same time rupturing the cartridge casing and the primer cap. The typical average muzzle velocity of a factory-loaded cartridge is 2,000 feet per second.