What's the difference?

500 nitro express?

jeffe

Isn't 500 express black powder?
Fred

500 black powder express versus 500 nitro express ?????

I am not familiar with a '500 express'

I do believe they are one in the same. Its just dropping the nitro or express off of the catridge. For instance the .300 WBY Magnum is fondly called the .300 by fans , the .375 H&H magnum is another. The .300 H&H is called the 30 super by some. Most people have dropped off the nitro express label since all powders are nitro based. The 470,450,450-3 1/4,404,and the 416 are called just that now days. Or it could be a top secret wild cat that is waitng for Guns and Ammo to do a photo shoot on.Sorry im Irish and its St. Pattys day, not Saint Patricks day as we used to call it. Hope this helps you out. Chalie

quote:

Originally posted by DB Bill:
What's the difference?

There are two smokeless rounds, both use the same case, as the old black powder 500! One is the 500 Nitro Express 3", which is a Cordite round loaded with a 570 gr bullet to 2150 fps, developing 5850 lbs ME! The other is the 500 nitro for black powder, useing a 400 gr bullet ae 1900 FPS, developing only 3530 lbs ME ! Though this was a smokeless round, it developes the same ballistics as the Black power version, which is about the same as the old 50-140 sharps!

What Mac said...again he leaves no room to bloviate, thats his job!

Thanks....can rely on Mac to be on top of it.

Mac

I think I disagree with you on this. The 500 Express is the 500BPE. When it was developed there was no alternate powder thus BP was assumed.

There was no reason to call anything a Black Powder Express because BP was the only option.

Mac has it right, after looking up the cartidge's history he is spot on. I must apologize, for not doing research and relying on memory only. I knew they dropped the express label i but was in the right church but the wrong pew. Sorry all i did not mean to mislead you. The 45-70 has the same history only the labels were missing. Charlie

quote:

Originally posted by Mickey1:
Mac

I think I disagree with you on this. The 500 Express is the 500BPE. When it was developed there was no alternate powder thus BP was assumed.

There was no reason to call anything a Black Powder Express because BP was the only option.

Mickey1, I think you read my post wrong, or maybe I wrote it wrong!

I stated the 500NE (NITRO EXPRESS) is the same as we have today, the 500 Exress NFB(NITRO FOR BLACK express)is a somkeless powder version of the black powder origenal,that developes the same pressures as the black powder version, so the new smokeless powder could be used in the old black powder rifles.

Some of the rifles made durring the transition period were subsiquintly re-proofed for NITRO EXPRESS rounds of today. This was viable because most makers were leery of the new smokeless, so built their rifles much heavier than needed for the NFB rounds!
WHAT CHA THANK, HOSS?

Well, I have a James Kerr SXS, marked .500 Express, ........bottom line is that's it's what we know as a 50-110 Winchester! I was confused when it was offered up, the rim was wrong, brass wrong length, etc., but a chamber cast revealed that the seller was right, and they weren't just shooting "something that fit". No, it isn't altered. ~Arctic~

you can't go wrong loading the 500 express (aka 500 BPE) loads in either rifle, but I wouldn't recommend the nitro loads in the old guns like mine. Mine is marked For the 500 136-340 3 inch cartridge (aka 136 grains of black powder with a 340 grain bullet) on the barrels and the water table is stamped "500 3 IN EX"

Mssgn,

What motivated you to pop this 6.5 yr old thread up?

A lot of that lately.

Mac is correct but I would like to add that for a period of time, in the early nitro years the rifles were marked on the barrel flats as 500 Express, 450/400 Express although they were nitro rifles. I had a 450/400 3" Jeffery that was marked 400 Express for 60 grains of cordite 400 grain bullet. It also had the word Nitro on it as a seperate proof mark.

465H&H

I have a German 500 SXS double that has been questioned on whether it was a 500BPE,500NFB or a full NE gun. The debate goes on. My gun was made in 1924 if I recall correctly and has no nitro proof marks just BP. It does have the words Nitro Proved on the side of the barrels. Two very telling things about the gun is its weight, a little over 9 lbs and it has Henry rifling. This would lead to BPE or NFB. Germans made really light guns you know. Some experts have said it was a full nitro gun and it has shot a lot of full nitro loads with no ill effects. Still so tight you have to snap it shut. Anyway without nitro proof marks there is no telling what it is when all three 500 3 inch cases are the same. I wonder how many old BPE guns got blown up by the NE rounds.

Sam

I thought the black powder cas was shorter, like 2-3/4 or whatever.