I am looking for info on this..

Why has it, and does it, seem to be in the back seat when compared to other DB NE rounds. It seems it has always been and still is less popular than most NE cartridges in this class (I realise that when discussing these NE cartridges that the term 'popular' is very relative!)

In the .400+ category, the .470 obviousy holds pole positon and seems to have had that honor for many decades? From readings, availability of DB's, bullets, cases, etc etc the .450's, the .450/400 and the .500 all seem to come in just behind it in 'second position? One even reads far more about modern doubles being used in .475 No.2 and .500/.465 while the .476WR hardly gets a mention. I know Elmer Kiether had a pair and Kenyan PH Chris Aschans used one...but who else?

Why? Was it a proprietory round (like the .425WR) that only came in WR doubles, hence limiting its availability?

If one owned a .476WR now do you think you could use (cheaper, more availble) .470 NE bullets for practice (.476" vs. .474") or would that 0.002" make a huge difference in barrel seal and accuracy).

It seems cases would be easy to form from existing .500NE brass for either hobby loder or commercial supplier like Romey?

So, whats the history and why the demise when compared to the others in its class, even the .475No.2 seems to have outstripped it?

The .476 was never common for reasons probably known only by Westley Richards. It is as good as, and arguably better than, the other cartridges in the .450/.470 group.

Yes, it was a proprietary cartridge and I don't think it was released to the trade, at least not early on. Even Westley produced rifles for it only in modest numbers. I've never seen a .476 from a British maker other than Westley. I remember a pre-war German rifle though. The strange thing is that Westley never really promoted it that much. When they built rifles in the .450/.470 group, they built far more .450s, .500/.465s and .470s than they did .476s.

During the '50s, '60s, and '70s, many of the British makers survived not my making guns, but by buying up, refurbishing, and reselling guns, especially those from India. In the heyday, far more of the double rifles went to India than Africa. As these rifles from the great Indian collections flowed back through England, those doubles chambered for cartridges that Kynoch no longer loaded (.476 was dropped in 1951) were essentially worthless. These rifles were re-chambered, re-bored, re-barreled, etc., to other calibers. The .476 doubles that still had good bores were simply re-chambered and re-proved to .470. I would guess that I've seen as many original .476 rifles that had been rechambered to .470 as those that remained in the original caliber. That should answer your question about the .474" bullets.

The popularity of the .470 today is a late post-war development, largely of happenstance. It wasn't the most popular in the pre-war years.

Romey doesn't make brass, he's only a loader. His brass is made by Horneber.
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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

quote:

The .476 doubles that still had good bores were simply re-chambered and re-proved to .470. I would guess that I've seen as many original .476 rifles that had been rechambered to .470 as those that remained in the original caliber. That should answer your question about the .474" bullets.

Interesting, thanks a ton for that info. I thought perhaps it was a proprietary round, hence lack of occurence, but as you said, even WR didn't push it much?

Wells thats good about the bullets, means owners of a .476 could use .474" if need be...

It was also favored by the late, great Elmer Keith.

Yes, Elmer took a .476 Westley Richards to Africa on his 1957 trip. He commented that the gun was virtually unused when he got it, and the rifling so deep and sharp that the engraved rifling on the bullet caused the jackets to split along the lands.

I have no idea why Westley didn't push their proprietary .476 more than they did, like Holland did their .465, but that's why it didn't survive during the post war era. Production of double rifles in Britain almost stopped after WWII, and there weren't enough rifles produced pre-war in that caliber to create enough demand to justify continued production of the ammunition, so Kynoch dropped it. It's a fine cartridge, but it was just too rare.
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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."