.500 Black Powder Express

.500 Black Powder Express
Type Rifle
Place of origin  United Kingdom
Production history
Designed 1860s
Specifications
Case type Straight walled, rimmed
Bullet diameter .510 in (13.0 mm)
Neck diameter .535 in (13.6 mm)
Base diameter .580 in (14.7 mm)
Rim diameter .660 in (16.8 mm)
Rim thickness .055 in (1.4 mm)
Case length 3.01 in (76 mm)
Overall length 3.39 in (86 mm)
Primer type Kynoch # 31A
Ballistic performance
Bullet weight/type Velocity Energy
440 gr (29 g) 1,900 ft/s (580 m/s) 3,530 ft·lbf (4,790 J)
Test barrel length: 28
Source(s): Barnes & Amber[1] and Kynoch [2]

The .500 Black Powder Express was in fact a series of Black powder case of varying lengths that emerged in the 1860s.[1]

Development

The cartridge was offered in several case lengths including 1½-inch, 2-inch, 2¼-inch, 2⅝-inch, 3-inch and 3¼-inch,several were successful and endured others lasted only a short period.[1]

The 3-inch and 3¼-inch .500 BPE cartridges have survived to the current day as the .500 3-inch Nitro for Black and the .500 3¼-inch Nitro for Black, the same cartridges loaded with mild loadings of modern smokeless powder, carefully balanced through trial to replicate the ballistics of the Black powder version.[2] The two cartridges offer almost identical ballistic performance to each other, and are very similar to the .50-140 Sharps.

The 3-inch and 3¼-inch cartridges were later loaded with smokeless cordite to create the .500 Nitro Express, with the 3-inch version becoming the most popular.

Use

The .500 BPE was considered a good cartridge for medium sized non dangerous game[3] and can still be used for such.

The .500 BPE was a popular cartridge in India, considered a good general purpose rifle cartridge popular for hunting tigers,[4] yet it was not highly regarded for hunting in Africa .[1]

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Barnes & Amber.
  2. 1 2 Kynoch.
  3. ↑ McCarthy.
  4. ↑ Wieland.

Bibliography

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