.600 Nitro Express

Design

The .600 Nitro Express is a slightly tapered walled, rimmed, centerfire rifle cartridge designed for use in single-shot and double rifles.

The cartridge fires a .620 in diameter, 900 gr projectile with three powder loadings: the standard being 100 gr of cordite at a muzzle velocity of 1850 ft/s; a 110 gr loading which generates a muzzle velocity of 1950 ft/s; and a 120 gr loading which generates a muzzle velocity of 2050 ft/s.

To handle the recoil forces generated by this cartridge, rifles chambered in it typically weigh up to 16 lb.

Dimensions

History

The .600 Nitro Express was developed by London gunmakers W. J. Jeffery & Co. Sources vary about the date of its introduction, although it would seem in 1900 the first .600 Nitro Express rifle was produced by W. J. Jeffery & Co., a 15 lb double barrelled hammer rifle. Jefferys produced around seventy rifles in .600 Nitro Express in four actions, double barrelled hammer break-open, single barrelled break-open, falling block and double barrelled break-open with and without ejectors.

Until the introduction of the .700 Nitro Express in 1988, the .600 Nitro Express was the most powerful commercially available hunting rifle cartridge in the world. Aside from W. J. Jeffery & Co., several gunmakers have made and continue to offer rifles chambering this .600 Nitro Express, although in 2009 it was estimated by Holland & Holland that only around one hundred .600 Nitro Express rifles had ever been produced in that time.

WWI service

In 1914 and early 1915, German snipers were engaging British Army positions with impunity from behind steel plates that were impervious to .303 British ball ammunition. In an attempt to counter this threat, the British War Office purchased sixty-two large-bore sporting rifles from British rifle makers, including four .600 Nitro Express rifles, which were issued to regiments. These large-bore rifles proved very effective against the steel plates used by the Germans. In his book, Sniping in France 1914-18, Major H. Hesketh-Prichard, DSO, MC stated they "pierced them like butter".

Stuart Cloete, sniping officer for the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, stated "We used a heavy sporting rifle - a .600 Express. These had been donated to the army by big game hunters and when we hit a plate we stove it right in. But it had to be fired standing or from a kneeling position to take up the recoil. The first man who fired it from the prone position had his collar bone broken."

Use

The .600 Nitro Express, along with the .577 Nitro Express, was a specialist backup weapon for professional elephant hunters. Too heavy to be carried all day and used effectively, it was usually carried by a gun bearer. It was used when in thick cover and when an effective shot at the heart and lungs was not possible.

In his African Rifles and Cartridges, John "Pondoro" Taylor says the shock of a head shot from a .600 Nitro Express bullet is enough to knock out an elephant for up to half an hour.

Prominent users

In the course of his career, Taylor owned and used two .600 Nitro Express double rifles, the first was regulated for 110 gr loadings, the second was a W. J. Jeffery & Co. double rifle that weighed 16 lb with 24 in barrels and was regulated for 100 gr loadings. He states he was very fond of his Jeffery .600 which he used as a second backup rifle to a .400 Jeffery Nitro Express, and with it he killed between 60 and 70 elephants.

Bror von Blixen-Finecke, Karl Larsen and Major Percy Powell-Cotton all used W. J. Jeffery & Co. .600 Nitro Express rifles extensively.

Parent case

In 1929 Holland & Holland produced the .600/577 Rewa by necking down the .600 Nitro Express to accept a .582 in bullet.

The .50 British ammunition used in the Vickers .50 machine gun was initially a necked-down .600 NE.

Regulation

In the United States, a rifle with the bore size of a .600 Nitro Express would normally be classified as a destructive device by the National Firearms Act (NFA), which classifies any firearm with a rifled barrel that has a bore diameter larger than 0.50 inches (12.7 mm) as a destructive device, along with bombs, grenades/grenade launchers, rockets and explosive projectiles. Machine guns, short-barreled rifles, short-barrel shotguns and suppressors are also regulated by the NFA and Title II of the Gun Control Act of 1968, and are strictly regulated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), requiring federal registration and an enhanced background check. However, the ATF grants exemptions from NFA regulation and registration requirements for large bore rifles if the ATF determines the firearm has a legitimate sporting use and is not likely to be used as a weapon, and therefore is not considered to be a destructive device. Firearms that would otherwise be destructive devices can also potentially be granted NFA exemptions for being an antique if they are more than 50 years old, or if they meet the definition of being a curio or relic (C&R), which is defined as a firearm of special interest to collectors by reason of some quality other than is associated with firearms intended for sporting use or as offensive or defensive weapons, including firearms that are novel, rare, bizarre, or because they are associated with some historical figure, period, or event. Since it was designed for use as a sporting rifle to hunt dangerous game, the .600 Nitro Express qualifies for the sporting clause exception and is not required to be registered as a destructive device under the NFA, it is also classified as a curios or relic by the ATF, as is the .700 Nitro Express. As such it is regulated as a regular Title I firearm under the GCA, requiring a standard background check and completion of a Firearms Transaction Record Form 4473, and as a curios or relic it may also be transferred without a background check to someone with a Type 03 Collector of Curios and Relics Federal Firearms Licence.

In popular culture

In the 1997 film The Lost World: Jurassic Park the character Roland Tembo carries a Searcy Double Barrel Rifle chambered in .600 Nitro Express.

Explanatory notes

References

References

1. Kynoch and C.I.P Data[https://web.archive.org/web/20171205154758/http://www.cip-bobp.org/homologation/uploads/tdcc/tab-ii/tabiical-en-page130.pdf C.I.P. 600 N.E. (online-PDF 97 KB))]
2. ".5 inch Vickers".
3. "Types of NFA firearms". Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives.
4. (14 March 2025). "National Firearms Act". [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives]].
5. (26 April 2018). "Firearms - Guides - Importation & Verification of Firearms - National Firearms Act Definitions - Destructive Device". [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives]].
6. (17 July 2025). "Curios & Relics". [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives]].
7. (December 2007). "ATF - Firearms Curios or Relics List". [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives]].
8. (27 June 2023). "Federal Firearms Licenses". [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives]].
9. "B. Searcy & Co.". BLS Ventures.
10. Edgar N. Barclay, ''Big Game Shooting Records: Together with Biographical Notes and Anecdotes on the Most Prominent Big Game Hunters of Ancient and Modern Times'', H. F. & G. Witherby, London, 1932.
11. Frank C. Barnes, ''Cartridges of the World'', 13th ed., Gun Digest Books, Iola, 2012, {{ISBN. 9781440230592.
12. MAJ H. Hesketh-Prichard, DSO, MC, ''Sniping in France 1914-18: With Notes on the Scientific Training of Scouts, Observers and Snipers'', Helion & Company, Solihull, 2013, {{ISBN. 1-874622-47-7.
13. [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30027783 Imperial War Museums, ".600 3 inch Nitro Express & Kynoch"], Imperial War Museum, retrieved 14 September 2017.
14. [http://www.kynochammunition.co.uk/cartridge%20collection.html Kynoch Ammunition, "Big Game Cartridges", ''www.kynochammunition.co.uk''], [https://web.archive.org/web/20150527033406/http://www.kynochammunition.co.uk/cartridge%20collection.html archived] 18 January 2017.
15. [http://www.municion.org/577/Rewa.htm The Spanish Association of Cartridge Collectors, ".577 Rewa", ''municion.org''], retrieved 15 July 2018.
16. [http://ezine.nitroexpress.info/NickuduFiles/ASG-PDF/NitroRifles.pdf Paul Roberts, "Nitro big game rifles", ''ezine.nitroexpress.info''], [https://web.archive.org/web/20141224070940/http://ezine.nitroexpress.info/NickuduFiles/ASG-PDF/PULP1069.pdf archived] 1 January 2015.
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19. John Taylor, ''African rifles and cartridges'', Sportsman's Vintage Press, 2013, {{ISBN. 978-1-940001-01-2.
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