.577 Nitro Express Ammo

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 3/12/2019 | J Dickson

[w1n1]

The King of the Big Game Cartridges
It packs more than a little wallop, but when the critter is on the really large size, the .577 3-inch Nitro Express is your friend. The .577 3-inch Nitro Express is one of three cartridges that I have never been able to find an instance where a properly placed bullet failed to stop any charging animal with one shot. The other two are the 8-gauge and the 4-gauge rifles of the Victorian hunters.
These last two weigh considerably more than a .577, and the 8-gauge has twice the recoil of a .577, while the 4-gauge has three times the recoil of a .577. The enormous size and weight of 8-gauge and 4-gauge cartridges make it difficult to carry many rounds on your person and you really need an ammo bearer. Loaded 4-gauge shells weigh about a pound apiece.

At this point someone always says that 100 grains in the brain will kill anything with one shot. Wrong. In 1938 near Mpika, South Africa, the famous elephant hunter Sir Charles Ross put three perfectly placed brain shots with a .450 nitro double in an elephant, but the elephant still managed to reach him and kill him before it died.
This was his 350th elephant killed. The elephant’s skull lay on his grave for many years and every passing professional hunter had to examine it for himself and probe the bullet channels. They all agreed the shots were perfectly placed. It’s these weird exceptions to the rules and conventional wisdom that dictate that bigger is better. The larger and heavier .577 slug would have done more damage plowing through the brain and saved the hunter. The .577 has even been known to drive brain matter out an elephant’s ear holes with a brain shot. If Ross had only used a .577 instead of a .450, he would not have been killed. Read the rest of this 577 Nitro Express Ammo.

[dp0622]

Nitro Express.

Good name for a drink :)

[treetopsandroofs]

“In 1938 near Mpika, South Africa, the famous elephant hunter Sir Charles Ross put three perfectly placed brain shots with a .450 nitro double in an elephant, but the elephant still managed to reach him and kill him before it died.”

I have found no evidence to support this story.

This Charles Ross of the Ross Rifle died in 1942, with no mention of death by pachyderm:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Charles_Ross,_9th_Baronet

Here’s a story about a George W. Hurst, from whom some land passed to Ross after Hurst was killed by an elephant:

https://books.google.com/books?id=Ja3cAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA123&lpg=PA123&dq=sir+charles+ross+elephant&source=bl&ots=e4tkanShIo&sig=ACfU3U1UdmKg5OMkDqeRekw3ZiISuz0mfQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjso6iSyfzgAhWumOAKHckGAK0Q6AEwDHoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=sir%20charles%20ross%20elephant&f=false

[Dusty Road]

460 Weatherby has about 1000 more ft-lbs energy.

[beebuster2000]

nice sleuth work. interesting article on ross.

had to look up “baronet”. it’s complicated. but it’s not just a small baron....

[Delta 21]

The cannon I shot was attached to trunnions and a 60 ton armored vehicle.

FWIW - .50cal BMG has over twice that.

[yarddog]

The greatest elephant hunter of all time, Walter Dalrymple Maitland Bell, used the 6.5mm and 7mm Mauser. He said the long for caliber, parallel sided round nosed fmj bullets were the best for penetration.

He thought penetration was the most important attribute a bullet could have. I am not sure if it was the 6.5mm or the 7mm which he liked best.

He lived enough adventures for 10 men in his life.

[Dusty Road]

13-B here. 175’s, 8 inch, 155’s and the little 105. From FB Bastogne we could rock the A Shau.

[Bull Snipe]

aka Karamojo Bell

[Jack Black]

There .577 Tyranasaur is my favorite fantasy cartridge.

[SkyDancer]

Or a rock band.

[oldasrocks]

I have a .577 round in my drawer given to me by a friend who had a weapon that shoots it. I turned down an offer to fire it valuing my shoulders HA>

[SkyDancer]

I fired my dad’s .300winmag once. Just once, prone, one round. Shoulder hurt for a week with a bruise.

[Farmer Dean]

The 175 was a beautiful weapon,too bad we retired it.

[BikerTrash]

bumpmark

[Rappini]

That puppy is going to leave a mark.

[allwrong57]

The 7x57 Mauser was his favorite, one of my favorites also. One of the biggest issues on elephants is getting the bullet to penetrate straight, if it doesn’t, you can hit one perfect, the bullet veers off and doesn’t hit the brain at all, just skull. You usually want a little faster twist in the rifling than normal to make sure it’s stabilized. If the bullet yaws just a bit, it’ll cut the penetration way down, as well as cause it to go off track. If the bullet bends on impact, you have a similar problem. I don’t know about the story, but you can hit them perfect and not kill them, although it isn’t really the size of the gun, it’s penetrating straight and deep that kills old jumbo.

[CommerceComet]

I’ll grant that the .577 would have more margin of error than almost any hunting rifle but I would suggest that three “perfectly-placed” shots from a .450 failing to kill was not the gun’s fault. More likely it was an ammunition failure. Probably the gunpowder was contaminated and did not ignite with enough force to propel the bullet with its proper velocity.