This Is AWESOME…See What A Double Barrel Elephant Rifle (Firing 500 Nitro Express Ammo) Does To Some Ballistic Gel

Since most of the country is still on lock-down and alot of you are stuck at home, I thought I’d throw something really cool into the mix today, with a great video from our buddies over at Kentucky Ballistics. In today’s video, they blast some ballistic gel with 500 Nitro Express ammunition, firing it out of a double barrel elephant rifle, there’s no real purpose for this, except to see just what effect the ammo will have on the blocks of gel (apparently, these good ol’ boys have alot of free time on their hands).

Here’s a little bit of info on the ammo they’re using:

“The .500 Nitro Express is a rifle cartridge designed for hunting large and dangerous game animals in Africa and India. This cartridge was primarily designed for use in double rifles though various single shots were produced on the Farquarson action and at least one major company (Heym) produced it in bolt-action configuration. It was commonly available in two lengths: a 3.00 in (76 mm) and a 3.25 in (83 mm) version.”

.500 Nitro Express round
Type	Rifle
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Production history
Designer	Westley Richards
Designed	1890
Specifications
Parent case	.500 Black Powder Express
Bullet diameter	.510 in (13.0 mm)
Neck diameter	.532 in (13.5 mm)
Base diameter	.574 in (14.6 mm)
Rim diameter	.655 in (16.6 mm)
Rim thickness	.040 in (1.0 mm)
Case length	3.00 in (76 mm)
Overall length	3.75 in (95 mm)
Case capacity	138.0 gr H2O (8.94 cm3)
Rifling twist	1-15 in (381 mm)
Primer type	Boxer
Maximum pressure	40,611 psi (280.00 MPa)
Ballistic performance
Bullet mass/type Velocity Energy 570 gr (37 g) (factory load, cordite) 2,150 ft/s (660 m/s) 5,850 ft⋅lbf (7,930 J) 440 gr (29 g) 1,560 ft/s (480 m/s) 2,375 ft⋅lbf (3,220 J) 570 gr (37 g) (smokeless, Kynoch) 2,150 ft/s (660 m/s) 5,860 ft⋅lbf (7,950 J)
Source(s): Barnes & Amber 1972

Okay, now that you’re up to speed on the technicalities, enjoy the video.