The .500 No. 2 Express is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 centerfire fire

Centerfire ammunition

A centerfire cartridge is a cartridge with a primer located in the center of the cartridge case head. Unlike rimfire cartridges, the primer is a separate and replaceable component....

 rifle

Rifle

A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...

 cartridge

Cartridge (firearms)

A cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head or at its rim . Electrically...

.

Designed as a black powder round in 1882 or 1883, it resembles the .577/.500 Magnum Nitro Express

.577/.500 Magnum Nitro Express

The .577/.500 Magnum Nitro Express is a British centerfire fire rifle cartridge.Designed as a black powder round in the mid-1880s, it was based on the .577 Nitro Express, necked down to .500" , and was later offered in a smokeless version. While it resembles the .500 No...

, but uses a shorter case; the two are not interchangeable. It was offered in single or double

Combination gun

A combination gun is a break-action hunting firearm that comprises at least two barrels, a rifle barrel and a shotgun barrel, often but not always in an over and under configuration; side-by-side variations are known as cape guns. A ' refers to a combination gun that has three barrels...

 rifles, as well as a variety of Martini-based lever guns.

In power, the .500 No. 2 is comparable to the contemporary .577/.500 Magnum and .50-110 Winchester

.50-110 Winchester

The .50-110 Winchester is an obsolete American black powder centerfire rifle cartridge....

, or the modern .30-'06

.30-06 Springfield

The .30-06 Springfield cartridge or 7.62×63mm in metric notation, was introduced to the United States Army in 1906 and standardized, and was in use until the 1960s and early 1970s. It replaced the .30-03, 6 mm Lee Navy, and .30 US Army...

. It is sufficient for elk

Elk

The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...

, deer

Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...

, moose

Moose

The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...

, or bear

Bear

Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...

 at medium range or in woods and thin-skinned dangerous game, including lion

Lion

The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...

s and tiger

Tiger

The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...

s, but not thick-skinned animals such as elephant

Elephant

Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...

. It was popular in India with contemporary shooters, and tended to be offered in heavy rifles.

The bullet is virtually the same as the .50 Sharps, and Lyman molds can be used to produce cast examples for reloading

Handloading

Handloading or reloading is the process of loading firearm cartridges or shotgun shells by assembling the individual components , rather than purchasing completely assembled, factory-loaded cartridges...

. Factory loads used about between 130-160 gr (8.4-10.4 g) of Fg.

Moderately popular in its day, the round has long since ceased to be offered commercially. Black powder rifles in this caliber should use somewhat light smokeless loads.

See also

• List of cartridges by caliber
• List of rifle cartridges
• List of centerfire cartridges
• 12mm caliber

Sources

• Barnes, Frank C., ed. by John T. Amber. ".577/500 Magnum Nitro Express", in Cartridges of the World, pp. 230 & 236. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. ISBN 0-695-80326-3.
• ______ and _____. ".30-06 Springfield", in Cartridges of the World, p. 39. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. ISBN 0-695-80326-3.
• ______ and _____. ".500 No. 2 Express (.577/.500)", in Cartridges of the World, p. 230. Northfield, IL: DBI Books, 1972. ISBN 0-695-80326-3.