The .500 Nitro Express / 13x76mmR is a rifle cartridge designed for hunting large and dangerous game animals in Africa and India.

Cordite, which was invented in 1889, gave cartridges a greater performance envelope than black powder at the expense of pressure.

Since cordite contained guncotton (nitrocellulose) and nitroglycerine, cartridges loaded with this formulation were often prefixed by “nitro” as a means of differentiation.

After World War II as many of the colonies of the United Kingdom gained independence the popularity of the Nitro Express cartridges began to wane.

The large capacity of the .500 Express case is due to the cartridge originally being designed to use black powder as a propellant.

The .500 Nitro Express provided a leap in stopping power and performance over its black powder rivals.

The trajectory of the .500 Nitro Express is similar to that of the .30-30 Winchester cartridge with a 170 gr (11 g) Flat Nose bullet.

The .500 Nitro Express was designed as a hunting cartridge for use against large and heavy dangerous game such as Cape buffalo, rhinoceros, and African elephant.

Mated with the 570 gr (37 g) solid bullet, the .500 Nitro Express has become the quintessential elephant cartridge on the African savanna.

Unlike some of the more modern cartridges such as the .460 Weatherby, the .500 Nitro Express is not considered too powerful for use against the big cats.

The big cats do not require the more stoutly constructed bullet as they are neither heavy-bodied nor have thick skin, and are best served with a more lightly constructed bullet that is capable of expanding quickly such as the 570 gr (37 g) A-Square Lion Load or the Woodleigh 450 gr (29 g) Soft Nose.

Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that the cartridge would be a very effective stopper against a charge by one of the large bears or bison should it be carried in the field.