The worlds most powerful hunting rifle is chambered for the .700 Nitro Express cartridge, and the bolt action rifle pictured above is more than capable of handling the big  and heavy, super recoil generating round.

This awesome cartridge came about many years ago when a customer of Holland & Holland rifles in the UK wanted to buy a .600 Nitro Express double barrelled rifle but H&H had not got one in stock.  The customer apparently persuaded H&H to build a .700 Nitro Express rifle for him and several months later they had made the rifle and the customer paid for it with much satisfaction.

.700 Nitro Express rifles are not too common but they can be sought and H&H, Watson Bros and Searcy Enterprises currently offer the .700NE in a double barrelled rifle configuration.  Whilst HHW - Hambrusch Hunting Weapons of Gartengasse 4, 9170  Ferlach, Austria offer a nice bolt action repeater.

The .700NE is stated as being able to fire a 1000 grain bullet at around 2000fps, there has however been talk of increasing the bullet weight to 1200 grain and keeping the velocity at 2000 fps to give the bullet even better penetration properties over longer distances as the bullet tends to suffer from drag whilst in flight and loses momentum.

The .700NE cartridge below is approximately actual size, compared with the standard US Militaries M16 5.56mm and the civilian Winchester .308 hunting rifle cartridge at the bottom.

Big bullets might appear to be the end and all of the shooting world but when the ballistics are closely examined then a smaller bullet such as the H&H .375 Magnum  with its higher velocity and flatter trajectory is much better and more preferred.

The big .700NE rifle is also somewhat of a burden to the hunter as was recently testified when the hunter complained that the gun was too heavy when trekking long distances through the bush.  Also it must be noted that the gun is slow to shoulder and get on aim quickly due to its weight at around 16lb and along with its savage recoil the overall performance, the big .700NE is not as suitable for hunting expeditions as one would first think.

Apparently, the .700NE has been recorded as not being able to kill a charging elephant with one shot, due to its slower velocity hampering the penetration of the bullet through elephants thick boned cranium.   When comparing the .700NE to a .280 or a .270, it is quite a slow bullet as the smaller bullets can fly at a faster muzzle velocity of 2850 fps and allegedly deliver more radial and hydrostatic shock knock down properties.

I do however view such claims with a little scepticism, as Albert Einstein would simply say... E=MC² (Energy = Mass x Velocity squared) and relatively speaking, the .700NE has all three! energy and mass being its forte.  The .700 Nitro Express bullet produces nearly 9000 ft/lbs of raw and totally brutal energy, which is close to 4 tons of game smashing power.   Power that incidentally, exceeds any casual rifle round by a factor of three.  Power on this scale quantifies the .700NE to be more powerful than a "maxed  out" 50 caliber anti-tank rifle ! and the 50 cal sure packs a punch as it is.

Below is a typical load for the .700NE

As the Youtube videos below testifies though, this is still one awesome rifle, delivering massive amounts of recoil to the shooter, this illustrates that the rifle has to be held correctly and the shooter needs to be confident, experienced and not afraid to fire it.

The ammunition for this rifle is made by Kynoch of the USA, and at over $50.00 a round its a very expensive bullet to shoot.  The .700 fires 1000 grain bullets and the recoil almost lifts the guy off his feet.

The .700 Nitro Express develops an approximate average of 8900 foot pounds (12 kJ) of muzzle energy with a 1,000 gr (65 g) bullet at 2,000 ft/s (610 m/s). However hand loaders can push the cartridge to generate as much as 15,000 ft-lbf (20.3 kJ) in a modern bolt action, by using a 1,000 gr (65 g) bullet fired at 2,600 ft/s (792 m/s). However, doing so makes the action of the rifle used nearly inoperable (especially in the case of a boxlock or sidelock rifle), while at the same time rupturing the cartridge casing and the primer cap that can split in two !

The typical average muzzle velocity of a factory loaded cartridge is 2,000 ft/s (610 m/s). In the 14 pound rifle used by Accurate Reloading this would result in recoil energy of approximately 196 ft-lb (266 J). This is more than ten times the average recoil from a .308 Winchester which is a very common hunting caliber, and more than twice the recoil of a power-house .45-70 Government round.

And on those grounds I would say that with all the expense, recoil and discomfort that the .700NE  has to offer, it may not be worth the trouble when a smaller, cheaper and sometimes more potent caliber such as the .280 or H&H 375 Magnum would suffice.