The .577 Nitro Express is a large-bore centerfire rifle cartridge designed for the purpose of hunting large game such as elephant. This cartridge is used almost exclusively in single-shot and double express rifles for hunting in the Tropics or hot climates in general and is a cartridge associated with the golden age of African safaris and Indian shikars. Design The .577 Nitro Express is a straight rimmed calibre cartridge designed for use in single-shot and double rifles. It has been made in three case lengths based on their respective black-powder .577 Black Powder Express cartridges. 2-inch The .577 Nitro Express is a conversion of the .577 Black Powder Express -inch, it fires a projectile at over . Never as popular as the 3-inch version, today it is only available by special order. 3-inch The .577 Nitro Express is a conversion of the .577 Black Powder Express 3-inch, it fires a projectile at over . This cartridge was to become the most popular of the three and a standard round for African elephant hunters in the early 20th century. 3-inch The .577 Nitro Express is a conversion of the .577 Black Powder Express 3-inch, again it was never as popular as the 3-inch version. History Following the success of the development in 1898 of the revolutionary .450 Nitro Express by John Rigby & Company, achieved by loading the old .450 Black Powder Express with cordite, similar conversions were made to other blackpowder Express cartridges, including the .577 Black Powder Express in its various case lengths. Once a standard rifle calibre, the rise of Mauser's Gewehr 98 bolt-action rifles offered cheaper alternatives to the expensive double rifles required by the Nitro Express cartridges. Several manufacturers still make rifles chambered in .577 Nitro Express, including Butch Searcy & Co., Hambrusch Hunting Weapons, Hartmann & Weiss, Heym, Holland & Holland, James Purdey and Sons and Westley Richards. WWI service In 1914 and early 1915, German snipers were engaging British Army positions with impunity from behind steel plates that were impervious to .303 British ball ammunition. In an attempt to counter this threat, the British War Office purchased fifty-two large-bore sporting rifles from British rifle makers which were issued to regiments, including two .577 Nitro Express rifles. These large-bore rifles proved very effective against the steel plates used by the Germans, in his book Sniping in France 1914-18 Major H. Hesketh-Prichard, DSO, MC stated that