.400 Purdey

Centerfire rifle cartridge November 2017 November 2017 .400 Purdey United Kingdom Rifle James Purdey & Sons 1905 1905–present Rimmed, straight .405 .427 .469 .516 3 3.6 230 2050 2150 26.5 Barnes & Kynoch. The .400 Purdey, also known as the .400 3-inch Straight and .400 Purdey Light Express 3-inch, is an obsolete rifle cartridge developed by James Purdey & Sons. Design The .400 Purdey is a rimmed straight walled centerfire rifle cartridge intended for use in single shot and double rifles. It fires a bullet of .405 in mm diameter weighing 230 gr g , driven by 47 gr g of cordite, at a listed speed of 2050 ft/s m/s . History In Britain, from the inception of breech-loading rifles there were a large number of straight black powder .40 in mm on paper and coiled brass cartridges developed of varying case lengths from 2 to 31 4 inches. Around 1905, Purdey loaded the 3 inch brass cartridge with a light cordite load to create this cartridge. Unusually for a proprietary cartridge, the .400 Purdey was introduced as a "Nitro for Black" loading, typically a mild loading of smokeless powder for a Black Powder Express cartridge, carefully balanced through trial to replicate the ballistics of the black powder version. In 1899 John Rigby & Company shortened the black powder predecessor of the .400 Purdey to 2.75 in mm and necked it down to .358 in mm to create the .400/350 Nitro Express which in turn later became the .350 Rigby No 2. Use The .400 Purdey was reasonably popular in India for deer, boar and even tiger, and was available in both double rifles and more reasonably priced Martini action sporting rifles. Whilst obsolete, cartridges can still be purchased today from manufacturers such as Kynoch. See also List of rifle cartridges 10 mm rifle cartridges References Frank C. Barnes, Cartridges of the World, ed 13, Gun Digest Books, Iola, 2012, 9781440230592. Imperial War Museums, "10 x 76R : Kynoch : .400 Purdey & .400 3 inch Straight", iwm.org.uk, retrieved 18 April 2017. Kynoch Ammunition, "Big Game Cartridges", kynochammunition.co.uk, archived 8 September 2016. External links Ammo-One, "400 Purdey", ammo-one.com, retrieved 18 April 2017. Cartridgecollector, "400 Purdey Light Express 3 inch", cartridgecollector.net, retrieved 18 April 2017. The Spanish Association of Cartridge Collectors, ".400 Purdey", municion.org https://web.archive.org/web/20171101170858/http://municion.org/Purdey/400Purdey.htm 1 November 2017 , retrieved 18 April 2017. Category:Pistol and rifle cartridges Category:British firearm cartridges Category:James Purdey & Sons cartridges