.318 Westley Richards

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.318 Westley Richards
.318 Westley Richards, 1938-39 WR brochure.jpg
Illustration from the 1938-39 Westley Richards brochure
TypeRifle
Place of originEngland
Production history
Designer Westley Richards
Designed1906
Produced1906–present
Specifications
Case typeRimless, bottleneck
Bullet diameter.330 in (8.4 mm)
Land diameter.318 in (8.1 mm)
Neck diameter.358 in (9.1 mm)
Shoulder diameter.436 in (11.1 mm)
Base diameter.464 in (11.8 mm)
Rim diameter.464 in (11.8 mm)
Case length2.368 in (60.1 mm)
Overall length3.349 in (85.1 mm)
Case capacity69.1  gr H2O (4.48 cm3)
Ballistic performance
Bullet mass/typeVelocityEnergy
180 gr (12 g) 2,700 ft/s (820 m/s)2,920 ft⋅lbf (3,960 J)
250 gr (16 g) 2,400 ft/s (730 m/s)3,194 ft⋅lbf (4,330 J)
Test barrel length: 28 in
Source(s): The Spanish Association of Cartridge Collectors [1] & Kynoch. [2]

The .318 Westley Richards, also known as the .318 Rimless Nitro Express and the .318 Accelerated Express, is a proprietary medium bore centerfire rifle cartridge developed by Westley Richards.

Contents

Design

Westley Richards introduced the .318, primarily for use in their M98 Mauser and later their P14 Enfield based bolt action sporting rifles.

The .318 Westley Richards is a rimless bottlenecked cartridge intended for big game hunting throughout the British Empire. The bullet diameter is actually .330", the naming is due to British nomenclature which sometimes names cartridges by their land diameter rather than the more commonly applied groove diameter. [3]

Westley Richards offered solid, soft-point or the revolutionary LT-capped [note 1] bullets in two loadings, the more common being a 250 gr (16 g) bullet with a listed speed of 2,400 ft/s (730 m/s), whilst a lighter loading firing a 180 gr (12 g) bullet at 2,700 ft/s (820 m/s) was also offered for lighter game. [5] The 250gr bullet possessed high sectional density and thus excellent penetration. [3]

History

In 1907 British authorities banned military-calibre sporting and hunting rifles in India and Sudan, including ones chambered in .375/303 Westley Richards Accelerated Express. That necessitated to develop an analog in another bore.

Even though most sources state the .318 Westley Richards was introduced in 1910, in fact a Westley Richards catalogue contains a testimonial from a satisfied customer dated March 1909 who used his rifle to take 10 elephants, indicating the cartridge must have been introduced by at least 1908. Upon the introduction of the .318 Westley Richards, Westley Richards effectively stopped marketing their .375/303. [3] [6]

The .318 Westley Richards was one of the most popular medium-bore cartridges used in Africa, even after the introduction of the .375 Holland & Holland. [5] As with many British proprietary cartridges, the .318 Westley Richards was forced into obsolescence when Kynoch suspended ammunition manufacturing in the 1960s. Kynamco resumed manufacture of the Kynoch range of cartridges in the 1980s meaning the ammunition is again commercially available, although no firearms manufacturers make factory rifles in .318 Westley Richards today with the exception of Westley Richards themselves..[ citation needed ]

Use

While the cartridge is not intended for dangerous game, it has been used successfully on all African game species up to and including elephant. The cartridge was a contemporary of and very similar in performance to the .333 Jeffery, both were somewhat overshadowed by the arrival of the .375 Holland & Holland. [7]

In his African Rifles and Cartridges, John "Pondoro" Taylor wrote that the 250 gr (16 g) .318 Westley Richards is "fully capable of driving its bullet the full length of a big elephant's body." [8]

W.D.M. "Karamojo" Bell wrote that the .318 Westley Richards was a more reliable killer for certain shots on bull elephant than his favoured .275 (7×57mm Mauser) but that he had trouble with misfires with the sporting .318 ammunition. By 1913, he had adopted the .318 in preference to his .275 Rigby-Mauser rifle. [9] On one occasion Bell used a pair of .318 Westley Richards rifles to take nine elephants with nine shots, he later wrote "In my opinion, the 250 gr (16 g) .318 Westley Richards, although far from perfect, approaches most nearly the big game hunter's ideal bullet". [3]

James H. Sutherland, who over the course of his life shot between 1,300 and 1,600 elephants, used a .318 Westley Richards along with a .577 Nitro Express double rifle for all his African hunting, in a letter to Westley Richards he wrote "In open country, against Elephants and Rhinoceroses where the quarry is difficult to approach and long shots are often required I find that I can do all that is requisite with the .318 Westley Richards using of course, solid nickel covered bullets." [10]

Bror Blixen once states that if he could only have one rifle with which to hunt it would be the .318 Westly Richards. [11]

Other users of the .318 Westley Richards include Major G.H. Anderson who shot between 350 and 400 elephants; and Quentin Grogan who shot between 250 and 300 elephants. [10]

Notes

  1. ↑ The LT-capped bullet was named after Leslie B Taylor (1863-1930) an engineer and lifelong employee at Westley Richards who, among many inventions, designs and patents, invented the ‘Capped Bullet’, a revolutionary bullet design that allowed for both maximum shock effect whilst ensuring maximum stability and accuracy. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">7×57mm Mauser</span> German military rifle cartridge

The 7×57mm Mauser is a first-generation smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It was developed by Paul Mauser of the Mauser company in 1892 and adopted as a military cartridge by Spain in 1893. It was subsequently adopted by several other countries as the standard military cartridge, and although now obsolete as a military cartridge, it remains in widespread international use as a sporting round. The 7×57 Mauser was a popular stalking cartridge and sporting rifles in this chambering were made by the famous British riflemakers, such as John Rigby, Holland and Holland, Westley Richards and others. British cartridge nomenclature designated caliber in inches, and the cartridge was known as the .275 bore after the measurement of a 7 mm rifle's bore across the lands.

The .416 Rigby is a rifle cartridge designed in 1911 by London based gunmaker John Rigby & Company, for hunting dangerous game. It is the first cartridge to use a bullet of .416 inch diameter. The rifles, as built by John Rigby & Co., were initially made up on the Magnum Mauser 98 action, although in later years, some were made on standard length actions, a perfect example being the rifle used by legendary professional hunter Harry Selby. Other famous users of the cartridge were Commander David Enderby Blunt, John Taylor, and Jack O'Connor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nitro Express</span> British cartridge family

The Nitro Express (NE) series of cartridges are used in large-bore hunting rifles, also known as elephant guns or express rifles, but later came to include smaller bore high velocity British cartridges.

The .600 Nitro Express is a large bore Nitro Express rifle cartridge developed by W.J. Jeffery & Co for the purpose of hunting large game such as elephant.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.375 H&H Magnum</span> British rifle cartridge

The .375 H&H Magnum, also known as .375 Holland & Holland Magnum, is a medium-bore rifle cartridge introduced in 1912 by London based gunmaker Holland & Holland. The .375 H&H cartridge featured a belt to ensure the correct headspace, which otherwise might be unreliable, given the narrow shoulder of the cartridge case. The cartridge was designed to use cordite which was made in long strands – hence the tapered shape of the case, which, as a beneficial side effect also helped in smooth chambering and extraction from a rifle's breech.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">9.5×57mm Mannlicher–Schönauer</span>

The 9.5×57mm Mannlicher–Schönauer (MS) cartridge was adopted for the M-1910 MS rifle and carbine in 1910. The 9.5×57mm MS is also known as the 9.5×56mm MS, the 9.5×56.7mm MS, and the .375 Rimless Nitro Express (RNE) × 2¼. The cartridge may have been created by Westley-Richards and Eley in 1908, but no production rifles in this caliber have been found prior to the M-1910. This development by or on behalf of Steyr was probably an answer to the development by the noted British gunmaking firm of Holland & Holland in 1905 of their .400/375 Belted Nitro Express, designed for their specially modified Mannlicher–Schoenauer rifle. Whether the development of the 9.5×57mm Mannlicher–Schoenauer cartridge originated with OWS or with Holland's British competitor, Westley Richards certainly was the principal promoter of the new 1910 Model Mannlicher–Schoenauer rifle as evidenced by catalogs of the time. The 9.5×57mm MS is the last pre-war proprietary cartridge by Steyr and their most powerful until the recent advent of the .376 Steyr, which has its antecedents in the 9.5×57mm.

.450 Nitro Express also known as the .450 Nitro Express 31⁄4-inch is a rifle cartridge designed for hunting dangerous game such as elephant, rhino, cape buffalo, lion, and leopard. This cartridge is used almost exclusively in double rifles for hunting in the Tropics or hot climates in general and is associated with the Golden Age of African safaris and Indian shikars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.505 Gibbs</span> Rifle cartridge

The .505 Gibbs cartridge was designed by George Gibbs in 1911. The cartridge was originally known as the .505 Rimless Nitro Express. The C.I.P. refers to the cartridge as the 505 Mag. Gibbs in their publications. It is a .50 caliber (12.8 mm) rimless bottlenecked cartridge intended for magazine-fed rifles.

The .476 Nitro Express, also known as the .476 Westley Richards, is a British rifle cartridge introduced by Westley Richards around 1907.

The .475 Nitro Express is a British rifle cartridge developed in the early 20th century.

The .475 No 2 Nitro Express is a British rifle cartridge developed by Eley Brothers in the early 20th century.

The .500 Jeffery is a big-game rifle cartridge that first appeared around 1920, and was originally introduced by the August Schuler Company, a German firm, under the European designation "12.7×70mm Schuler" or ".500 Schuler". When offered by the famed British outfitter W.J. Jeffery & Co, it was renamed the .500 Jeffery so as to be more palatable to British hunters and sportsmen following World War One.

The .400 Jeffery Nitro Express or .450/400 Nitro Express 3-inch is a medium bore, bottlenecked, Nitro Express cartridge designed by W.J. Jeffery & Co in 1902, intended for use in single shot and double rifles.

The .333 Jeffery and .333 Jeffery Flanged are medium-bore rifle cartridges developed by W.J. Jeffery & Co and introduced in 1908.

The .350 Rigby and .350 Rigby No 2 are proprietary medium bore rifle cartridges developed by John Rigby & Company.

The .450 No 2 Nitro Express, also known as the .450 Nitro Express 31⁄2-inch, was developed by Eley Brothers in 1903.

The .400/350 Nitro Express, also known at the .400/350 Nitro Rigby, is a medium bore rifle cartridge developed by John Rigby & Company.

The .400/360 Nitro Express cartridges are a number of very similar, but not interchangeable, centerfire rifle cartridges developed by James Purdey & Sons, William Evans, Westley Richards and Fraser of Edinburgh, all at the beginning of the 20th century.

The .375/303 Westley Richards Accelerated Express, also known as the .375/303 Axite, is an obsolete medium bore rifle cartridge.

References

  1. ↑ The Spanish Association of Cartridge Collectors, "318 Westley", www.municion.org, archived, 01 January 2015.
  2. ↑ Kynoch Ammunition, "Big Game Cartridges", www.kynochammunition.co.uk, archived, 15 August 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Gregor Woods, “Think Thirty-Three Calibre”, ezine.nitroexpress.info, retrieved 21 November 2016.
  4. ↑ Trigger, "Leslie B Taylor 'Capped Bullet' ", thexplora.com, retrieved 19 April 2017.
  5. 1 2 Frank C. Barnes, Cartridges of the World, ed 13, Gun Digest Books, Iola, 2012, ISBN   9781440230592.
  6. ↑ Don Davie, "The other .303 cartridges", acant.org.au, retrieved 25 January 2015.
  7. ↑ Paul Roberts, “Nitro big game rifles”, ezine.nitroexpress.info, retrieved 13 November 2015.
  8. ↑ John Taylor, African rifles and cartridges, Sportsman’s Vintage Press, 2013, ISBN   978-1-940001-01-2.
  9. ↑ James Passmore, "W.D.M. Bell and His Elephants", www.chuckhawks.com, retrieved 21 November 2016.
  10. 1 2 Simon Clode, "Famous hunters and their Westley Richards rifles", theexplora.com, retrieved 21 November 2016.
  11. ↑ Aschan, Ulf (1987). The man whom women loved: the life of Bror Blixen. New York: St Martins Press. p. 71. ISBN   0312000642.
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