.400 Jeffery Nitro Express

The .400 Jeffery Nitro Express or .450/400 3 inch Nitro Express is a .411 caliber rimmed, bottlenecked cartridge designed by Jeffery in 1902.

General Information
The .400 Jeffery Nitro Express is based on the .450/400 3¼ inch case. The longer neck of the .450/400 3¼ inch case had been causing extraction difficulties in the Nitro Express version of that cartridge particularly in rifles which may have pitting or rusting. The shortened neck of the .400 Jeffery Nitro Express was an attempt to alleviate this condition.

Unlike the earlier .450/400 Nitro Express cartridges, this cartridge was designed exclusively for use with cordite. The .400 Jeffery Nitro Express fires a 400 gr jacketed bullet propelled by 60 gr of cordite at a muzzle velocity of 2100 ft/s. In this loading the .400 Jeffery Nitro Express is more effective on game that the 300 gr loading of the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum.

John "Pondoro" Taylor considered both 3 inch and 3¼ inch .450/400 Nitro Express cartridges adequate for any African game species under any condition as long as it is used by an experienced hunter. Elmer Keith noted that this cartridge would be his first choice when hunting brown bear in Alaska.

Unlike earlier .450/400 cases the .400 Jeffery Nitro Express was standardized on the .411 caliber bullets. With the renewed interest in the .405 Winchester more bullets are becoming available in the .411 caliber. Hornady and Bertram Brass offer cases for this cartridge, bullets are offered by Barnes and Woodleigh, and factory ammunition is offered by Hornady and Kynoch.