A long awaited package arrived today, all the way from the USA to Tasmania.....

It contains a barrel, once a .500 S&W, and a package of unprimed brass for .450 Nitro Express No. 2.

Nope, I'm not making a .450 NE #2, I'm making a .499 Hubel Express.

The barrel was very kindly sourced by a friend in America and shipped to Ed Hubel to be reamed out to the .499 HE, before being returned and shipped to me. Ed also included a die to help me resize the .450 NE #2 brass to the HUGE .499 HE.

The barrel fits my little H&R Ultra Hunter better than it's .45-120 barrel.....

Here's a close up of a .450 NE #2 in the chamber.....

and a comparison between a .45-120 shell and a .450 NE #2 shell....

It will look even bigger when it's resized to .500

and here's a comparison of my favourite cartridges....

(I have a Weatherby in .257 and a Merkel double rifle in 9.3x74R)

I currently load my .45-120 to about 4000 ft-lb with a 405gn. I plan to load the .499 HE to about 5300 ft-lb with a 525gn.

Stay tuned for updates and a range report.