Nitro Express Revolver

ACE posted a picture of a fictional .50 BMG revolver (though he has also posted about a real prototype .50 BMG handgun) and it not only brought to mind Magnum Research’s oversized BFR .45-70 revolver but also the totally insane concept of the .600 Nitro Express Revolver made by Pfeifer Zeliska. Yeah, you heard right- a Nitro Express revolver. There’s a pic of the beast here with a link to a .pdf about the weapon (sadly in German which I don’t understand).

Quite why anyone would want a gun like this is absolutely beyond me- it’s enormous and surely a nightmare to shoot, never mind the fact that it would be virtually impossible to use it for hunting- and seems to exist for no other reason than an exercise in engineering. Although that’s a good enough reason for me- there’s talk of an .800 Nitro Express on the way (sorry, can’t recall where I heard that) and while I can’t see a real need for it (has someone discovered a lost valley of dinosaurs?) the fact that it can be made is intriguing. Now, if only the world of military cartridges and firearms had the same fast development, we’d maybe be seeing some exciting new developments (G11 anyone?). Anyway, I’d take a nice Holland and Holland double rifle or a Heym bolt action in the .600 NE over the Pfeifer any day.

Note: This post was actually written last week- and yet ACE still beat me with a post on the same topic on his site! Seriously folks- bookmark him now, one of the best websites around at the moment with some fantastic weapons topics appearing frequently.