Thoughts on .218 Bee

Combat Diver

Combat Diver

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I've been offered in trade a Winchester 43 rifle in .218 Bee. Was looking for another Marlin 783 in .22 WMR but I could down load the Bee up or down for small game. Anyone with experience on either rifle or cartridge. I do know the Bee's case can be necked down from .25/ .32 WCF (25-20/.32-20). Uses .224" bullets. Not looking for a high volume shooter (have my ARs for that) but as a walk about small/medium game gun (up to coyote)

CD
 
Neat little cartridge. Finding brass is problematic right now, but won’t be forever. Like all of that family of cartridges, the necks can be easy to damage when loading. A Winchester 43 is old school cool and one in .218 Bee is even cooler. Worth the effort, in my opinion.
 
I would like to have something in 218 bee. Its a neat little cartridge thats pretty versatile when you are able to handload it.
 
I had a Martini Cadet chambered in .218 Ackley Improved Bee. Cool little shooter, but I only used it for plinking; eventually sold it to a friend who could make better use of it. I didn’t reload for it. I’d shoot .218 Bee in it — the cases would go in looking like the one on the left, and come out looking like the one on the right.
948BB4F4-106D-42CE-8C76-F003D7E465F7.jpeg
 
Red Marley said:
I had a Martini Cadet chambered in .218 Ackley Improved Bee. Cool little shooter, but I only used it for plinking; eventually sold it to a friend who could make better use of it. I didn’t reload for it. I’d shoot .218 Bee in it — the cases would go in looking like the one on the left, and come out looking like the one on the right.
View attachment 627540
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I do believe that is the Ackley Improved 218 bee on the right. PO Ackley loved taking long slow taper cartridges and making them almost straight wall with sharp shoulders and short necks. This would usually net an increase of 10-25% in FPS for the cartridge.
 
I have a Winchester 43 chambered for 22 Hornet. I love that little gun! Shoots great!

Just did a quick search.. saw two online retailers that had the 218 Bee in stock. One was $2.70 / rnd and the other was $4 / rnd.

218 BEE - Winchester Super X 46 Grain Hollow Point - 50 Round Box

Winchester 218 BEE - Winchester Super X 46 Grain Hollow Point - 50 Round Box for sale from FlipAmmo.
www.flipammo.com
 
Starline makes 32-20 brass that you can neck down but has been out of stock for a while. I'm trying to find 32-20, 25-20, or 218 bee brass as I have a 25-20. It's a cool cartridge and I'd love to add the bee to the collection in the future.
 
cold1 said:
I do believe that is the Ackley Improved 218 bee on the right. PO Ackley loved taking long slow taper cartridges and making them almost straight wall with sharp shoulders and short necks. This would usually net an increase of 10-25% in FPS for the cartridge.
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I assume that the only thing needed to convert the gun would be to ream the chamber to the new dimensions?
 
Toprudder said:
I assume that the only thing needed to convert the gun would be to ream the chamber to the new dimensions?
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Yep. Part of the success of the Ackley improved line was all that was needed was to ream the chamber and fireform the brass. You got to remember that this was during the 30s and 40s when he started and there wasn't much for wildcatters to do enhance performance other than add more of the same powders. They did not have all the choices in components that we do today.
 
Combat Diver said:
I've got a Contender too but not in .218 Bee. Share your Bee experiences.
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It's a fun round to load for...mainly used IMR-4198, IMR-4227, H110
bullets were in the range 40-50 grain, got some lighter bullets
here, my have to drag it out, at least I know where the barrel is in one
of 2 (1)gallon water boxes, "marked TC barrels", it's pretty accurate
also, recoil is like a Hornet or 22LR. If I find my reloading notebook
I'll post some data, if memory serves my correctly even used 2400,
but you got to be careful with it...
The Contender pistol was / is my main contribution to all the different
cartridges / calibers I load for.
22 Jet, 218 Bee, 22 Hornet, 22 K Hornet, 256 Win Mag. there's a bunch more..

Edit: And you can find brass and ammo, yard sales, auctions, you'd be surprised
sometimes cheap, sometimes you gotta really think about it, "Do I really
need this?"

-Snoopz
 
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I was just given a Model 43 that was used to collect tree samples in the 70s. Barrel was shot out of it after probably 3000+ rounds. The good news is that I was also given most of those spent brass and was able to buy a new (to me) barrel fairly cheap. Looking forward to working up a load and comparing to the Winchester and Rem factory stuff. Looks like most of the factory stuff was loaded at ~45 gr, which seems kinda light.
 
mathandbbsauce said:
I was just given a Model 43 that was used to collect tree samples in the 70s. Barrel was shot out of it after probably 3000+ rounds. The good news is that I was also given most of those spent brass and was able to buy a new (to me) barrel fairly cheap. Looking forward to working up a load and comparing to the Winchester and Rem factory stuff. Looks like most of the factory stuff was loaded at ~45 gr, which seems kinda light.
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Pics or it didn't happen. 🤣
 
3000 rounds doesn't sound like much to wear out a barrel. Was it mistreated/abused?
 
JohnFreeman said:
3000 rounds doesn't sound like much to wear out a barrel. Was it mistreated/abused?
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It’s in very good shape overall. I suppose it’s possible there is just a decade of copper fouling I’m not able to get out with normal means. Bullets looked like they were tumbling when I shot it.
 
I love the 218 Bee. Currently, I have a pistol barrel for my TC. I also have a rifle that my dad made. Both are a lot of fun to shoot. Several powders were listed earlier in the thread. Personally, I have had my best results using 4227 with 45gr bullets.
 
Tbone said:
I love the 218 Bee. Currently, I have a pistol barrel for my TC. I also have a rifle that my dad made. Both are a lot of fun to shoot. Several powders were listed earlier in the thread. Personally, I have had my best results using 4227 with 45gr bullets.
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How far out are you pushing it? I’m guessing like 200yd?
 
Sorry for kinda hijacking the thread here - anyone have experience/insight into loading AI .218 Bee? I now have a spare barrel (I'd need to find someone to ream it and maybe get an extra die for neck sizing?), like 2,000 rounds, 1,000 brass, and an itch to do dip my toe into wildcatting.
 
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