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Red Marley

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Here's one I'll bet you haven't seen. Today I shot a recently acquired BSA Martini Cadet chambered in - I thought - .218 Bee (look it up). This is a falling-block single shot centerfire rifle with Aussie markings; the barrel is not original and has no markings. It's fitted with a Unertl target scope.
BSA Martini sm.jpg
The .218 Bee cartridges went in looking like the one on the right (below) but came out looking like the one on the left. I suspect this rifle is chambered in the even more obscure .218 Mashburn Bee (look it up...). Mashburn Bee cases are apparently fire-formed from .218 Bee or 7.62 Nagant brass and then loaded with a bit more powder. The cartridges fitted and ejected nicely, and there was no splitting, buckling or bulging of the cases. I see no reason not to keep shooting this with .218 Bee, though I don't expect to reload the brass. Anybody know anything about .218 Mashburn Bee or related variants?
Mashburn Bee.jpg
 
I’d get a set of custom dies made, the .218 Bee brass is too expensive to treat it as disposable.

Awesome gun btw, how did it shoot?
 
Red, if that case on the left is what came out, the shoulder angle reminds me of an Ackley shoulder angle. You may be in for a chamber cast to find out for sure. @JimB says, 218 is high dollar stuff if/when you can find it...
 
Red, if that case on the left is what came out, the shoulder angle reminds me of an Ackley shoulder angle. You may be in for a chamber cast to find out for sure. @JimB says, 218 is high dollar stuff if/when you can find it...
That’s what I was looking for! I thought the shoulders looked too square for Mashburn, but I didn’t know about Ackley. Based on what I’ve found so far, I’m pretty confident that’s what it is. Full marks to Bailey Boat;) I didn’t have time to zero it yesterday but looking forward to shooting it.
 
I agree it looks like a 218 Ackley. You can measure the case and tell for sure. If you can't find brass, you can form it from 32-20 brass.

It's cool!!!! Get a load worked up and let us know how it shoots.
 
Thanks to John too. Pretty sure it is a .218 Ackley Improved Bee now that I've studied it. As to Slacker's question about mfr date, it's hard to say as BSA tended to mix and match parts and apply numbers when they got an order. I believe the action and buttstock may have been issued in 1911 but could have been made as early as 1903. Originally .310 cal, it was re-barreled for target use at some later date, possibly much later, as the forestock screw has a metric thread.
IMG_1849 sm.jpg

IMG_1850 sm.jpg

IMG_1677.JPG
 
.218 conversions were popular on the old Martini Cadets. That is a neat gun you have there. You could probably get by neck sizing the brass if you can’t find a die set for .218 Improved. On a single shot like that, full length sizing is probably unnecessary and will just shorten your brass life.
 
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