218 Bee, the little gun that could

In the early 2000's (2005 give or take a year) I bought a Ruger No. 1S in 218 Bee. It has the quarter rib sights and a 26" barrel. I put a Bushnell 3-9x 44 Big Eye scope on it and it was time to see what it would do.

My first attempt was Winchester factory 46 grain HP ammo (product #X218B). At 50 yards and from a bench with sandbags it shot a 3" group! I wasn't a happy camper!

I took the 12 brass I had fired home and FL sized them and loaded some Lyman #225415 RNFP w/GC, in my alloy and with the gas check these weigh right 51 grains. I loaded them with 10.5 grains of IMR 4227. (Accuracy load in Lyman #45) On The bench and bags this shot just over 3/4" So I fired the rest of the factory ammo. Back home to see what else I can do! (I now knew it wasn't the rifle!)

I was looking through my stash of bullets and found two and a half boxes of Nosler 50 grain Match BTHP (flat Base). These were discontinued when Nosler brought the Ballistic Tip Bullets. I loaded up about 10 with a CCI Bench Rest primer, and 12.5 grain of IMR 4227. ( also Accuracy load from Lyman #45) These shot <1/2" @ 100 yards! I had found my load!

A few years later a fellow club member and I were sharing the 100 yard range. I was shooting the No 1 in 218 Bee and he was shooting a brand new Dakota in 280 Remington Ackley Improved. I was shooting with bags on the bench and doing around 1/4" groups. He was shoot offhand and doing around 3". He felt he had a working zero and was finished, but very kindly offered for me to shoot a few rounds. I jumped at the chance to shoot such a fine rifle, and offhand I got a 3 shot 3/4" group. I let him shoot my No 1, he got a 3/8" group and complained about how horrible the trigger was. I agreed that the trigger wasn't very good! I picked up the No 1, and fired a fast offhand group. On the out side it measured a horizontal diamond of .445 x .557! To find the "Centers" subtract the bullet diameter of .224 from both numbers, this equals.221 x .333! I was ecstatic.

Now with a stroke 10 years ago and Covid last October, I'll be glad to punch holes in paper the first time out.

I would love to hear about you rifle or handgun loading and shooting accomplishments!

Ivan

On my short list of Why Did I Sell That Gun?
Is a custom small action Martini, Bull Barrel, cute copper ball on Operating lever, nice Wood, 218 Bee!
Easy to reload! I don’t think I ever bought any ammo like from a store.
Got rounds and brass when I bought it, was always looking for more brass at Gunshows.
Not the easiest brass- ammo to find, but once you got it, it lasted forever or until you do something dumb like sell the rifle!

I used to prairie dog hunt with a guy that had a custom Ruger No.1 HB built in 218 Mashburn Bee. What a sweet little tac driver that rifle was at 150 - 200 yds. Low noise, no recoil, great for early morning South Dakota prairie low wind shots. I lusted after that rifle for many years and he just wouldn't give it up. I settled for TC Contender Carbine with a Bullberry Barrel Works SS Heavy Barrel. Sweet accurate little rifle but it required breaking your rested position in order to reload, where as the Ruger No.1 action would allow you to stay in position and just drop the lever to open the action. I think I still have 4 or 5, 50rd boxes of Winchester loaded ammo that I was shooting to fireform into the Mashburn Bee variant.

Since my original bullet was already discontinued, I looked for a suitable replacement. My current load is WW brass, Fed 105M primer (small pistol Match) 12.5 grains of IMR 4227 and Sierra 50 grain spitzer flat base Blitz Medium Velocity (part # 1340)

I still have 21 of my original Nosler load and use them as a control. The Sierra bullet shoots just as well. I would use the Remington 6 1/2 primer now, if I could find some!

Ivan

4227 is a most excellent propellant for use behind cast bullets of about any caliber you can name, clear up to .45-70.

You can get a faster Velocity with 1680 and still be reasonably accurate but the long time standard for accuracy is H or IMR 4227. Harry Pope would buy it by the case or two of one pounder cans, just to have control of the Lot number. And let's face it, Harry knew more about accuracy than any 10 experts of today combined!

If I want "faster", I just buy the nest size up rifle. That's why I have 22 LR, 22 Hornet, 218 Bee, 221 Fireball, 223, 22 BR. I have friends with either smaller or larger 22's, but I never feel over or under gunned! I looked at K-Hornet, Mashburn Bee, and 219 Zipper, and Donaldson Wasp. But the "Improved" versions aren't as good or convenient as the next size up!

Ivan

It has been a long time since I bought "Little pills"........

the last ones that I bought were these two brands for paper and "Hair"
that worked out very well at medium to high fps loads.

It has been a while since the "Red Mist" days but I still like to go to the range for some 100 to 300 yard fun & games and show off my groups on the target, for those that pass by.

Low recoil and muzzle blast............
whats not to like about these little guys.

Whoops, forgot the picture........

I fell in love with this Remington No. 2 Sporting rifle when I saw it at a local gun show years ago. These were made from 1873 to 1909. I have no idea what it was originally chambered in but it's been rechambered to .218 Bee. It has an old 3/4" tube Weaver 2-7 scope.

I have loaded up some 150gr Accubonds to try in a custom #1 300 Savage to find a accurate load for an up coming Aoudad hunt in Texas. I'll take two rifles this one and another custom #1 in 300 H&H. I have a nice load in that but will try 180gr TTSX VS the Hornady BTSP it's now dialed in for. Another #1 in 22 Hornet is on the list. I have some bullets and about 4 lbs of Lil Gun so I should find something.
This year I'll be going Prairie Dog shooting so the Hornet will need to get figured out and the rest of the varmint rifles re zeroed. I loaded a bunch of ammo during the pandemic for rifle, pistol and shotgun. Last year at this time I was in the hospital then 100 days of quarantine so it's great to be able to get back outside and enjoy all the guns.

22lrfan said:

I fell in love with this Remington No. 2 Sporting rifle when I saw it at a local gun show years ago. These were made from 1873 to 1909. I have no idea what it was originally chambered in but it's been rechambered to .218 Bee. It has an old 3/4" tube Weaver 2-7 scope.

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If the glass stayed clear............
those Weaver scopes were king of the hill for a small dia. tube on top of a rifle.
Why we need 2" dia. scopes on top of a little .22 is besides me................

In the e early 90’s,as a budding varmint hunter. I came across a tang safety Ruger 77v in 22-250 with a 10x leupold on it. The shop had it as part of an estate they were selling. The shop owner explained to me that Rugers of that era had been known for questionable accuracy. I dismissed his comments and put down my $375.00 and went on my way. The first load I tried was 37.5grs of h380 with a 55gr ballistic tip. My first group was 3/8ths of an inch ctc. After playing with the seated depth. That gun would shoot groups quarter inch groups or better all day long.
I decided to show my friends how well my new wonder gun shot. We meet at the range and set some targets. I may have been pointing out the finer points of my shooting ability as settled in behind the scope. When my buddy spotted a wasp on the target a 100yds. He never being one not to challenge my ability. Called out shoot the WASP. I replied no problem! I took my shot. He called a miss. When pulled the target there was wet spot where the wasp was and wing stuck on either side of the bullet hole. That rifle was forever named the bug gun.

Back in the middle '70's I bought a model 92 Winchester that had been re barreled with a semi bull barrel chambered in 218 Bee. Fun little gun. About the same time , I bought a custom made 308 Norma Mag.

Two guns that I no longer have , but still have fond memories.

I've had "a bee in my bonnet" for one of the Marlin 1894s in . 218 Bee. Still looking. Have even given some thought to trading my 1971 vintage 1894 SRC . 44 for one.

A Winchester 43 Deluxe in 218 Bee -



Carries a Weaver 3 to 9X AO in a Jaeger sidemount. The gun came with the base already fitted.



I have a spare sidemount with a plain old Weaver 4X as back up for the 43 and some other period rifles.



I keep apertures for the rear peep sight in a small hole in the stock under the buttplate.

Every step of the way my thought was "why the heck am I buying this?" and that it was too much $$$. Glad I did though.

I lean towards 35 grain Hornady VMax and Speer 40 grain SP and IMR 4227 or Blue Dot.

I'm waiting to test out my latest super varmint guns. I have a .22 Mag that i know will shoot to POA if I do my part, My next tests will be a Savage in .222 and my latest a Ruger in .220 Swift. Me thinks both should be one hole rifles if I can hold'm steady. Don't know though, that Ruger only cost me $110.00. $200.00 if you count the two boxes of factory ammo I bought this last winter at a gun show and 3 boxes online.

Your story of the wasp reminds me of the day my older brother and I were out plinking and he pointed out a small twig coming off the side of a tree. He bet me twenty dollars I couldn't shoot it off the tree. I was using an old Savage M6 that had a fixed 4 power BSA scope mounted. The twig was better than 50 yards away but not as far as 55yds. I took the first shot and could see that I'd hit the wood, then three more shots that didn't touch it. My next shot dropped the twig. The two shots one on the high side of the stick and the other the low side and about 1/16th inch closer to the tree. I don't know which was first but my brother bought me a nice steak dinner at the local Golden Corral.

6GUNSONLY said:

I've had "a bee in my bonnet" for one of the Marlin 1894s in . 218 Bee. Still looking. Have even given some thought to trading my 1971 vintage 1894 SRC . 44 for one.

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I have had one of the 1894 CL's in 32-20, since they first "returned" in the late 1980's. A 218 Bee would be fun to have, but most people that have one, think they are made from Platinum, when it comes down to pricing one!

I have never chronographed my load from that 26" No 1, but I'm sure the Marlin's short barrel takes it down to 22 Hornet velocities! (Not that it's a bad thing!) But with those 50 gr FN/gc cast bullets would be a great 50 or 75 yard for in the Barn Yard!

Ivan

Ivan

About 1990 I traded into a Winchester Model 43 in .218 Bee with Redfield mount and an old steel-tube Weaver 3-9X scope. Started with a couple of boxes of Winchester 46-grain JSP, eventually added a couple hundred more new cases for reloading. Plenty accurate for my purposes, mostly coyotes and foxes within 200 yards.

About the same time the market was flooded with GI surplus 55-grain FMJ-BT bullets and I picked up a thousand for next to pocket change (about $35). A little on the heavy side for the Bee but a modest load of 10-grains 2400 provided decent accuracy from the bench at 100 yards (estimated 2300FPS) with good results on the critters.

Like other .22 center-fire rifles, the .218 Bee produces a very sharp and ear-piercing report with every shot. Even in the field I made a point of using ear protection.

Same basic case as the .32-20 and .25-20, very thin case neck and walls, easy to damage while reloading. Case life has proven to be limited, and I've had case head separations happen several times, both in the chamber and in the sizing die. Learned to limit these to 5 reload cycles before retiring them. Since I was using only the one rifle I tried neck-sizing only, but couldn't tell any difference in either accuracy or case life. In my limited experience, my conclusion is that this is the way it will be because of the cartridge case construction.

Always intended to get a bullet mold and try hard-cast gas check bullets, something in the 45-50 grain range for modest loads under 2000FPS, but never got around to that project. One of the few rifles I own that I haven't done so.

I'm also a fan of the 218 Bee. I picked up this 218 Bee Chiappa Mini Sharps a couple of years ago, it's a whole lot of fun at the range.

Best regards,

I’ve never owned a .218 Bee, but I’ve scratched the small .22 center fire itch with the .22 Hornet.

My first .22 Hornet was a Springfield imported M6 that shot fine with the .22 LR barrel but walked about 3 inches with each successive shot with the .22 Hornet barrel.

However by that time I had .22 Hornet dies, a thousand or so bullets and a few pounds of .22 Hornet suitable powder, so I did what any reasonable person would do and bought another more accurate rifle to shoot them in.

It was a Zastava made Mini Mauser and it shot very nice 1/2” five shot groups pretty much it’s first time out.

I picked up a Remington Model 799 (basically the same Zastava Mini Mauser with some minor detail differences), and it shot just as well.

Not long after I picked up a Browning 1885 in .22 Hornet. Despite the same nominal 1-16” twist and a longer barrel, it has entirely different tastes in bullets and shot the 40 gr V-Max very poorly. But it loves 35 gr Barnes Varmint Grenades.

I would like a .218 Bee, it is a great cartridge. Al the small .22 center fire are just plain fun. If you hand load they are inexpensive to shoot and very accurate.
Like BB57 I settled on the Hornet years ago and I bought this Browning 1885 in the mid 90’s. Great little rifle, with ‘lil Gun powder it is very accurate. If I had a .218 Bee i would start with that powder.
Here’s my Hornet, and, yes, I bought it for the wood.