Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Modern powders in the .218 Bee.

Spent some time today shooting my .218 Bee Ruger #1. These rifles have the advantage of 1 in 14" twist. They have the disadvantage of a long throat, making it hard to get the bullets close to the lands.

I shot some today using 50 gr Ballistic Tips, over Alliant 300MP powder. With the Nosler touching the lands, there is about .080" of bullet engaged in the case neck, which a little sketchy, but probably okay for a single shot rifle. The first 3 shots went into about 7/8", and I adjusted the scope. It put the next three into a bug hole. I didn't repeat the trick, though.

Lots of velocity variation, a std dev of 50 fps. I also noticed the velocities were more consistent if I held the cartridge upright when loading, to keep the powder close to the primer. I used 13 gr of 300MP, sparked by CCI BR4's, and velocities averaged about 2830 fps.

I shot the 40's with 14gr of Lil'Gun. They ran about 3220 fps, but again I saw some pretty wild swings in velocity. things worked better when again I held the case upright. Accuracy was not a as good as with the 50's. The 40gr bullets are too short to be seated touching the lands, and still have some purchase in the case neck.

The rifle I think has potential to be really something, But I'm kicking around different priners, like CCI 450's and maybe try some powders that are a touch slower, like 1680, to help fill up some of the airspace.

My Marlin does it's best with IMR 4227 and H110. Here's a pretty good article and some loads.

218 Bee

And there's probably a load here that your rifle will like-

53 loads for the .218 Bee

Try some Barnes VGs. They shoot well in my Browning Hornet, even off the lands. I shoot the 30's, but with a 1-14, you might be able to do the 36gr.

In my Ruger #1 and Browning 65 I have used 1680, both 4198's, and RL-7 with 45gr. bullets. I like 4198's best. They fill the case and achieve or slightly exceed the factory advertised speeds of 2860 fps. Also the Lee factory crimp die works excellent on this cartridge with regards to velocity variations.

Thanks, I think I want to also look at the expander ball diameter, and make sure it is not over-expanding the case mouths

Tex,

I believe you will get considerably better results with Lil Gun powder if you stick with magnum primers. The CCi 450 primer seems to be the one most recommended. That will reduce the velocity swings you have been seeing.

40 gr bullets love Lil Gun in my 221 Rem. where 14.7 gr produces 3350 to 3400 depending on which bullet I am using.

And they all have a big jump to the lands.