Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .218 Bee experience

I've been wanting a .218 Bee for years....finally I can see my way through to buy one.....but have no experience with any of the models.
On the watch list is a Winchester M43 a Browning M-65 and a Marlin lever gun

Can anyone tell me about the accuracy and reliability of any of these guns?

My only experience is with the M43. I acquired it in the '80's, a beautiful rifle in perfect condition. However- No matter what I tried for ammo, factory and handloads, it was not an accurate rifle. In addition, it had excessive headspace, often causing case separations, even with new factory ammo.
I sent it down the road, at a nice profit, to someone who really, really wanted an M43!
I then acquired a .218 Bee barrel for my Contender, which proved wonderfully accurate, with the same ammo I had been using for the Winchester. The first game I took with it was a beautiful Rio Grande turkey in Texas, which I had mounted- the Bee ruffled nary a feather!

I have never owned a Bee, but have experience with several belonging to friends, including a M43 and a Marlin lever-action. Neither shot well enough to interest me, but another friend let me use his Ruger No. 1B .218 Bee on prairie dogs one day. It shot 40-grain Ballistic Tips very accurately at 3200 fps, and I almost bought the rifle, since he was thinking of selling it.

But the longer I thought about it, the more practical a 1B in .22 Hornet sounded, and at the time Ruger still offered them. The biggie was brass availability, one thing that can affect the .218 from time to time. I acquired a 1B Hornet and it shoots 40-grain Ballistic Tips, V-Maxes and Sierra Blitzkings at 3100 fps very accurately, so there's no noticeable difference in the field. But once in a while I do have a twinge of regret about that 1B Bee....

I recently acquired a Marlin 94 in .218 Bee. It is accurate as heck, just won't feed. I have not had time yet to find out why. The lifer appears to be just a "hair" short of getting the bullet nose into the chamber. Was really hoping to use it as my critter gitter this spring.

MD:
Do you have any experience with the .218 Mashburn Bee? I've just gotten into one of these in a Martini Cadet action that is an MOA shooter with 40 gr. pills and 4227.
I received plenty of formed brass with it, but see that Hornady is offering new brass for the standard Bee presently. Would you anticipate me needing to anneal the new brass before fire-forming it?
GC

I have a 1894Cl that I use for coyotes, the 46gr Win HP has worked well. I have used loaded pointed bullets and they shot well also, one in the chamber one in the mag. I've put a Wild West trigger in mine. I used it with a receiver sight until my eye surgery and now have a Weaver K-1.5 (duplex) scope on it. Great for called coyotes. I'm going to give 52gr Speer HP's a try this summer.

GrouseChaser,

You shouldn't have to anneal new brass when fire-forming, but have seen exceptions.

Don't have any experience with the Mashburn Bee. Sounds like a nifty rifle!

I hunted a Browning 65 for a few years. It was very accurate, tight and nice all the way around. I didn't much like the shape of the grip. I eventually found that hammer guns for calling rifles gave the coyotes one more opportunity to bust me when I cocked the hammer back. The same for all hammer lever actions, when game is close I don't like the extra noise of the click.

Of course, I'll be the only person in the history of the world with this opinion since this is the campfire. That's one of the reasons the best lever guns are hammerless. The other is a rotary magazine rather than tubular. I'm speaking of Savage 99's here. Brownings Bee required using Hornady Bee bullets.

I had a Ruger No. 1S in 218 Bee a number of years back and solved the brass availability problem. While traveling for work, I lucked into 800 once fired cases from a tiny little gun shop in Wyoming. I ended up selling the rifle to a friend out of guilt - he was interested in it and told me about a custom Ruger No. 3 in 22 K-Hornet he was considering. I ran down and bought the No. 3 so sold him the Bee with most of the brass (I think I still have a couple hundred pieces). I wasn't sure how serious he was about the No. 3 and if I bought it out from under him or not, but felt selling him the Bee was the right thing to do.

Vapodog,
An old and very dear friend of mine, who was a farmer and rural mail carrier, owned a Winchester 43 Bee and killed a truck full of coyotes and fox (50+) every year with it. I have no idea if it was accurate or not as he never wanted to waste bullets firing at paper targets. He didn't think of it as a short range rifle either - if he saw a coyote he would shoot at it. Not long before his death his wife spotted a fox down by their grain bins and he was able shoot at it from the house...one shot and one dead fox.

If my 25-20 doesn't live up to my hopes, it will be replaced by a Browning 53...just such beautiful rifles!

I can't believe how many people have so much trouble figuring out how to cock a lever gun hammer without making any noise. So simple a cave man could do it. It quickly becomes second nature and you'll do it without even thinking about it.

The cool factor is high with a Bee, but brass and bullets are not so great. I think there was some Bee brass for sale here on the Campfire, it would be a good idea to pick it up, you probably won’t find it anywhere else. I have both a Bee and Hornet in Sakos and they both shoot great. The problem with the Bee is you need to shoot the old style Hornet bullets in it because the plastic tipped bullets won’t work. Those bullets are available from Sierra so you shouldn’t have too much a problem getting bullets.

I would also recommend the Winchester rifle so you don’t put them in a tubular magazine and push the bullets back in the case...

I have one built on a Martini Cadet action. Custom wood and a very heavy 27 inch barrel. Most accurate Cadet I've ever owned. With the right loads it will hold 0.5 inches at 100 yards for 5 shots. Weighs to much too take walking, but great from the bench. I picked up several hundred Winchester cases years ago and am fixed for life.

I also have a .218 Mashburn Bee built on a Cadet action. Not nearly as heavy and not quite as accurate, but a fun gun to shoot. The Mashburn Bee will do 3000 fps with a 40 grain bullet.

Unless you are dead set on a repeater, I'd recommend a Martini Cadet. .218 Bee was a pretty common conversion and they are usually pretty accurate.

Hornady makes new Bee brass. I had no trouble finding brass when I got mine recently. But, I would plan on buying a supply since availability is erratic.

Duh, well I guess I should have remembered the Hornady brass because I did get some of that too. It is easy to forget stuff these days. The short neck on the Bee does make it so you have to use the “Hornet” round nose bullet unless you have a single shot and can load one at a time...

I have a Marin 62 that has been rebarrel in 218 Bee. I put it together over 20 years ago, when component brass and loaded factory ammo tended to be expensive and hard to find. The rifle was upgraded from its original specs by having the barrel threaded into the receiver, instead of being pinned in like the originals, and it is a pretty good shooter. It has a high "cool" factor, but it isn't very practical.

I have an old Winchester lever action bee that I inherited from my grandfather that shoots 1.5" groups and tighter if I load my own.
They make a good scabbard rifle but being that I have other rifles this one just sits in the safe. Ammo is expensive and I don't gain much by loading my own .
I wouldn't purchase a bee new, plenty other calibers that are cheaper and better.

I don't have any experience with the bee, but have now owned 4 Mashburns. All on original 1885 Lo walls. What sweet rifles! I too have played with the 40gr bullets, but tend to mostly shoot 50 tipped bullets and 1680 when i go west to shoot P dogs. The Mashburn and the R2 are my favorites.

Vapodog: I have owned several Rifles in caliber 218 Bee and currently have two Varmint type Rifles in 218 Bee - one is a Ruger #1-B with 26 inch barrel and the other is a Kimber of Oregon 82-B with 24" barrel.
Both are very pleasingly accurate and the ultra-mild recoil makes for FUN Varmint and small game Hunting.
Of the various 218 Bee's I have owned in the past and now own - virtually ALL of them are/were more accurate than any of the many Rifles I have and do own in 22 Hornet!
The 218 Bee brass lasts "forever" it seems, and I run across it for sale from time to time.
Don't let brass scarcity turn you off of owning/using a Rifle in 218 Bee.
The one Winchester Model 43 I owned in 218 Bee I never affixed a scope to it so won't comment on its "accuracy" - my shooting of that Rifle was mostly of a "plinking" nature.
If you buy one of those Model 43's don't lose the magazine!
I shot a friends Browning lever Rifle in 218 Bee and what a blast that was!
Best of luck with whichever you choose - I am sure you would be happier with a Rifle in 218 Bee over a similar Rifle in 22 Hornet!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Dad had a Win 43 in 218 that did a very good job of plopping gophers w/46gn HP's but the side-mount sucks and the trigger did too. If I were to come across a 78 Sako in Bee I might have to have it. It would need to be an in-person impulse buy.