Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing 218 Bee/rimmed head space ?

Ok, first off I feel dumber than a rock for having to ask this but here goes, have a project I am working on which is recutting a Hornet chamber to 218 Bee on a Thompson TCR. Ordered a 25/20, 218B etc headspace guage from Brownell's some time back. Now it was my understanding a rimmed centerfire headspace guage worked/was used similar to a 22LR? You know, drop it in and see if the bolt does or does not close completely. This Clymer guage is marked 25/20 but the rim part is bigger in diameter than a Bee case head and the body/cylinder portion is larger in diameter than the Bee case body?

Isn't the headspace on both checked similarly or am I really a dumb arse? It won't drop into the chamber on my Marlin 1894CL Bee? Does someone have a video or a pic or something? Tried finding a You Tube video on checking rimmed headspace on a lever gun and found everything but that. Any help really appreciated and if you must giggle do it so my feeling aren't hurt anymore than they currently are. Thanks.

Edit to add....would .002 over a Go guage be adequate?

Respectfully,
Dennis

Does the headspace gage meet SAAMI specs? Have you measured it?

I sounds like the headspace gauge is too big or the reamer cut a chamber that is too small.

Those pesky 1/10,000" differences can drive a man nuts!

Well, that's what I am thinking, that the guage is mismarked. Measured it yesterday afternoon, I don't have a 10,000 mic so these are close.....

Headspace guage rim ..441"
Just below rim .3765"

New factory loaded round ..4015"
Just below rim .343"

Guage Rim Thicknesss .060"
New Cartridge Rim Thick. .050+"

Pretty sheepish feeling as I thought I knew how to do this but didn't know if my stroke stricken melon wasn't processing correctly or the guage isn't what it is supposed to be. Couldn't find pics on the net to verify where/what was measured or correct measurements for a Bee headspace guage. Kept going back to the wrong incorrectly marked FLIPPIN GUAGE!!!!!!

Anyhoo, used the new cartridge and a piece of scotch tape so I have a bigger hole than yesterday morning.lol Now to finish making a new extractor and then see how many pieces can be gathered up after a test fire!

Thanks 260Remguy
Dennis

Sometimes you get a dud.

Isn’t the .218 Bee .050” or shorter than the .22 Hornet?

Yes it is Sir. Am worried about that and how/if it will effect accuracy? Will see I guess. Don't have a bore scope to see what that area currently looks like. Hoping for just .050 more FB and it being a single shot loading cartridge to a longer OAL isn't an issue. Not a rocket scientist so at times I don't make the brightest moves. Hopefully today is/will be test day. Fitted new extractor last night and even made an extra 'just in case'! lol That went really well and works great, at least with a loaded round, extracting a fired case is at a crossed fingers point. From my experience and what I have read shooting a hot load isn't an option. Will see if the 'Bee' gets me before the Corona virus does.

This is a figure out as you go endeavor! It did roll around in my melon for a while but kinda like a concrete mixer you're not sure what you got until it hits the forms or in this case forums.