Isn't it kinda like a 22 Hornet? 100yd coyote rifle? What do you do with the Bee in a model 65 levergun?

Coyotes and rabbits.

I have an encore bbl chambered in the Bee. I like zapping woodchucks with it.

Same thing you do with a .219 Zipper in a Marlin lever gun.

I have one of the Browning 65s. With a Marbles tang sight it is a tack driver at 50 yards and definitely coyote/fox/lynx/bobcat/woodchuck worthy at 100.

My first handgun kill on a turkey was with a Contender in .218 Bee. Did a perfect job.

I use it in a #1 to kill sage rats, badgers and coyotes now and then.

I have a Marlin 62 that was rebarreled to 218 Bee. It is a nice walking varmint hunting rig. 218 Bee is a nice little varmint hunting cartridge, no more and no less. Winchester cataloged the models 43 and 65 in 218 Bee, but neither must have sold well and had short production runs. The most useful rifle chambered in 218 Bee was probably the Marlin 1894CL, since you could install a scope on it and squeeze the accuracy potential out of both the rifle and the cartridge. Factory ammo and component brass is uncommon and generally expensive, but so are the rifle chambereed for it.

If you have one and reload for it, it is a fun little cartridge. If you're just looking to get into one, I'd recommend against it due to the hassles involved in feed it. That said, loonies often enjoy taking a different and more difficult path.

I had a Marlin 1894CL in Bee for quite a few years. It was a great pest and coyote rifle out to 125yds or so.

Very easy on powder, and good accuracy with the Hornady and Speer FN bullets. I got tired of having to scrounge for flat noses for it, though, and sold it several years back.

Years ago I had a Winchester low wall.chambered in .218 bee....short time later the cool factor wore off and I sold it.

I have a Martini Cadet in 218 engraved with Prairie Dogs. It should have litttle gravestones on it too!

Not to highjack the 218 but I always wondered the same thing about the 25-20.
My buddy’s dad had a 92 cambered in it. If I can remember correctly every time we shot it the brass cases would crack. I think the last time a case got separated in the chamber.

I keep mine handy for shooting pests around the house. Works very well on coon.

Ancient brass most likely. I recently bought a Savage 23 in 25-20. It amazes me how accurate it is. Using new brass and have not seen any brass cracking or separation. I see it as a great little small game and calling rifle. And could even see pressing it into service for deer should the need arise. The 75 grain Speer FP is supposed to be a pretty tough bullet.

The first time I fired a .218 Bee was during a prairie dog shoot years ago. It was a "guided" deal, sponsored by a scope company, and the outfitter was a Montana wheat farmer, gun shop owner and rifle loony named Dave who owned a Ruger No. 1B in .218 Bee, which he urged me to try out on PDs. It worked great, because his handloads used 40-grain Ballistic Tips at around 3200 fps, making 300-yard shots quite practical. I kind of wanted one, but after researching the availability of Bee brass got a No. 1B in .22 Hornet instead. It "only" got 3100 fps with Li'l Gun and 40 BTs, which made no discernible difference in the field, but Hornet brass was far more common and generally lower-priced.

Have also helped some friends who owned .218s requiring flat-nosed bullets to find bullets and brass, but never really wanted the hassle of feeding one myself. Apparently there are some limits to my loonyism--though I do take the trouble to handload 2-1/2" 12-gauge ammo for one of my old side-by-side shotguns...

Could have had bad headspace or an oversized chamber. Excess headspace usually leads to head splits or separations if it's bad enough. I had a 300 Savage (since rebarrled to 250) that had terrible headspace, and it would split cases on the first firing sometimes, and pretty much always after 2-3 loadings.

Overdiameter toward the shoulder and mouth can lead lengthwise splits if the brass is sized to factory spec.

On another note regarding Savage 23s. I always thought it odd that they chambered it in 32-20 and 25-20 but switched to the 22 Hornet for a 22 caliber centerfire offering. I would have thought the 218 Bee would have been the natural choice.

Mule Deer, can you shed any light on that?

The 23D was introduced in 1932 and I believe was the first production rifle to be chambered in 22 Hornet. 218 Bee didn't come out until 1937.

I never understood the high prices on winchester model 43s

Savage was making the 19H before the 23B/C/D Sporters were introduced. Since they were already making rifles in 22 Hornet, they probably saw the 218 Bee as redundancy without any meaningful performance difference. The 218 Bee ran straight into The Great Depression, WW2, and the 222, nothing that helped it and nothing that they had any control over.

Most of the 22 Hornets that I've owned have been Savages; 19H, 23Ds, 342S, and 24F. The nicest was the 342S that sold to one of the guy on this site before cancer took him.

If you think .218 Bee and .25-20WCF brass is hard to find and expensive, you haven't lived until you've worked with an old wildcat R2 Lovell (which pretty much duplicates .218 Bee performance). Brass is made from .25-20 Single Shot (not WCF), which was last made by a Big Name Company 70 years ago (but has popped up from time to time from boutique makers). Your Rifle Loony membership card must be up to date if you adopt one these - and I have three, built on a Winchester High Wall, '03 Springfield, and Krag-Jorgensen, not to mention an original Low Wall in .25-20 Single Shot. Thank God I have a goodly stash of brass, but am always nosing around for more. A .218 Bee would be a cakewalk in comparison.

I always threatened to build a .218 Bee on a Martini Cadet action, but never quite got around to it. The perfect platform for one, IMO.

.22 stuff in that level right below the .222 is godalmighty fun, even if you don't have a practical application for it.

I had a chance at an R2 Lovell on Krag action a few years back, thanks to a reader who had advanced cancer and wanted to give it to me. It would have included dies but no brass--but a little research turned up not only new .25-20 SS cases but Lovell cases, from Roberson Cartridge Company, which makes a bunch of older cases, and will make just about anything you want. Pricey, of course.

But before the guy could send me his rifle he passed away. He'd told his kid (who'd never shown any interest before) that it should go to me, but the kid e-mailed me and said it wasn't going my way.....

I have a .22 Hornet on a Martini Cadet action--actually a BSA .22 rimfire target rifle that was converted. It shoots VERY well, but somehow I've never even considered rechambering it to .218.

Yeah I'd leave it as a Hornet too, John. Thanks for the tip re: Roberson. Hadn't looked at their stuff in a while.

Rounds like the Hornet, Bee, and the Whatever/20s are very useful and pleasant rounds. The problem is not many engage in the type of hunting where they shine, and of course the dearth of stuff so chambered. Doesn’t help either that larger CF .22s and others are easily loaded down to duplicate their performance level. Feller could cover a lot of bases with something like a Henry SS in .223, .357, or even .30WCF and clever handloading, with dropping a fortune, but that runs against the trend of having a special rifle for every minutely defined pupose. JB has mentioned that notion a time or two I think, and maybe Wieland too.

I got into handloading at age 12 so that I could feed my 219 Zipper, 250-3000, and 7x57. Like Frost wrote; "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.". I could have taken the well worn road via the 223, 243, and 308 and accomplished the same things with a lot less hassle.

I've had Savage 23s in 25-20 and Hornet, both fun guns.

Shoot and smile...

If that's how you have fun

Friend's father had a Hornet when we were kids...said he chose that over the .222 because it was quieter. Then he went to a .25-06 as a varmint rifle...go figger. Anyway, he also picked up a Winchester 43 in .218 Bee. I can remember helping my buddy find ammo for it in the '70's.

As for me, I've always been a .25-20 fan. I became intrigued by the cartridge as a kid, when I found a couple of them in a tray on my father's desk. I don't know where they came from or why he had them, he never had such a rifle. Anyway, the little cartridges fascinated me. Years later, I passed on a 23 Savage because the bore was not good and a 92 Winchester because the price was too high. I finally got my .25-20, an 1894CL Marlin. I've never been able to get the accuracy I wanted to out of it, but it's been adequate. It's proven to be a wonderful killer of moderately large varmints: coons, porcupines and nuisance beaver. One beaver in particular stands out. It was about 125 -135 yards away across the water. I drilled it through a shoulder with the 75 grain Speer flat-nose and got a complete pass-though on a pretty large beaver. I would say that bullet penetrated 14 - 16 inches of beaver. It just rolled over, kicked a little bit and died.

I tried the 60 grain Hornady bullets, never got any accuracy. I used the 75 grain Speers, but eventually found the 86 grain Remingtons to be more accurate. A friend gave me a couple of boxes of old Remington .Hi-Speed 25-20 ammo with 60 grain Mushroom (Hollowpoint) bullets. I kept one box intact, but shot some of the others and every case would split at the neck.

My son has the Marlin currently and I will probably never get it back. If I still had the farm, a place to just walk around casually shoot stuff, I'd get it, but he seems as intrigued by the cartridge as I. Last time I was at his place in Missouri, we went down to Midway and picked up a hundred .32-20's to make .25-20's from as well as some commercial cast bullets made for it.

I've always felt that one of the Ruger .357 bolt guns rebarreled to .25-20 or .218 Bee would be the way to get the best out of them.

Thank you. I’m fairly new to 23s and didn’t know the time line. That clears it up.

Pennsylvania provided some interesting scenarios when I was a kid. Due to its then (and now) liberal definition of legal deer cartridges a couple adults I knew really pushed that envelope. One guy, an uncle, campaigned a scoped .22 Hornet Savage 340, and the other guy a Winchester .25-20 lever gun with iron sights. Both were products of the Depression and were pretty frugal, but they were hardheads too. Those guys always got their deer, and always bragged about their one shot kills. As a kid I was mostly impressed with the fact that there were dead deer hanging there and not too mindful of exactly where in their anatomy they were shot. The gentleman with the .25-20 carried the same gun that his Dad issued to him as a kid because they couldn't afford a second .30-30 in the family and the little Winchester was there.

Later, as a teenager, I was on hand for my uncle's loss of faith in the Hornet. He had to whack a small buck 4 or 5 times to kill it - the first time ever it had taken him more than one shot, or so he claimed. (Proof, as I came to realize in my pre-adolescent mind, of the importance of precise bullet placement when using a small cartridge.) Right then and there he swore off the Hornet that had served him well for a decade and a half, and marched out and bought himself a new .30-06. You guessed it, a Remington 760. What else would a hotshot PA hunter buy in the late 60's? Setting his old scope on the gun to match the short eye relief he was accustomed to on the Hornet he proceeded to split his eyebrow with the first shot. I learned a whole slew of new Pennsylvania Dutch swear words that day.

Wildatters started necking down the .25-20WCF in the late 20's-early 30's, when the .22 centerfire craze swept the land. Well, the Land of Loonies anyway. It seems every gun crank worth his salt had a wildcat of his design based on the .25-20, not to mention every other cartridge case known to mankind. I think the Big Companies were slow to "officially" adopt them for fear of it being a passing fad.

I've had two .25-20s, a Savage 23 with an excellent bore, and a Winchester 92 made in 1913. The Savage had been drilled and tapped for a scope, and it shot very well with the 60-grain Hornady flatnoses, around an inch at 100 with a charge of 2400 that got around 2100 fps. It reminded me a lot of a bigger .22 Rimfire Magnum when using the 40-grain Winchester JHP load.

The second was an octagon-barreled Winchester 92 made in 1913, which had a fairly rough bore. But I discovered that an application of Dyna Bore Coat allowed it to shoot pretty well, even with cast bullets. With the factory open sights it grouped 60 Hornadys and 75 Speers into around 2.5" at 100 yards, and 85-grain cast bullets into 3" or so. I can shoot a little better than that with open sights, but not much!

So I'm not certain whether it's worth keeping this 218 Bee around as I already have an lightweight AR 15 that is my 22cal centerfire goto. Since I'm not tied to the 218 Bee and if it's a PITA to load and aquire components for what about boring it out to something else? Maybe that's feasible?

It's a new in box old Browning repro so if there's some mods to it I'm not killing Winchester collector value. I really like the stock and lever on these better than the standard 92's.

I have a 2R Lovell on a Winchester Model 54. It is a dandy rifle, and loading for it introduced me to a “higher level” of reloading activities such as fitted necks. It is the first centerfire rifle I killed a groundhog with. I remember looking in amazement at the damage created by a 45 grain Hornady soft point fired from that rifle.

Great memories with a grand cartridge.

My 218 Bee is a Ruger #1. I’ve not had it long. Did shoot some PDs with it. I’d feel comfortable shooting a coyote 100 or so yards.

If you’re not in love with the rifle I’d sell it to someone who will use it. The Brownings don’t have the collector value of a Winchester but they ain’t cheap and getting more valuable every year. Reboring to 25-20 would make a cool little rifle but even harder to find components to load. Going to 32-20 is a reasonable option. Lots of brass and bullet options but the end product would have much less resale value than the original.

I haven’t found the 218 to be a problem to load. Yes brass is a bit hard to find but it’s out there. A hundred rounds would keep it shooting for years. There seem to be a fair number of Speer 46 grain FPs available. I know this will get me flamed but I’ve loaded the 45 grain Hornet bullets in mine a lot. I think the chance of an issue with them going off in the tube magazine is statistically zero. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a documented incident of a round going off in a tubular magazine. Anecdotal yes. Someone’s brother in law’s, dentist’s, postman’s, step sister’s, uncle’s nephew had it happen.

No flaming here. I think you're right. In well over a half-century of gunnery I've never heard of a chain fire in a magazine tube. Not saying it never happened or couldn't happen but with a low recoil cartridge like the .218 or .25-20WCF I would opine that it ain't very bloody likely to happen. After all, the one bullet point that would be most likely to detonate a primer in front of it would be a FMJ spitzer, and how many folks load them in a .218 Bee?

I figure they were Americas answer to a garden pest gun.

I have a Ruger #1 218 Bee. It's very accurate and one of my favorite cartridges. I have shot ground squirrels, prarie dogs, jack rabbits, rock chucks, badgers and coyotes with it. I killed one Wyoming coyote with a 35 gr, v-max at 176 yds. It dropped right in it's tracks and never knew what hit it. Another coyote at 26 yds. with a 40 gr. v-max. I use Lil' Gun powder with the 40 gr. v-max and get over 3000 fps. Anybody that thinks a 218 isn't a good varmint cartridge has never shot and used one much. Give it a chance, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Theoldpinecricker: I have a pair of Rifles in caliber 218 Bee.
I love to Hunt small game and Varmints with them.
One is a Kimber of Oregon Model 82-B and the other is a beautifully stocked Ruger #1-B.
There is very little recoil (none?) and both Rifles are very pleasingly accurate.
It's economical to reload for and brass seems to last forever.
I have a "left handed" friend that Hunted Varmints (Coyotes, Prairie Dogs and Rock Chucks) for years with his Browning Model 65 lever action Rifle in caliber 218 Bee.
He loved that gun.
In fact on Friday (December 10th) at the Bozeman, Montana gunshow, there was an unfired, new in the box, Browning Model 65 in 218 Bee for sale!
I am not sure if it sold over the weekend or not - but I drooled on it on Friday?
I would NOT hesitate to take a poke at a Coyote from either of my 218 Bee's out to 300 yards (6x18 Leupold on the #1-B and a 4x12 Leupold on the Kimber).
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

The 218 Mashburn Bee is the coolest looking little round with the sharp shoulder. I thought really hard about it, but I couldn't find 218 Bee or 25-20 brass, so I decided to go with the 22 K-Hornet. Push the 40gr V-Max to 2900-3100fps and you have a nice 100-150 yard varmint rig,

100-150 yards?

Have shot plenty of varmints with 40 V-Maxes and 40 Nosler Ballistic Tips at those velocities from the .22 Hornet, K-Hornet and .218 Bee. The longest kill was 427 yards, and have killed hundreds at 200-300.

I have a scoped Raging Bee Taurus revolver. Handy, nasty little sucker out to about 125 yds.

Mine was a Marlin 1894C, great little quiet round for coyote calling, I bought it brand new. It got to be worth too much and kind of a tweener with my CZ 455 22 WMR and 222 Rem with light 800x loads and 45gr softpoints. The 222 Rem is so versatile that it has pretty much killed the desire for a Hornet or Bee. I gave my Hornet to my niece as he first predator hunting rifle.

It's one of the very cheapest reloadable cartridges to shoot and has no recoil to speak of. The rifles are small light and handy. Velocity is 3000+ if you want it to be, so within the accurate range of the Model 65 it's a complete laser (unlike 22LR). Ammo, Brass and bullets are in production.

I've taken rabbit, squirrel and pests with it. It's also a good first levergun for children and people new to guns. Never fails to put a smile on people's faces. I've never had one in hand when I saw a coyote, but it would be perfect there too.

I've owned small frame Martini rifles in .22 Hornet, .218 Bee, .218 Mashburn Bee, .219 Zipper and .225 Winchester. I never really saw a lot of difference between the first three, although the Mashburn Bee was probably good for another 300-400 fps over the Hornet. The .219 and the .225 were whole different critters.

I'm down now to the .218 and the .225, although I do also own a custom Springfield 1922 converted to a .22 Hornet repeater and a T/C Contender barrel for the .22 Hornet. There's also a Winchester Hi-Wall in .219 Zipper Improved, which will put you close to .22-250 ballistics, particularly with its 27 inch barrel. Since I have brass in abundance for the Hornet, the Bee and the .225, I'll probably hang on to all three until the time comes to dispose of everything.

I use the 22 K-Hornet for fox on my wooded property, most of my shots are under 150. For smaller varmints, I use 22lr or 22 mag. So I guess I was speaking from my experience, no doubt in skilled hands such as yours it can reach out and touch varmints much further than 150 yards. I guess my point was, not every round has to burn a ton of powder, kick the crap out of you, have blazing speed or burnout the throat in 1000 rounds to be useful and fun.

I believe most of John's longer shots with cartridges like the 22 Hornet, K-Hornet and the Bee were for ground squirrels.

Your assessment of the various rounds is right on the money. You do not need a large cartridge that burns large amounts of powder. We need to use the cartridges that suit our situations. Years ago, when Hornady first came out with their VMax line, I bought a couple boxes of 35 grain bullets for my 22 Hornet, thinking that they would be perfect for foxes. Unfortunately, things didn't pan out.

I shot a fox at short range, about 40 yards I think, with the little VMax. It was the first and only time that I heard a fox screech. It jumped, and took off. At least, that's what I thought. My hunting partner and I hunted for that critter for a while, but we couldn't find it. He suggested that it wasn't a good hit, but I knew that it was. We went back to where I thought it was standing when I took the shot. We began a second search, and found it a few yards away. We just didn't see it the first time.

The bullet clipped the front leg and shattered the bone. The only thing that held the bottom half of the lag was some skin. When I cut into it, I saw tiny holes in the connective tissue. The fox died after being bombarded with a shattered bullet and bone. Much like a shotgun.

I tossed the guts into a ravine about 1/2 mile from where we were camped. I returned the next day to see a fisher dragging his prize away.

Steve,

Yep, most of my longer shots with the small-capacity .22s have been on "ground squirrels," including prairie dogs. But have also killed animals up to whitetail deer with the .22 Hornet, using a 60-grain Nosler Partition from a 1-12 twist T/C Contender Carbine barrel at around 2400 fps, which worked fine.

Have also killed larger-than-ground-squirrel varmints such as white-tailed jackrabbits (about the size of a typical red fox) at ranges far beyond 150 yards, using various 40-grain plastic-tipped bullets.

While I appreciate MOW's post on why he personally knows such cartridges are good to 150, I thought this might be useful information.

Essentially, the improvements in both ballistic coefficient and expansion due to 40-grain plastic-tipped bullets, along with newer powders, have made .22 Hornet/.218 Bee rounds even more effective than the .222 Remington with the original 50-grain softpoint load. And yes, I know this from personal experience.

I think most people who use the 22 Hornet/22 K-Hornet, 222 etc., and reload, have been using 40 grain bullets for a while. Their superior BC extends the useful range. Like everyone else who has used a 22 Hornet/K-Hornet or 222 for many years and reloaded, the arrival of the 'pointy forty' changed the game. I don't think it will be too long before you see the traditional Hornet bullets fade into the sunset. It's much like RNs in the bigger calibres.

For many years, the only 222 load around here was a 50 gr. PSP. With the arrival of the 40 grain polymer tipped bullet, it provided more options for hunters. For me, that was eastern coyotes and marmots. But far and away the best use of the 40 grain bullet was in my 22 K-Hornet.

And because we do not have ground squirrels here, 40 grains is the lightest bullet I will load. That said, when using coyotes with a 222 or 223, the 50 grain Speer is perfect, and inexpensive too. Others may have different experiences, but it is important to choose the bullet that fits your situation - not what others say will work. For that, you have to do your own research. When a long shot is 150 yards, using a Nosler or Hornady VMax isn't necessary or cost effective.

While it is good to experiment, if you have a proven combination that gets the job done, it's not always wise to switch. I no longer use the older Hornet bullets in my 22 K-Hornet, but continue to use Speer 50s with my 222s. They are accurate, inexpensive and reliable.

Technology gave me options. From that, I chose what fit my needs.

Back in the 1970s I considered the Hornet to be a 175 yard cartridge on groundhogs. I had a Handi Rifle so chambered as a walking varminter. That was with the old powders and bullets. Powders like Lil Gun and bullets like the 40 grain V Max have certainly breathed new life into the Hornet.

Steve,

Unlike you, I write for a wider audience who wants to know what might fit their needs.

A while back I was assigned an article by the editor of VARMINT HUNTER magazine to both range- and field-test every available varmint bullet. Of course, this proved to be impossible, because during the period involved new bullets kept appearing. But I did get to test enough bullets thoroughly, both at the range and in the field, to come to certain conclusions.

Have owned several .222s, and used them on animals from ground squirrels to coyotes, and so far have not chosen 50-grain softpoints for any of those purposes. But whatever.

That's fine, John. But as often happens here, we have drifted from the original question.

Do not mistake my bullet choices as being the only ones I have tried or would recommend. I believe that experimentation is paramount. After trying many out, I decided on what works for me.

When I was younger and looking for a good bullet to load in my 222, I took in what the gunwriters of the day recommended. But I also listened to several long time club members who said to identify my target and choose the bullets that fit. They told me to seek out advice from multiple sources, but after that, I had to experiment. I have always followed this and passed their advice along.

Because technology never stands still, it is necessary to stay current. That is why you will continue to get paid, until you decide to pack it in. That said, unlike 'the days of yore', when information was more difficult to obtain, technology has also given us the ability to explore on our own.

In addition to reading about the experiences of others, shooters and reloaders can now go to manufacturer's sites and easily search for bullets and powders that suit their purpose. For those who shoot cartridges like the 223, 22 Hornet and 218 Bee, feeding the rifles is considerably cheaper than the bigger stuff. These cartridges are also easier on the shoulder.

The usual position taken about any professionally written article is that the expertise of the writer can be a great help when searching for a new cartridge or bullet. I agree. It certainly can. In the end however, the shooter/hunter has to find things out for himself. I am not downplaying the importance of gunwriters, but acknowledge that it is easier for the shooting public to assess more information in a shorter length of time. They no longer have to rely on a handful of sources.

Today's shooter can take more control of his unique situation. He has distinct advantages over previous generations. He has more tools, better technology and considerably more sources of good information.

Which brings me back to the original question. The 218 Bee in a lever is good as it ever was, with the possible exception of brass procurement, but if one was considering a 100 yard coyote gun, there are better choices. and decidedly better bullets.

Steve,

You misinterpreted my post.

I do NOT often recommend specific bullets, cartridges, powders, scopes, etc. Instead I report what happened when I used/tested them.
That's a very different thing.

No, I understood.

If your report shows that bullet x and powder y worked for you, people will often copy it. To them, it's an endorsement. You do not have to say, "I recommend bullet x and powder y." It's the nature of the reader. Have no worries, I am not suggesting anything nefarious.

I'll confess to having never tried any of the "new generation" plastic tipped bullets in my K-Hornet. Its a 1935-vintage Winchester M54 built by Mr. Kilbourn himself, and its twist is 1-15" (whether it should be 1-14 or 1-16 I don't know, I suspect 1-16). Would such projectiles be stable at modest velocities, at sea level? I suspect they would, but I got a tremendous supply of old school 45's and 40's with the gun which need to get used up first (said bullets shoot very nicely by the way). 60 grain Partitions are right out there.

My other Hornet, actually a German kiplauf chambered for 5.6x35R, has a 1-9" twist believe it or not, but it's groove diameter is .226. It gets fed a diet of 60 grain gas checked lead bullets at velocities around 2000fps.

All the Lovells have 1-14's and their diet consists of 45 and 50 grain old school blunt bullets, not that the paper targets which are mostly what my .22 centerfires kill these days care very much.

Making them fit the magazine is a trick, too. My Dad has an older Winnie in Bee (model 43 maybe, I don't remember for sure) and you can't get a lot of the new, sleek bullets in the case far enough to fit the magazine without them wanting to fall down in the necks.

I have the same issue with my old 840 222. It's a 1-16 twist, but none of the more areodynamic lightweight bullets will work in the magazine. I'm using the 30gr Barnes VG in it... they're potatoes, but very accurate potatoes so I can deal with being limited to shorter ranges.

The short magazines are why most of my .22 Hornets have been single-shots--but not all.

Had a CZ 527 K-Hornet for a while, which proved to be impossible to load with plastic-tips and still have the rounds fit inside the magazine. But some years later bought a Brno K-Hornet, which was supposedly the prototype/predecessor for the 527, and in fact the integral scope bases used the same rings as the 527. But the Brno's magazine was enough longer to handle plastic-tips.

I’ve always wanted one. That’s all
I know.

When I had a 527 I mostly loaded 35 grain V Max bullets in it because they were stubby. I did find I could load 40 grain V maxes and get one in the chamber and two in the mag. I sold the rifle when I went to all left hand rifles.

I had a Kimber 82 single shot 218 Bee with a factory varmint weight barrel. h I shot a few woodchucks with it. My hunting buddy wanted it, and he bought it 20+ years ago. He loves it. I have seen him take woodchucksvat 300 yards with it ( first shot) with a Nosler 40 grain ballistic tip. Load was something like 13 grains of a fast rifle powder (4227?).

I also used to have Ruger #1s in 218 Bee. Never shot it. Sold it.

What is a 218 Bee good for? It is a very efficient small game cartridge with a sharper shoulder than the standard 22 Hornet.

All that written, I have a nice Sako A1 Varmint in 222 Remington. I can load it down with 12.5 grains IMR 4227 with a 50 grain bullet. Accurate, quiet, and "218 Bee-like". Don't have a chrono, but guessing if is in the 2400 fps area. That's why I sold my 218 Bees. It is a great cartridge, but my 222 Rem is even better, due to its load flexibility.

That is a good explanation. You assessed your needs and decided on a cartridge and some loads. Prima!