Woohoo a #1 in 218 Bee is mine!

[DC]

Happy days are here again.  I just found a used #1 in 218 Bee which I will have imediately reamed to 218 Mashburn Bee.  I have around 400 rounds that have been wait for a home.  I used to have a 218 Mashburn that I had built on Win Low Wall action and a beautiful piece of wood.  Times got tough I was was forced to sell it for $2,400 knowing that I would never be able to afford a custom like that again.  For three years I have been looking and low and behold three show up on Gun Broker and one was in a shop in Twin Falls, ID, my stomping grounds. 
I paid $775 for this like new piece with great wood.  I am putting a Weaver Grand Slam 6-20x44 on it and am thinking that life is good.

[DC]

Here is a picture which I hope comes through with my new girl friend from Ruger.

[drdougrx]

Sexy!!!

[BlkHawk73]

  Passed up a pretty nice .218 as a #1A a short time ago.  Good price but just not a chambering niche I needed filled.  Were it a .22 Hornet, I probably would've jumped. 

[gcrank1]

Oh yeah!!! Im lovin' that English style forestock and ebony tip on that. Now why doesnt the factory offer that?
The Bee can bee loaded just as slow as the Hornet, but I think Id rather have a Zipper.
Nice replacement.......

[DC]

I thought about the 219 Zipper but cases were much easier to find as a 218 Bee.  They fire form to the Mashburn case and move the velocity up to .223 territory, around 3200 fps. with 40-45 grain bullet.  With a 50 it is less but still enough to reach out 250+ yards.
I hopefully will be able to pick it up in a couple of weeks. 
With the last one I had built, (when I had more money than sense), I was taking ground squirrel heads off at 190 measured yards and I hope to do the same.

My next venture may be long range BP muzzel loaders.....Just saw a competition on TV.. Way cool!

[hillbill]

jst curious, whats the advantage of the mashburn bee over the 218 bee?

[gcrank1]

Too bad we arent closer together, Id have you try my Parker-Hale .451 Volunteer.
I think youve got the ticket with that kind of performance out of the Mashburn, no need for the Zipper!

[DC]

Re the case difference and advantage: Mashburn much like P.O. Ackley found that he could get more case capacity and longer case life by pushing the shoulder forward.  He was right on both accounts.  The Mashburn case holds just enough more powder to push the performance to around 3300 fps which is about 300 fps faster than the 218 Bee.  You can shoot a heavier bullet which is really a big plus. Case life as predicted is much better.  You can usually fire form 218 Bee's in a 218 Mashburn Bee chamber and dies are available for reloading. 
All in all, it is a great little round which runs circles around the 22 Hornet.  The down side is that factory ammo in 218 Bee is hard to come by and is expensive when you can find it.  The round however is really easy to reload and the parent case was originally the 25-20 so in a pinch you can resize and trim the cases. 

The 218 Bee and Mashburn Bee are a match made in heaven for single shot rifles although it was chambered in lever guns quite a bit in the 40's and after.