I would be interested in any of your experiences, load, data, BS or anything else on a .218 Mashburn Bee. I have a hankering for one of these and I would like to know what it will do in the real world with various bullet weights before I start building one. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Brad Hurt

Me too! I've had a standard 218 and loved it, except that in the lever action Browning, I did not like chasing brass when hunting coyotes. I also own a 221 fireball, and have heard, but never verified, that the 218 Improved is equivalent. A single shot would be more to my liking for the use of pointed bullets and brass chasing issues. I have found barrels do not heat up as quickly and was great for shooting lots of rounds. If you're going to hunt it, I'd get a bolt action Fireball and skip the brass issues.

I am thinking of using this on a single shot action so a rim will be helpful. Also I think I got enough stuff laying around here to form brass.

Brad Hurt

I think it's a splendid idea that you must pursue without hesitation. I was surprised how flat shooting my little Bee was even with the flat point Hornady bullets. With a single shot and pointed bullets you'll have a real legitimate varmint round there. Just curious, would you scope it or go nostalgia with a peep or ???

One might also have a serious look at the 222 rimmed....A rimmed case with the spark of a 222 Remington!

I had a 218 mashburn bee contender barrel that bullberry made me, it was a 10" tube. I don't have my notes with me but my goal was to get 22 hornet rifle performance from a 10" pistol. It fell a bit shy of the goal in velocity as I recall. It was also a bit finicky finding a good load.

Honestly I'd say the 221 fireball is a much better choice. More accurate and higher velocity. You can make a rimmed 221 from 360 DW brass, though you'd likely need a form die or two.

I have a #1 in 218 Bee. Two loads I use, both very accurate in my rifle:

40 VMax 12.5 H110
40 VMax 15.7 R7

I'm sure you could use the above loads as a start point for your Mashburn and work up.

You might check over on the saubier.com forum.
They deal in small caliber stuff.

Hal

I have one on a martini cadet I made up. I doubt you could equell a 221, at least not in a martini with it's poor extraction. The stinker about the mashburn bee is the 218 case it'self. You have to blow the shoulder waaay foreward and it takes some life out of the brass. If you want to go to the hassel, neck it to 243 cal, then back down to 22 to give a good hold front and back on the case when fireforming. that seems to extend brass life by close to double. If your rifle likes them, use a boattail bullet when you load. otherwise be prepared to run out of vocabulary crushing those tiny ,thin little case necks when seating a flatbase.
My 2 cents on things.

Satisfy the hankering by all means. FYI, however, the 22 jet in my Ruger #1 doesn't miss performance of the Mashburn bee by very much when loaded to modern levels. Cases and dies are readily available. One really neat thing is you can make and use the rimless Jet from .223, .222. or .221s. They function and extract beautifully in the #1.The military .223s are a bit heavier. All of the rimless cases will have to be neck turned , but than that's part of the fun in wildcatting. If desired I can furnish results data. roger

I have posted here before of my experience with the Mashburn Bee in a Martini. Disappointing. Poor extraction with any load that gave over 3000fps with 40 gr bullet.
I ended up rechambering to a 22/357 Max. Mine is the Ackley shoulder.
Honest 3600fps with 40 gr VMax and excellent accuracy. Case forming is a bit of an adventure, but I think this might be the optimum form for a 22 in this action.

the most common form of the .22/Maxi is probably the 222 RC Maxi. It is literally a .222 Rimmed with a shorter neck. I have owned a couple, but ended up just chambering for the .222R (222 reamer and lathe cut rim). It lets you shoot either factory rounds or necked down 357. Gives more latitude with cases and is a factory round if you sell.

Art.S
You make a good point about factory ammo. My starting point on this was the 224 RC Maxi. My objective was 222 velocity with easier extraction. At the time, I was concerned about availability of 222R brass. IIRC, the only source was an import. The 357 Max seemed like a better bet since it was from Remington.
Also, to add to my frustration with the 218, I got a batch of Win brass with undersize bases. Made for some interesting looking fired cases.