I picked up one of these, really to help a friend in a financal pickel. I had no interest in the gun, but after reading a bit more about, I am actually thinking about keeping it.
Does anyone else own one, and what do you think of them.

I like the 218 Bee, but the rear locking lugs on the Winchester 43s have a reputation for setting back if you use too many maximum reloads. Also, the triggers aren't all that crisp.

If you don't try to make a 223 out of it and use it within its limits, it would be a fun gun to shoot.

Jeff

The Bee was first available in lever guns so it was factory loaded with round nose bullets which hurt its trajectory and accuracy too.

But, in a bolt rifle with modern pointy varmit bullets I can't think of anything that might be more fun to shoot.

With cast bullets, it should be a fantastic squirrel rifle!

Hey OF, I had a few in the 22Hornet version. If you like Controlled Feed where every cartridge must be inserted into a magazine, then you will get along fine with them. Mine were built for 0.223" Bullets, but 0.224" worked OK too.

They are simply a nice light-weight, short distance rifle. If you can find an extra magazine or two, you should give serious consideration to investing in them.

They can be a bit tricky to put a scope on. At one time Redfield made a one piece Base for them and may still. I remember carrying one into a Gun Show in a box and had no problem at all moving it out for what I considered a HUGE profit about 25 years ago.

Best of luck with the rifle.

Why the .25-20 became such a popular varmint round and the 218 Bee failed is beyond me..... IMO the Bee is the preferable round....but that's history.

If I could find a decent Bee in any rifle at all I'd own one. I found a Ruger #1 in .218 a few years ago.....but then it was a Ruger!!!!

Some of the Martinis are converted to 218 and make great guns.....

I have no experience with the M-43 as I've only ever seen one in my life....they must be rare or highly coveted and kept secret.....

Vapo -

I suspect there are a number of reasons the .218 Bee didn't make it in the popularity sweepstakes.

First, it was introduced in the latter half of the '30s, just a very few years before WWII stopped manufacture of all .218-chambered guns for 6 years.

Second, it was Winchester's answer to the .22-3000 which already had a good following. And the Bee didn't quite match the R2 Lovell (.22-3000) except in the .218 Mashburn (improved) Bee form. Both it and the Lovell were killed absolutely dead by introduction of the .222 Remington in the very early 1950s.

Of course, third, it was introduced after the .220 Swift too, which it didn't come near equalling.

Then, fourth, it was first introduced in a lever action, not the M-43. That Winchester lever gun did not provide good accuracy as a general rule...being infamous for stringing its shots vertically to 4 , even 6, MOA at 100 yards.

Fifth, in those Great Depression days having a "varmint" rifle for many Americans meant having something to protect the hen house, sheep, family pets, etc. America was pretty much a subsistance agriculture society...and to be honest, the .25-20 was a much better varmint rifle for most folks who could only afford one such dedicated gun...assuming they didn't just use their deer rifle or shotgun. The Bee will kill coyotes and similar size varmints fairly well, but not as dependably in all circumstances as the Hi-speed .25-20 round.

Lastly, there were numerous well-known writers back in those days who commented on the acknowledged accuracy superiority of short, fat cases, in MEDIUM capacity cases, but noted that the configuration did not do well accuracy-wise in small capacity cases (under 25 grains capacity).

Rightfully or wrongfully, I think all of those things drove their own nails in the .218 Bee's coffin.

AC...yes of course you're right on this....

We have the luxury of hind sight and live in a different time.....

I'll never be able to believe in them days that my varmint rifle was a .25-20 and not a .257 Roberts or a .250 savage....but you're dead on the mark about the hen house rifle.....pesky foxes anyway!.....and darn those great horned owls too!

One more thing.....in those days a rifle had three things.....a lever, a hammer and a barrel stamped Winchester!

I handloaded for this cartridge in this rifle a few years ago for an old bloke. Used the Hornady Flat Nose 'Bee' projectile and got some great groups.

Not as good as my Ruger No.1 in .218Bee but very good anyway.

A Great little cartridge that doesn't make much noise. Keep it.

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Originally posted
A Great little cartridge that doesn't make much noise. Keep it.

Yes it is a good little cartridge. My first one was a Francotte Martini which had been a Hornet but was rechambered by Doug Paul of Edmonton, Alberta. It had a 27" barrel, but was still a handy little rig.

The 25-20 is a small edible game round. The bee was beat by the hornet because the hornet came first. My .218Bee M43 was mediocre in accuracy and trigger so it got traded. If it had been a 25-20 I might have kept it.

quote:

One more thing.....in those days a rifle had three things.....a lever, a hammer and a barrel stamped Winchester!

ah...yes....and a guy with a bolt action rifle was deemed to be too poor to own a REAL rifle.....my how things have changed

Just for your info,
I got the catalog from a big collrctor the other day, and he listed a 43 in .218 Bee in 90% condiditon for just under 800.00.
So they are somewhat collectable.
...tj3006

quote:

Originally posted:
The 25-20 is a small edible game round. The bee was beat by the hornet because the hornet came first. My .218Bee M43 was mediocre in accuracy and trigger so it got traded. If it had been a 25-20 I might have kept it.

The .25-20 WCF was also used for small edible game, true enough. But, its primary purpose for many of its initial years, if you can believe Winchester's advertising of the day, was for killing varmints which preyed on the small animals of farmers or were otherwise farm nuisances., such as the fox, coyote, badger, rabid skunks, etc.

In actual fact most folks who ate very much small game much preferred something with less power, such as the .25 Stevens Long (rimfire), which was about half way between the .22LR and the .25-20 in practical killing power. The .25-20 was too dstructive of things like squirrels, cottontails, quail, etc, and often tore them up quite badly. It did work well on turkeys though. Believe me, I lived through that era. Been there, done that, and was a gun nut even then.

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It did work well on turkeys though.

yup.....and is great on the tiny ten.....duikers for sure