To all,

I was able to pick up a beautiful little Winchester M43 bolt action at last springs gun show chambered in 218 Bee. I think this is one of the classier looking older bolt actions around chambered in the little Bee.

Anyway, got it home and really wanted to pop some gophers with it as the seller said it was a fine shooting little rifle. Took it out to check the sight in and at 50 yards could not get any rounds on paper after bore sighting.

Moved up to 25 yards and three of the 5 rounds made a 10" group with the other 2 missing the paper totally.

Well I took it to the shop and cleaned it down to bear metal and retested, still, no luck. I then figured something serious was wrong with the barrel so I recrowned it use to count that out, no luck again. I measured the bore diameter and found teh problem, the bore measured roughly 0.227".

Interestingly, the bore was in almost mint condition so I assume that the past owners had tried the little rifle, could not get it to shoot and either stored it away or sold it to another shooter.

Anyway, that brings me to this last week. The reciever of the M43 had been previously tapped so any collector value for the rifle was gone. I decided I would bring the little rifle back to life with a new barrel.

I ordered a Douglas 1-14" twist #4 contoured barrel and turned the shank down to .950" to fit the reciever and then threaded the .800"x20 TPI shank.

I decided that since I had the reamer I would use the hot little 218 Mashburn Bee in this new barrel. I chambered it and then cut the barrel to a length of 25" and crowned the muzzle with a classy radiused crown to fit the era.

I opened up the original stock to fit the slightly bulkier barrel.

My next step will be to fit the stock with one of my mini bedding block systems to give the little rifle a much more solid bedding and recoil lug surface area. Without going into detail, this system is similar to the one used on the Sako M995 except that it is postitioned a couple inches in front of the reciever on the barrel. The small block will have a metal support pad of roughly 1.5" fore and aft the recoil lug and mounting screw slot.

To support the rear of the action, I will install an aluminum pillar to prevent the old wood from collapsing and to give good support to the relatively thin walled action.

The original barrel was drilled and tapped for a scope mounting block but I have drilled and tapped the from of the reciever instead for a #18 Weaver base.

Once finished, the little Winchester will retain all of its original class looks + a scope but will be totally modern on the inside and should prove to be a real shooter when finished.

This is alot to put into an old 218 Bee but to get the old girl up and running again will be well worth it.

I look forward to packing the light little rifle over the hay field searching for gophers and other varmints to pop, as well as using it in heavy cover while calling coyotes from tree stands on the Montana river bottoms.

Will let you know how it shoots.

Just though some of you may be interested in this somewhat different project.

Its kind of nice to step away form the super accuracy rigs and build something just for the sake of a FUN rifle.

Good Shooting!!!

50

Just remember that 43 is a real lite wieght as far as strength goes. Mine has set back the lug a few thousands through the years, and the former owners used factory ammo! Not a major thing to fix, just watch your pressure and bolt lift.

I am curious as to where you learned gunsmithing it is something that I always wanted to learn but never had the time or money to go to a school. I did take 2 years of machine shop class before I started working as a machinist. Back problems forced me out of the trade and into a desk job. I have learned over the years a few methods on beading a rifle, but nothing on how to rebarrel a rifle. I enjoy reading about your projects they are always interesting. Are there any good videos or books you would recommend so I might at lease understand the basics or rebarreling a rifle.

Fiftydriver,
I have a 43 in .218 bee and dearly love it. I have been using small pistol primers and Lil Gun powsder and the groups shrunk dramatically. Lots of fun and zero recoil.