218 BEE

[TerryPohl]

Have been loading for years but never for a 218 BEE, The gun is a Torus 8 shot pistol, I gave it to a friend and now he wants me to load for it. I don't even know what diameter bullet to order none of my manuals have it in there. Any help will be appreciated. Best I can tell it has a 224 caliber bullet but powder choses and primer type would help also.
Thanks in advance.
Terry Pohl

 

[wapiti25]

The 218 Bee is normally a rifle cartridge. The Bee is a .224 so a 50gr would be a good place to start but lighter may be required as the twist rate of the barrel will decide.

 

[dedogs]

The .218 Bee is in fact normally a rifle cartridge BUT HORNADY'S RELOADING MANUALS LIST THE BULLET AS .222 DIAMETER! You should probably take a casting of the barrel or contact Taurus as to what the barrel requires. Also if your brass is old and / or has been fired multiple times it would be a good idea to anneal it before trying to reload it. Winchester .218 brass is notoriously thin necked (usually on one side only) and they will crack and split on firing if work hardened. Hope this helps. dedogs

 

[jds holler]

Best advice I can give for loading the 218, is don't fully resize your cases. I guess the term is "partial full length size". This will save you the head ache of case separation down at the web.

My Bee is a bolt action rifle and this technique works fine; don't know about a revolver. Also don't know about this .222" bullet diameter thing. Everyone I know uses .224. My new favorite is the 35 Gr. V-Max. jd

 

[dedogs]

I'm not saying .224 diameter won't work, just saying what the Hornady manuals list. Since some Taurus pistols like to blow up I'd make darn sure I could run a fatter bullet in it before I tried it. Don't want to hear the OP got hurt.
You make a good point about not full length re-sizing though.dedogs

 

[jds holler]

My loading library is admittedly a little dated, and my most modern Hornady book is the 4th edition two book set. At that time they listed .224" bullet diameter. Seems odd that they would change, unless there is a manufacturer specific difference which ought to be noted.

Slugging the barrel would be and always is a safe route to take. jd

 

[dedogs]

+1

 

[coford]

I have a Browning lever gun in a .218 and a Contender barrel in that chambering also. I feed the rifle 11.5 grains of W296 and a 45 grain Hornady flat point hollow point. The Condender gets 12 grains of W296 and a 40 grain Ballistic tip. I have also had good luck with H 4227 at 11.5 to 12 grains. All bullets are .224 diameter.

 

[JohnHenry]

I shoot a number of 218 Bee rifles. All my barrels have a .224 groove diameter. One could confirm with Taurus but I would expect a modern revolver to have a .224 groove diameter barrel. My favorite powder is Accurate 1680. The Accurate site has 218 Bee rifle data for 1680 powder. A link is attached. I normally use Winchester brass and Federal 205M primers. I find the 218 Bee case quite durable, much more so than 22 Hornet brass. I full length size each reloading using a die that JLC Precision converted to a bushing style die. I easily get 20 reloads out of a case. You may need to fl size in a revolver to load and eject w/o any issues. The Taurus spec indicates that the barrel twist rate is 1 in 9.5" so you should be able to shoot the heavier 50-55 gr. bullets if desired. I believe the Taurus revolvers had 6, 10, or 12 inch barrels. Fun cartridge. Enjoy and be safe.

http://www.accuratepowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/WP_LoadSpec_1-23-14.pdf

 

[bheadboy]

being an old goat, I used the Lyman 225415 47gr gas check, with 2400 powder, accurate, and bad on small game

Bob

 

[jds holler]

I think that with a revolver, I'd be very inclined to start low and work up carefully to avoid extraction problems. A revolver with six very sticky cases pretty much sucks. jd

 

[bheadboy]

JDS is right, the cast route, is the safest as with mild loads the cases need very little sizing and are not inclined to cause problems in a revolver where head space is a great ????? for cases with a taper.

Bob

 

[jds holler]

being an old goat, I used the Lyman 225415 47gr gas check, with 2400 powder, accurate, and bad on small game

Bob

Bob, I used to have that mold and love those little pills. Lost it somehow/somewhere. Recent thread about reduced loads has rekindled my interest, and I'mmahafta get another. jd

 

[bheadboy]

JD
+1 I also used it in 221 fb --powder and bullets are a little scarce and or expensive and I happen to have 300+/- lead

Star sizer and lots of Hensley and Gibbs molds plus some Lyman and RCBS

Hummmmm

Bob

 

[M-61]

Using the standard practice of measuring correct bullet diameter.....
I was under the impression that all 22's were .224.....the only exception was some very early 22 Hornets that were .223
Not arguing what is stated in a manual, and agreeing that slugging the barrel is sound advice, just wondering if my memory is foggy.
Never have run across .222 diameter bullets either.

 

[SBS]

Using the standard practice of measuring correct bullet diameter.....
I was under the impression that all 22's were .224.....the only exception was some very early 22 Hornets that were .223
Not arguing what is stated in a manual, and agreeing that slugging the barrel is sound advice, just wondering if my memory is foggy.
Never have run across .222 diameter bullets either.

Prewar Hornets from commercial arms mfgs. (Win., Savage) were .223. Many customs were made on .22 LR barrels (M2 Springfields i.e.) and were .222. The .22 Jet uses a .222 bullet, as the S&W revolver it was chambered for came with inserts for shooting .22LR rounds.

 

[centershot]

I think that with a revolver, I'd be very inclined to start low and work up carefully to avoid extraction problems. A revolver with six very sticky cases pretty much sucks. jd

I agree. I had a 22 Jet and it was very hard to extract cases! Why did I sell it? :'(

 

[jds holler]

My experience with sticky extraction revolver shooting was with my 30 Carbine Blackhawk. At least it was single action, and could be dealt with one chamber at a time. Shooting cast bullets with typical pistol powders solved my problem.

I sold that revolver while I still had a little hearing left. jd