.218 Bee

Cartridge January 2013 .218 Bee 218_Bee.jpg 200px Left, compared to .223 Remington US Rifle Winchester 1937 Winchester 1937–present .218 Mashburn BeeLandis, Charles S. Twenty-Two Caliber Varmint Rifles (1947) Small Arms Technical Publishing Company p.60 .32-20 Winchester Rimmed, bottleneck .224 .242 .329 .349 .408 .065 1.345 Small rifle 40,000Saami pressures. (n.d.). Retrieved May 3, 2023, from https://leverguns.com/articles/saami_pressures.htm 35 VMax 3205 799 40 BT 3130 870 46 JFP 2708 749 50 BT 2654 782 Hodgdon http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp Hodgdon Online Reloading Data 2007-08-02 https://web.archive.org/web/20071111143616/http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp 2007-11-11 dead The .218 Bee / 5.7x34mmR is a .22 caliber centerfire rifle cartridge designed for varmint hunting by Winchester in 1937. The cartridge was originally chambered in the Winchester Model 65 lever-action rifles, which may have ultimately led to its lack of popularity. The cartridge is named for the bore diameter of the barrel in which the cartridge is chambered rather than the usual practice in the United States of having the cartridge's nomenclature reflect in some way the bullet diameter. History The .218 Bee cartridge was designed by Winchester for use in their Model 65 lever-action rifles. Winchester designed the cartridge by necking down the .25-20 Winchester cartridge to accept a .224 diameter bullet. Just as the .32-20 can be considered to be the parent cartridge of the .25-20, it can also be considered the parent cartridge to the .218 Bee. The cartridge was introduced as a commercial cartridge by Winchester in 1937 in their Model 65 lever action rifle, which was also chambered for the .25-20 and .32-20 Winchester cartridges. However, while the .25-20 and the .32-20 Model 65 rifles have 22-inch (560 mm) barrels, the rifles chambered for the Bee have 24-inch (610 mm) barrels. Despite showing some early promise, the cartridge never really caught on, even though it was later chambered by Winchester in their new bolt-action Model 43 rifle and by Sako in their L-46 rifle. There was some question about the accuracy of the .218 Bee as compared to the .222,Association National Rifle An Official Journal Of The NRA Head to Head: .22 Hornet vs. .218 Bee https://www.americanhunter.org/content/head-to-head-22-hornet-vs-218-bee/ 2025-10-14 An Official Journal Of The NRA en but that was likely due to the difference of inherent accuracy between the bolt-action rifles commonly chambered for the .222 and the lever-action rifles commonly chambered for the .218 Bee. Although not in common use, it is still a very effective cartridge in its class, for small to medium varmints out to about 200 yard. Production ammunition and rifles are still available from a few manufacturers. Performance In terms of relative performance, the .218 Bee falls between the smaller .22 Hornet, and the larger .222 Remington and the more popular .223 Remington. See also 5 mm caliber List of rifle cartridges List of rimmed cartridges Table of handgun and rifle cartridges Notes References The .218 Bee by Chuck Hawks Contender Varminting - .218 Bee at Rocky's Reloading Room 218 Bee Category:Rimmed cartridges Category:Winchester Repeating Arms Company cartridges