218 Bee

Have any of you guys owned or fired a Taurus revolver in 218 Bee or 22 Hornet or know any info about either caliber in that make gun???

No, but it might be pretty cool. I have rcbs dies i picked up. A contender barrel in the bee might be fun too.

DON'T FORGET, THE 22 CF's IN REVOLVERS BENEFIT FROM A GOOD CRIMP. e.g. A LEE FACTORY CRIMP DIE, EVEN ON FACTORY AMMO, TO REDUCE THE EXTREME VELOCITY SPREADS IN REVOLVERS.

Never shot a revolver in these calibers. My first Contender was (is) a 10 inch Octagon in 218 Bee. Great round - many groundhogs, squirrels and 2 turkeys with it.

I searched forever for one of these and finally found this one on GB a few months back, it is very accurate and a lot of fun to shoot. I plan to use it for coyotes and cats next fur season. I am now on the lookout for one in .218 Bee which seem even more elusive than the hornet, they also made these in .30 carbine. I love oddball calibers like this in a revolver.

I knew a couple of guys that had the MRI revolvers in 218 Bee (I think it was called the Raging Bee) but they were unhappy with the accuracy and got rid of them. As I remember, MRI made only a short run of this model before they were closed out through CDNN.

LH, from the little info I`ve found the Taurus 22 Hornets have all shot good with no case set back and like you I also love those oddball revolver calibers. Had a 356 GNR and still have a 22Kay-Chuck...

A Raging Hornet has been on my to-own bucket list forever!

There is one up on GB now.
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/807009620

There are also a couple of silhouette style .218 Bee's on GB, I would bid on one but cant get past the ugly, would prefer a full lug barrel myself.
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/805076299
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/808876572

Used to have a 218 mashburn contender. The only bullet it liked was the 45 gr speer. I'd have to check my notes for loads. Once I did find the load it liked, I could fire a box full at the head of the 150 yd turkey silhouette and never miss.

One of these days I'll get an xp-100 221 fireball. I find the slightly larger case much easier to manipulate on the press and more friendly with loads.

WAS CHECKING ON 221 FIREBALL BRASS, NOT A LOT OF SOURCES FOR IT, AND MOSTLY PRICEY, BUT IT MAY BE A PERFECT SIZED 22 CALIBER CARTRIDGE FOR 10 - 14 INCH BARRELS

If push comes to shove it can be formed from 223 brass, though I hate forming and trimming brass. 300 BO brass is pretty common and should be easy enough to form with minimal trimming.

221 works great in rifles as well, got my daughter a Rem 700 LVSF that's a joy to shoot.

In my opinion, the 221 Fireball is the best centerfire cartridge for practice shooting with T/Cs and SPs. It has a similar trajectory to more powerful hunting cartridges, but with minimal recoil. It's also very cheap to reload for, and even though the brass tends to be expensive, it will last a long time if taken care of.

James, I have a custom revolver made by Gary Reeder chambered in 218 Mashburn Bee. I shoot 40 grain Sierra's at 2035 fps. and 34 grain HP's at 2428 fps. Accuracy is less than 1" @ 50 yards.

Randy, that is a shootin small bore for sure.... Hope I can get close to those numbers..

BACK IN THE 1970's, WHEN I WAS ACCUMULATING AND RELOADING FOR THE S&W MODEL 53 JET REVOLVER, YOU ALLEGEDLY COULD GET 2,000fps WITH 40gr BULLETS AND NOT HAVE SET BACK OR EXTRACTION ISSUES IN THE MODEL 53: BS! MAYBE IT WAS THE LACK OF AND/OR IGNORANCE OF GOOD CRIMPING DIES AND/OR TECHNIQUES, BUT 40gr BULLETS AT 2,000fps WAS MORE OF A MYTH THAN A REALITY. THE .224 K-CHUK "MADE ITS NAME" USING LIGHTER BULLETS, AND AS I HAVE STARTED MESSING WITH 22CF REVOLVERS AGAIN, AND USING A LEE F/C CRIMP DIE (A COUPLE OF THEM SPECIAL ORDERED FROM LEE), I HAVE DECIDED THAT IF YOU WANT A LOT OF VELOCITY YOU NEED TO USE LIGHTER BULLETS, e.g. LOOK AT THE 400fps DIFFERENCE IN THE REEDER 218 MASHBURN BEE ABOVE BETWEEN 40gr BULLETS AND 34gr BULLETS.

I have a couple of the older BFRs in 22 Hornet, one scoped the other with irons. They both shoot real well. The 7.5" barrels shoot significantly slower than my Win model 43; however, that is expected. I have several S&W 53s in 22 Jet that shoot great, as well. Can just touch the 2,000 fps with 34 grain bullets in the 8 3/8" barrel. I have a large supply of the Remington 40 gr JSP originally loaded in their factory 22 Jet ammo. Additionally, I have an Freedom Arms in 224-32. Initial loading for that was rough; however, the problem was defective dies. Exchanged them with FA and been smooth sailing since.

Doc, you have quite the collection of .22 bottle neck revolvers..

Muntjac medicine

you sure have a way with matching the gun to the game ($$)...

Why not? 😉😜 it beats what Kim and I think you need to kill 🐂🐄🐂🐄 and you've never shot one, and they are a small target. Perfect for the 218 Bee

I WENT ON SAFARI TO MOZAMBIQUE (IN 2001 AS I RECALL) AND THERE WERE SOME NICE PYGMY ANTELOPE AVAILABLE (DUIKERS AND THE LIKE). I THOUGHT, WOW A 22 HORNET REVOLVER WOULD BE PERFECT FOR THESE LITTLE BUGGERS BUT GUESS WHAT? IT WAS ILLEGAL TO HUNT THEM WITH A 22 HORNET, WHY I DO NOT KNOW.

That would have been nice if you could have used the Hornet revolver......

There is a Raging Hornet for sale on Guns International...