Tag: Ammo

.218 Bee
Left, compared to .223 Remington
Type	Rifle
Place of origin	USA
Production history
Designer	Winchester
Manufacturer	Winchester
Produced	1937
Variants	.218 Mashburn Bee[1]
Specifications
Parent case	.32-20 Winchester
Case type	Rimmed, bottleneck
Bullet diameter	.224 in (5.7 mm)
Neck diameter	.242 in (6.1 mm)
Shoulder diameter	.329 in (8.4 mm)
Base diameter	.349 in (8.9 mm)
Rim diameter	.408 in (10.4 mm)
Rim thickness	.065 in (1.7 mm)
Case length	1.345 in (34.2 mm)
Primer type	Boxer; small rifle
Ballistic performance
Bullet mass/type Velocity Energy 35 gr (2 g) VMax 3,205 ft/s (977 m/s) 799 ft⋅lbf (1,083 J) 40 gr (3 g) BT 3,130 ft/s (950 m/s) 870 ft⋅lbf (1,180 J) 46 gr (3 g) JFP 2,708 ft/s (825 m/s) 749 ft⋅lbf (1,016 J) 50 gr (3 g) BT 2,654 ft/s (809 m/s) 782 ft⋅lbf (1,060 J)
Source(s): Hodgdon [2]

The .218 Bee 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[edit]

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 had 22 inch (560 mm) barrels, the rifles chambered for the Bee sported 24 inch (610 mm) barrels.
While early on the cartridge showed some promise, the cartridge never really caught on, even though it was later chambered by Winchester in the 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,^{[citation needed]} but that was likely due to the difference of inherent accuracy between the bolt-actions rifles commonly chambered for the .222 and the lever-actions commonly chambered for the .218 Bee. Although not in common use, it’s still a very effective cartridge in its class, for example small to medium varmints out to about 200 yards (180 m). Production ammunition and rifles are still available from a few manufacturers.

Performance[edit]

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. In terms of short range velocity the .218 works quite well.

.257 Roberts
Type	Rifle
Place of origin	United States
Production history
Designer	Ned Roberts
Designed	1920s
Manufacturer	Remington Arms
Produced	1934-Present
Variants	.257 Roberts (+P), .257 Roberts Ackley Improved
Specifications
Parent case	7×57mm Mauser
Case type	rimless bottlenecked
Bullet diameter	.257 in (6.5 mm)
Neck diameter	.290 in (7.4 mm)
Shoulder diameter	.430 in (10.9 mm)
Base diameter	.472 in (12.0 mm)
Rim diameter	.473 in (12.0 mm)
Case length	2.233 in (56.7 mm)
Overall length	2.775 in (70.5 mm)
Rifling twist	1-10″
Primer type	large rifle
Ballistic performance
Bullet mass/type Velocity Energy 75 gr (5 g) HP 3,450 ft/s (1,050 m/s) 1,983 ft⋅lbf (2,689 J) 100 gr (6 g) B-TIP 3,020 ft/s (920 m/s) 2,025 ft⋅lbf (2,746 J) 117 gr (8 g) SPBT 2,840 ft/s (870 m/s) 2,096 ft⋅lbf (2,842 J)
Test barrel length: 24 Source(s): Accurate Powders [1]

The .257 Roberts also known as .257 Bob ^[2] is a medium-powered .25 calibercartridge. It has been described as the best compromise between the low recoil and flat trajectory of smaller calibers such as the .22 and 6mm, and the strong energy but not the strong recoil of larger popular hunting calibers, such as the 7mm family and the popular .30-06.^[3]

History[edit]

Many cartridge designers in the 1920s were creating various .25 caliber cartridges. Because of its size, the 7×57mm Mauser case was a common choice, having near the ideal volume capacity for the “quarter-bore” (called this because the .25 caliber is one quarter of an inch) using powders available at that time. Ned Roberts is usually credited with being the designer for this cartridge idea. Eventually in 1934 Remington Arms chose to introduce their own commercial version of such a cartridge, and although it wasn’t the exact dimensions of the wildcat made by Roberts, they called it the .257 Roberts.^[4]
From its introduction until the appearance of more popular 6 mm cartridges such as .243 Winchester and 6mm Remington, it was a very popular general purpose cartridge.^[5] Today, although overshadowed by other cartridges, it lives on with bolt-action rifles being available from some major manufacturers.

Conversion of war-souvenir Japanese Arisaka rifles[edit]

Japanese Type 38 Arisaka rifles brought to the United States as wartime souvenirswere sometimes converted by rechambering to utilize more readily available .257 Roberts cartridge cases because commercially produced 6.5×50mm Arisakacartridges were scarce prior to distribution by Norma Projektilfabrik A/S. The neck of the Roberts case would be slightly enlarged to accept handloaded 6.5 mm bullets. The modified Roberts cases are sometimes known as 6.5×.257 Roberts, although the case headstamp may still indicate .257 Roberts.^[6] Neither unmodified .257 Roberts ammunition nor the original 6.5×50mm Arisaka ammunition are suitable for firing in rechambered Arisaka rifles.^[7]

Performance[edit]

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With light bullets the .257 produces little recoil and has a flat trajectory suitable for varmint hunting. With heavier bullets it is capable of taking all but the largest North American game animals. The original factory load for this is very similar to the .250-3000 Savage.

Improved cartridges[edit]

Remington introduced the commercial version of this popular wildcat as a low-pressure round. At the time there were many older actions available of questionable strength. With a modern action and handloading, this cartridge is capable of markedly improved performance.^[4]
One of the common improvements is called the .257 Roberts(+P) which has a SAAMI maximum pressure limit of 58,000 PSI compared to the 54,000 PSI listed for the standard .257 Roberts.^[8]
P.O. Ackley said that the .257 Roberts Ackley Improved was probably the most useful all-around cartridge.^[9] The Ackley Improved was a typical change of a steeper shoulder coupled with blown-out sides for more of a straight cartridge, providing greater powder capacity.

Comparison[edit]

Using a 24″ barrel except:

* using a 22" barrel.

** using a 26" barrel.