22hornet vs 218bee?

steve223

steve223

New member
I am thinking about buying a new rifle for plinking and shooting the occasional groundhog around the house. I would like to get some opinions on which of these two is the better performer from some folks that have shot them. I would also like to know if one is any quieter than the other, don't want to scare the neighbors to much. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
The hornet is a little quieter. The 218 bee is a better performer but louder. The rule is nothing is free. Both are hard to make shoot well. Buy a .221 fireball, it will shoot great right out of the box.
 
I don't think any of the major manufactures still chamber the 218 bee.I would love to have one, But the ones I have found are way out of my price range for a plinker.I have a CZ.22 hornet and an old savage 340 that I just rechambered to K hornet.The hornet is a great plinker and is good on varmints out to 150 yds or a little more.It's also quieter than a .223
 
my dad has a ruger bolt action in 22 hornet that shoot factory ammo great and he really likes it becuase its lite and short
 
I should have pointed this out earlier this is a barrel purchase for a T/C encore. Fox Ridge outfitters offers the 218bee and the 22hornet as well as many other chamberings.
 
Steve,

After pondering this one recently, I decided to go the route of a wildcat.
After doing a good month or so of research, I opted to try my hand with the .22 Super Jet.
It's ballistic's are "on par" with the .218 Mashburn Bee (also a wildcat), and is closely comparitive to the .221 Fireball.
My main reason...?..........two really...

It's based on the .357 Magnum brass (which I have a ton of), and it is a rimmed cartridge which is a little more preferred in the Encore single action in which it will be shot.
Dimensionally, the case is 20.16grs of water, in comparison to 21.77grs of water in the .221 Fireball case.
That being said, one big difference is the cartridge's shorter, fatter size, with a slightly sharper shoulder. A similar difference in comparison to the 22PPC in comparison to others.
Right now, based on the limited data that is available, the .22 Super Jet reaches velocities of up to 3300-3400fps using 45 & 50gr bullets and very light charges of Li'l Gun, H110, 2400, 4198 and 4227.
I've recently sent off a barrel blank and a couple of dummy rounds to Mike Sirois at "On Target Technologies" to chamber for me. He does a phenominal job on his barrels using EDM processes for chambering. Many report his barrels shooting 1/2" groups or less just shooting fireforming loads.

Based on all that, I've been asked, "why not just shoot the .221 Fireball and forego the pain of brass forming ?"
.221 Fireball brass is about $24.00 a 100.
.357 Mag Brass is less than half of that, and with a little case forming, you've got a case that holds 2/3rds the powder capacity of the .222, with approx. the same velocity.
From what I've read, accuracy is spectacular.
The "Super Jet" has also been known as the .22 Cotterman Jet (after it's originator), the 22/256, the .22 Ackley Jet., etc.
Although there is very slight differences between them, the load data, reportedly, can be used with all. Cases can be made from simply fireforming the .22 Rem Jet in a Super Jet chamber, necking down a .256 Win. Mag, or using the .357 Mag parent case, like I am.

I guess I'll have more to report when the barrel gets here........
If you opted to go this route, I'll give you any help I can, and moneywise, it's only slightly higher than a TC Custom shop barrel.

Just a thought.........or suggestion.

Take care,
Bob
 
Hello,

I dont have any experience shooting either caliber, but a box of hornet ammo was $16.99 at Cabelas in Mitchell, SD; and a box of .218 Bee was $42.99 at the same store. I sure hope that was a pricing mistake.

JA in SD
 
That was a buy on the 218 Bee....Midway has it for $48 a box.

So the question is, To Bee or not to Bee /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
nope not a mistake... 218 brass or ammo is extremely high because of the limited runs of it every year... the 218 is a bit faster, and a little louder... for the little bit of gain, is it worth it...

if you're going to have a barrel built from T/C or anyone else I'd recommend going with the K-Hornet... you can shoot factory ammo to form your K cases and load from there... with my 26" K-Hornet with 40gr V-Max, it's running right at 3200fps... it is a lot louder then a stock Hornet but not near as bad as the 221... you can load the hornet with 12gr of Lil-Gun and near duplicate factory loads in speed and noise with excellent results... good luck what ever route you take...
 
Since you only want to "occasionally" use a rifle, why not just go a 17-HMR. The rifle's easier to find and the Ammo's cheaper.
 


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