Marlin 218 Bee Range Report

[TedH]

I was able to sneak out to the range this evening after work for the first test drive with my newly acquired Marlin 1894CL 218 Bee. Have not been able to handload for this one yet due to lack of available components. I did find some ammo pretty cheap on Auction Arms from Custom Cartridge. It's loaded with the Hornady 45 gr. flat nose hollow point at a claimed velocity of 2910 fps. I was short on time so I didn't mess with the chrony to see how close they were to actual velocity. Man, talk about a sweet little shooter! It's about like shooting a 22 Mag. Practically zero recoil and very mild report. Once I got the Nikon 2-7X32 dialed in at 50 yards I moved to 100 yards and fired off a couple 5 shot groups. While not known to be tack drivers in the 1894, this little Bee shows some potential. This was my first five shots at 100 yards, it measures about 1.75". Hopefully some handloading will shrink that down a tad further.

[crs]

Nice report, rifle, and shooting. Thanks.

[Andrew]

Sweet! I think I would be happy with that.

[Ysabel Kid]

Sweet! She looks like a keeper!

[kimwcook]

Isn't it great when you find a nice combination.

[1886]

That is pretty good shootin'. 1886.

[Blaine]

That's a DRT groundhog...... I hope mine shoots that well when I pick it up

[TedH]

You've got one on the way??? Where from?

[Blaine]

You've got one on the way??? Where from?

A good friend of mine has tables at the Puyallup WAC show. He told me of a deal he got? THREE 1894s, a Bee, a 25-20 and a 32-20 for less than 400 each.....I offered him a decent profit on the Bee and I just need to drive a hour and a half to pick it up locally.....Haven't even seen it yet, but he sez it will be nice and he's never misled a fella yet. I think he might have some brass, too......

[TedH]

Score!

[Blaine]

Score!

Do you like the scope on yours? I was thinking about a fixed 4x maybe, or a shorty 1.5-5 or 6. I see these guys at the range with their 20X varmit rifles that really can't hit a pop can at 100 yards and it's fun to pee them off with a lever gun

[TedH]

Yeah, I like it ok. It's one I had already. If I were to buy a new one I might go with something smaller, but this 2-7 is about the same size as a standard fixed 4x anyway. I'm going to leave it as is. I figured that with the Bee the targets would likely be small critters so the 7x could come in handy. I really like the 2-7 for most of my hunting needs anyway. Got the same scope on my 336ER and 30-30AI too.

[revolverjunkie]

hey thats a great shooting gun a little tweaking an i bet you got yourself a sub MOA levergun

[leverlooney]

I am waiting for the gunsmith to finish working on my Browning 65. Just ordered Redding dies and picked up 200 45 gr hps from Cabelas. Weather is getting better here. Can't wait to shoot mine.