218 Mashburn Improved?

[rikkit]

I purchased a M43 Win. which I thought was chambered in 218 Bee. I made a trip to the range fired one round and out came the brass with a definite shoulder. My first thought was that rifle was re-chambered to Mashburn Bee. My buddy has a piece of Mashburn brass in his cartridge colleciton and my brass is close but does not have the same type shoulder as the Mashburn. I have since a reference to a 218 Mashburn Bee Imporved. I am unable to find a picture reference ot this "Improved" Mashburn. My buddy's Mashburn cartridge has an angular type neck, my brass is coming out with the same length neck but the should is rounded or "more of a radiused" look, it reminds me of the some othe Weatherby brass I had seen. Right now I am just going to shoot the fire formed brass as is, the brass fits the Mashburn resizing die just fine. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

[felix]

It appears someone modified an existing reamer to make a new chamber. If everything seems right, then you are OK. Case capacity is the end objective, and should be equivalent to the books without regard to cartridge shape for finding the appropriate load, at least for getting out of the gate. ... felix

[Bent Ramrod]

rikkit,

One of the reasons they called them "wildcats" is that no dimension was ever standardized. Anybody who could grind a D-bit reamer could study the article on the newest cartridge improvement in the American Rifleman and then come up with something even "better." I once had a Low Wall in a .218 Bee that was so "improved" it barely had a neck to hold the bullet. The rest of the case was cylindrical.

Of the various Improved Bees in Richard Simmons' book "Wildcat Cartridges," there is:

1) the Gibson Bee, which looks like the standard Bee with a more acute shoulder

2) the Ackley Improved Bee, which is blown out to an even sharper shoulder (which makes it look slightly rounded, because there isn't much angle left)

3) the Mashburn Bee, which has the shoulder blown forward, but a less acute angle to the neck than the Ackley

4) the McCrea Bumblebee, which looks like the X-Treme improvement I had; the shoulder looks rounded in the photo but there isn't much of it left

and 5) and 6) the Brader .218 Bee Improved and .218 Sharp Shoulder, the latter neck length between the Ackley and the Bumblebee.

None of them have the Weatherby radius mentioned specifically, but the McCrea shoulder looks rounded in all his other cartridges, so maybe yours is this one.

Hope this helps.

[rikkit]

Gentlemen, thanks for the reply, I had no idea that the "world of wildcats" was so wide open. It sounds like I just need to work up a load, have fun and not worry about this cartridge's family tree. Thank you again for taking the time to respond to my post.

[Phil]

One more thing, the load you fired may not have had enough pressure to fully obturate the case. I'd try a bit heavier load and see if the radius on the shoulder straightened out any.

Cheers,

Phil