25/20 and 218 Bee brass

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Seems to have completely dried up "down under" haven't seen any for over 2 years. I've made 25/20 from Starline 32/20 but the failure rate is over 20% even after I annealed new cases.

My favourite small game rifle is a 218 Mashburn Bee, but bringing 32/20 down to 218MB is near impossible.

[ReloaderFred]

The .25-20 brass has dried up here, too. I talked to the Starline folks at the SHOT Show in Las Vegas this past January about making .218 Bee, or even .25-20 brass and they just laughed. I told them I was getting about 20% failure rate in necking the .32-20 to .25-20, and then to .218 Bee, and they said their failure rate was even higher than that, so it would be very expensive.

Hornady has been making some .218 Bee brass, and it's expensive. The best price I've been able to buy it at is $36.99 (USD) per 50 cases. Even at that, it's still hit and miss as to where, and when, you can find it.

Hope this helps.

Fred

PS: My failure rate in forming the .32-20 brass was the same whether it was annealed, or not, so I stopped annealing it.

[smokeywolf]

The .25-20 brass has dried up here, too. I talked to the Starline folks at the SHOT Show in Las Vegas this past January about making .218 Bee, or even .25-20 brass and they just laughed. I told them I was getting about 20% failure rate in necking the .32-20 to .25-20, and then to .218 Bee, and they said their failure rate was even higher than that, so it would be very expensive.

Hornady has been making some .218 Bee brass, and it's expensive. The best price I've been able to buy it at is $36.99 (USD) per 50 cases. Even at that, it's still hit and miss as to where, and when, you can find it.

Hope this helps.

Fred

PS: My failure rate in forming the .32-20 brass was the same whether it was annealed, or not, so I stopped annealing it.

Graf has them right now.

[ReloaderFred]

I bought 300 of them when they first came out, and I've got about 600 formed from .32-20 Starline brass, so I'm good for awhile. Thanks for the heads up, though.

Fred

[indian joe]

Seems to have completely dried up "down under" haven't seen any for over 2 years. I've made 25/20 from Starline 32/20 but the failure rate is over 20% even after I annealed new cases.

My favourite small game rifle is a 218 Mashburn Bee, but bringing 32/20 down to 218MB is near impossible.

Yeah on the Bee - thats gonna be hard to do - 25/20 should be doable tho - need to do it in baby steps - I did 303 down to 25 a while back after annealing, blew it for the first five - then I went plan b - FL resize 303 - then neck to 30 cal - then to 270 - then 25 - that worked ok - if I was trying for Bee I would go from 25 to 243 first - had all those dies hanging around - its amazing what accumulates over the years !!!

[TCFAN]

I use the Redding form and trim die in 25-20 and 218 bee to make 218 bee from 32-20 brass. Winchester 32-20 brass is easier to form than starline 32-20 brass.The 218 comes out a bit short but they work especially for cast loads.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012624638/redding-trim-die

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Local gunshop has Remington factory 218Bee for $AU179 for a pack of 50 rounds.

I managed to form some Starline 32/20 new brass down to 218 by firstly partial size to 25/20 then anneal, then FLS to 218B; only lost 2 cases out of 50!

[indian joe]

Local gunshop has Remington factory 218Bee for $AU179 for a pack of 50 rounds.

I managed to form some Starline 32/20 new brass down to 218 by firstly partial size to 25/20 then anneal, then FLS to 218B; only lost 2 cases out of 50!

Wallace - open range in Toowoomba has 25/20 winchester (brand) listed in stock for $39 per bag of 50. might save you some work if they still have it !

[forwardgunner]

Contact Neil Jones (www.neiljones.com) and he will make you dies and sizing bushings to make 32-20 into 25-20 and 218 Bee.
Mine work just fine with out annealing.

[MT Chambers]

I use .218 bee brass and fire it in the Mashburn chamber, don't lose any brass, and of course the .218 Mashburn Bee is an accurate, efficient varmint getter.

[earlmck]

One step which really reduces your failure rate in going from 32/20 to 25/20 is to first run the 32/20 part way into a 32/20 size die so that the neck is perfectly round. Any little dent in a new 32/20 case becomes a big wrinkle in your 25/20. And I have a cut-off 7mm BR die that I use as an intermediate so I can step from 31 to 7mm to 25 and this has reduced my failure rate to almost zero.

But I discovered to my interest and amazement that the Lee 25/20 die gives me a big failure rate even with the two steps. It seems that the Lee 25/20 size die uses a much larger shoulder vent hole than any other die I own and this seems to initiate a nasty wrinkle in many of the cases. The Lee works perfectly for full-length sizing of a normal 25/20 case; it just doesn't do well when forming from the larger diameter.

[enfield]

BAW what powder charge are you using in the mashburn, I have a BSA model 8 that was rechambered to Mashburn Bee

[nhdon]

Just managed to get 7 boxes at midway a little under $25.00 per box all one lot.Have a nice day DON K

[BigEyeBob]

Seems to have completely dried up "down under" haven't seen any for over 2 years. I've made 25/20 from Starline 32/20 but the failure rate is over 20% even after I annealed new cases.

My favourite small game rifle is a 218 Mashburn Bee, but bringing 32/20 down to 218MB is near impossible.

Wally ,
have you tried Bruce Bertram he may have it . '

[Ohiopatriot]

This guy has some. New manufacturer and correct head stamp.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/799460403