icebear
Sako-addicted
Gunbroker currently has an auction for an L46 heavy barrel that was originally a .218 Bee but has been rechambered for .218 Mashburn Bee. It looks pretty good overall, but some idiot drilled the bridges for flat-base Weaver mounts and mounted some kind of junk Tasco scope in the old-style Weaver rings with the strap that hooks in one side and has two screws on the other.
The .218 Mashburn Bee is a blown-out .218 Bee, sort of like a .22 Kilbourn Hornet is to a .22 Hornet. Like the K-Hornet, you can fire regular .218 Bee ammo in a Mashburn and it will fireform to the chamber, thereby making your brass for reloading. Unlike the K-Hornet, however, the Mashburn Bee is very blown-out, yielding performance in the .222 range (according to Cartridges of the World, which is not always an accurate guide). The Mashburn is said to be as accurate as the original.
Current bid is pretty cheap, in the $6-700 range, reflecting the rechambering plus the obvious defects. I thought about bidding on it but I've got too many projects going as it is; all I need is another wildcat cartridge to load for! But is is kind of intriguing in its own odd way. There are ways of covering up the drilled bridges, which is the biggest negative apart from the wildcat cartridge.
Anyhow, if you want to see for yourself, here's a link.
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/829128814
The .218 Mashburn Bee is a blown-out .218 Bee, sort of like a .22 Kilbourn Hornet is to a .22 Hornet. Like the K-Hornet, you can fire regular .218 Bee ammo in a Mashburn and it will fireform to the chamber, thereby making your brass for reloading. Unlike the K-Hornet, however, the Mashburn Bee is very blown-out, yielding performance in the .222 range (according to Cartridges of the World, which is not always an accurate guide). The Mashburn is said to be as accurate as the original.
Current bid is pretty cheap, in the $6-700 range, reflecting the rechambering plus the obvious defects. I thought about bidding on it but I've got too many projects going as it is; all I need is another wildcat cartridge to load for! But is is kind of intriguing in its own odd way. There are ways of covering up the drilled bridges, which is the biggest negative apart from the wildcat cartridge.
Anyhow, if you want to see for yourself, here's a link.
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/829128814