218 Bee Chamber Help

B

Bitman

New member
I have an old Winchester Low Wall, that was given to me by an old friend. It was originally chambered in 32 Long. At some point, it was sleeved and chambered for the 218 Bee. However, they did a poor job on cutting the chamber. When a round is fired, the case gets a slight bulge in it, about 3/8” ahead of the rim. The extractor won’t remove the spent case. You have to push it out with a cleaning rod. I don’t want to re-sleeve it, as that’s going to cost $500 to $700. I’d like to recut the chamber for a different .22 caliber round. However, it must have a rim, for the extractor to work. I thought about the 22 Jet, but with it's long shoulder, this won’t work. Any suggestions on a caliber that might work? Must have a rim and be slightly wider than the 218 Bee. Or any other suggestions to make this rifle use able again. Thanks.
 
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There's nothing currently listed by SAAMI that fills the bill, so whatever you do is likely to wind up requiring you to form brass. You could have a custom reamer made to create an Ackley-Improved version of the .22 Jet that eliminates its long shoulder. The .219 Zipper or the .22 Savage would do the job as they are. In every instance the extractor has to be cut wider.
 
Last year i sold a nice Winchester Low Wall that had been rechambered to .22 Remington Jet.

Finding cartridge cases in that caliber might be a problem.
 
could have a custom reamer made to create an Ackley-Improved version of the .22 Jet that eliminates its long shoulder
Click to expand...

.22 Cotterman Super Jet.

.222 Rimmed might work. Bertram still makes the brass. You would have to hold the loads down in a Low Wall.

What is the diameter of the sleeve at the breech? You would not want to hit it with such a large reamer as to wipe it out or leave it paper thin.
 
PLEASE remember that the original Winchester Low Walls were chambered for handgun cartridges, and should be limited to lower pressure cartridges!

That said, I own a Low Wall chambered in 218 Bee. 218 Bee has an operating pressure in the 40,000 psi range, and as such is NOT suitable for a standard barrel liner (which are very soft since they are made out of aircraft tubing). So what you have is a bulged chamber, and reaming it larger so you can put a higher pressure cartridge on the action will probably result in damage to the barrel liner AND the action.

My recommendations, FWIW, would be to rebarrel it. There are many, many suitable cartridges for the Low Wall (22 Hornet, 32 Long, 38 Special, you name it), but choose one that operates at 30,000 psi or less.
 
FWIW 32 barrel liners are available ,and the Fiocchi 32 S+W long is a nice,mild load.

Thing is,If its been lined once,I'm not sure what problems you would find with do-overs.

I'm not exactly saying this will work,or if its a good idea

But a lot of P-14 Enfield rifles were salvaged for the receivers tp make magnums. MAYBE Numrich or Sarco would have a takeoff cheap.I would not spend over $30.

The groove dia would be pretty close to correct for a 32 long

There might be enough steel in the barrel to get a barrel shank after removing the chamber (I don't know)

It might be a bad idea...just brainstorming.
 
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Talk to a smith about cutting half inch off the barrel/chamber and reem it back to 218 Bee. Not sure if the work can be done, or what it would cost, but it has been done before on other types of actions. Wouldn't be easy or cheap....how much is this gun worth to you?
 
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