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  #1  
Old 08-04-2019, 09:32 PM
southernman southernman is offline
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Default 20 killbee or 218 bee.

I am thinking of building one, of these as a walking varminter, as I like a repeater rifle, has anyone made one off the CZ 527, and if so was it on the hornet action or .222/.221,
I currently don't have access to my CZ hornet, as its in NZ, to check if the bee brass, will fit mag and feed into chamber.
I realise the hornet, will require bolt face being opened up, the .222 look like it may not.

Any info, would be great.
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  #2  
Old 08-04-2019, 10:26 PM
montdoug montdoug is offline
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I have a .17 Killer Bee as well as a .20 Killer Bee. My .17 is built on an original Low Wall and the .20 Killer Bee Greg Tannel chambered for me on a Cooper .22 K-Hornet. First thing I like to make clear is I'm a shooter and reloader and in no way a gunsmith. With that out of the way I'll add that I've also had a couple .17 MachIV's and .17 Fireballs and also a .20 VarTarg all of course built off the .221 Fireball case.
Things I've learned working loads on all of them over a chrono and working with my share of CZ's. Both the .17 and .20 Killer Bee as well as the .17 MachIV / .17 Fireball and .20 VarTarg is that the rounds formed on the Bee case's and the rounds formed on the .221 cases is velocity with my lots of powder and in my rifles in both the .17's and .20's seem to duplicate each other.
Also I'd speculate the Bee cased rounds would feed poorly from magazines so if repeaters were important to me I'd use the .221 based rounds. My .20 VarTarg is built on a CZ Varmint Kevlar that was originally a .223 and I've never had a feeding problem, ever out of the .223 magazine. On the other hand I've had a number of .22 Hornet based wildcats out of CZ's and none of them really loaded into the magazine or fed into the rifle "great". If repeaters were important to me, especially using CZ's the .221 based cases would for sure be my answer.
Let us know how it goes for ya .
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Old 08-05-2019, 02:22 PM
Mntngoat Mntngoat is offline
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do you have a lifetime supply of .218 Brass?

ML
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Old 08-05-2019, 04:35 PM
drewh drewh is offline
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I think Ray H may have done this on a CZ ( or some other Saubier Member). If I recall correctly the hornet bolt was easier to convert because the depth of the bolt face is set for a rimmed cartridge already, in either case opening up the bolt face to fit the size, and fitting the extractor are required. I have a Wasatch action where the bolt started out as .223 bf, but since it used a sako style extractor could be modified to fit bee brass.
Drew
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Old 08-05-2019, 04:45 PM
Flynmoose Flynmoose is offline
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To answer the question of 218 Bee brass availability, Hornady makes it now. I see it listed on Graf and Sons. I have used this brass and it is just fine! It saves me from forming Bee brass from my limited supply of new Remington 25-20 brass. A friend shoots the Hornady brass in his Kimber of Oregon 218 Bee, likes it as well.
Bill
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Old 08-05-2019, 06:21 PM
montdoug montdoug is offline
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Interesting post Bill. I might have to try some Hornady brass again cause I've never cared for it much, I always found it (what little I've used, to be soft and not handle pressure well. Primers loosen easily.), haven't used it for a long time though. Thanks for your take on the newer stuff, be nice to find out I was wrong, not unusual but nice . Never have to many sources for brass, Hornet and Bee cases seem tough to lay hands on frequently and I use both cases a lot.
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Old 08-05-2019, 07:10 PM
ray h ray h is offline
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Drew is correct, I built my 17 Killer Bee on a 223 CZ, the 218 Bee and 25-20 on 22 Hornet rifles. The Hornet rim is Saami at close to .065 same as the Bee where the 223 is around .055. The 17 KB feeds so so, it has to be placed just right in the chamber. My 218 and 25-20 feeds better but still not a throw the round in and close the bolt deal. I use James SS clip , only problem is he didn't consider the Bee case when designing it or that was what he told me a long time ago. I had to open the groove to accept the Bees rim. I had Eddie cone the breech on the 218 and 25-20 and I think that helps a lot. They will never be a feed from the magazine rifle. If I was starting over it would be with a 700 SA and one of Kiffs cone nose bolts with a Sako extractor.
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Old 08-05-2019, 10:12 PM
southernman southernman is offline
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Thanks for the info, seams the bee brass, wont be an option, or at least not an easy option, on this platform, As I am after a small queit centerfire, for walking varmint rifle, I have to weigh up between the .22 hornet and fireball case, Wish I hadn't sold my CZ .221 fireball, but it wasn't a great shooter, should have spun a vartarg barrel on it, would be perfect.
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Old 08-06-2019, 02:56 AM
Bayou City Boy Bayou City Boy is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Flynmoose View Post
To answer the question of 218 Bee brass availability, Hornady makes it now. I see it listed on Graf and Sons. I have used this brass and it is just fine! It saves me from forming Bee brass from my limited supply of new Remington 25-20 brass. A friend shoots the Hornady brass in his Kimber of Oregon 218 Bee, likes it as well.
Bill
I've seen it but I haven't tried the 218 Bee brass as I do indeed have a life-time of Bee brass for my assorted rifle needs. But I have bought some of the 250 Savage brass that Hornady is putting out. So far it has performed very well.

My custom Rem 700 250 Savage almost wouldn't chamber the Hornady brass when it saw that the brass was not head-stamped 22-250 as that is what the majority of the brass that is has seen is stamped............. I ran across 60 rounds of 250 Savage ammo a few years back but it has not been very common in today's world until Hornady got involved.

-BCB
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Last edited by Bayou City Boy; 08-06-2019 at 02:59 AM.
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