218 Bee Draws First Blood

[Pop Watts]

Took my new (to me) 218 Bee for a walk on the weekend just gone.
It was a cool winter day in the mountains West of Sydney and I was keen to shoot a couple of foxes with my 218 Bee.
I have been playing with a few loads and settled on the Winchester .22 Mag 40 grain HP projectile with 14.5gn of AR2207.
This shot well and I thought would be good on foxes.
So I set out from the hut and walked up the creek to stay out of sight. The plan was to follow the creek to the end of a large paddock, pop up out of the creek and sneak up to a string of broken gulleys with a lot of blackberry growing in them and then whistle for a fox or two.
As I walked along the creek i noticed some fresh pig digging, so went into stealth mode and moved upstream into the wind. About 300 yards further I spotted this young Boar happily digging up whatever looked tasty. I was right on the water and he was on the bank about 6 feet higher than me and 30 yards away. I waited for a while hoping for a chance at a head shot, but his head was down in the dirt looking for food.
The wind started to blow about everywhere as it started to rain, so I decided to shoot him just behind his left shoulder. He lunged foward at the shot and I could see the wound start to bleed heavily. Then he got mad and spun around looking for what got him. I was still standing with only my head above the bank so he could not see me.
He turned with his head angling away from me so I put a second shot ito him at about his second last rib, angling foward. At the second shot he ran up over the top bank of the creek onto the flat ground and I lost sight of him. I waited for a couple of minutes, retrieved my empty case and then followed the blood trail over the creek bank.
He was an angry little fellow because as soon as he got over the top of the bank I could see that he had turned and waited for whatever was chasing him. However he was bleeding out fast and only made if another 20 yards where i found him quite dead.
Well the 218 Bee is no rifle for pigs, but I had the advantage and the time to place my shots. The projectiles only penetrated about 2 to 3 inches through his ribs. First shot took out the left lung and second the liver, so he was going nowhere.
Both projectiles completely blew apart and I got nothing but some jacket pieces.
This little piggy ende up as about 80lb of boned out pork that is now hanging in the smokehouse of my Italian Mate who made Salami out of him.
I did get to shoot a fox later in the day and the 218 is just the ticket for those little fellows.
My 218 is an original 1892 that was re-barreled with a 24" sprinter barrel and has a button mag and has been drilled for a Williams receiver sight. It is a little rough, but I don't mind carrying it on a wet day and I do enjoy shooting it,
Pop

[attachment=2]Dunn Dunn Pig 3.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=1]Dunn Dunn Pig 2.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=0]Dunn Dunn Pig 1.jpg[/attachment]

[2ndovc]

Way Cool!

Sounds like a neat rifle.

Nice shooting,

jb

[bdhold]

nice shooting and great story. thanks for the photos.

[gamekeeper]

Congratulations on the first kill with the .218 bee. Nice being in the right place at the right time.

[.45colt]

Sweet!! Great Job. I have a 32-20 Marlin and their is one out there in .218 with My name on it but it just hasn't showed up yet.

[Paladin]

Great story, Great start for a long relationship with a new rifle.

[Dave]

Good hunt!

[Mike D.]

Excellent report, Pop. I like it when a "puny" little .218 gets the game. Most "gun experts" would tell you it can't be done, but what do they know?

[COSteve]

Excellent report, Pop. I like it when a "puny" little .218 gets the game. Most "gun experts" would tell you it can't be done, but what do they know?

Good hunt. In a word, shot placement. Works now as well as it's ever done and no amount of 'magnuming' will make up for poor shot placements.

[Ben_Rumson]

Good on ya!

[RIHMFIRE]

great report and nice pile of bacon...

[bigbore442001]

Congratulations on the wild boar. Good shooting and I bet you felt a sense of accomplishment with that shot. I am curious, you talked about where this was shot. Was it shot on privately owned land or does Australia allow hunting on some public owned land? Also, how do you plan to cook it up? Are there any special Australian recipies that you can share? Thanks

[Bruce Scott]

It varies from state to state. In Western Australia hunting is restricted to private land, whereas in NSW it is allowed. Conditions apply. http://www.gamecouncil.nsw.gov.au/porta ... g06DPLfaqs

[Tumbleweeds II]

That's good shooting.

Interestingly enough, a .22-250 probably would have blown up on the hide, and a .22 WMR wouldn't have penetrated deeply enough to kill. That .218 is JUST RIGHT.

[BigSky56]

Good shooting putting meat in the larder is a bonus. danny

[C. Cash]

Sounds like a very good day. Thanks for sharing that.

[TedH]

Well done! I've yet to blood my 218, but hope to soon. Won't likely be on a hog though.

[MrMurphy]

My wife inherited her grandmother's Winchester 92, which was debated around on here before I sent it in to Winchester and found out it was a 1926 production .25-20 rebarreled in the 40s/50s (around when grandma got the rifle, and never fired it to anyone's knowledge including hers). It'd been refinished, but a nice piece.


I have ONE box of ammo for it, considering i don't load and going prices, it may be a long while before we ever shoot it.

Does handle nice, but my Marlin .44 is the field gun among our two leverguns.

[tman]

Excellent report, Pop. I like it when a "puny" little .218 gets the game. Most "gun experts" would tell you it can't be done, but what do they know?

+1. Bacon is good