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I have a lever action 357 and its a great little rifle. Just for fun, I have been thinking about having it re-barreled and chambered in 256 Winchester (357 mag brass necked down to .25). It should be a fun little varmit gun. Any of you guys ever tried this before?

Kevin,
My 218bee is a Marlin 1894CL. I found it BNIB still had the stickers and tags on it. I cleaned her and lubed her up. She shoots great! Buying brass or live ammo will hurt though. I finally found some ammo that was reasonable. Just about done with the breakin process then I'll start trying to find a 1 hole load. It shoots good with factory ammo, however, I couldn't find anything with a round or flat tip. Bought some Speer 46gr SPFN that I'm going to load. I'm a little Leary of loading the tube full of Hollow Points. Even with such little recoil. Never can be to safe.

Mike,
I'll look into those.

I had an old hunting partner who had been a former state lion hunter in California back in the day and he carried a 218 Bee Thompson contender with a piece of sash cord attached to the stock and in his bib overall pockets. He also had a Winchester lever gun for the cartridge and a side mounted weaver scope on it. It was a fun little gun but far from ideal in my opinion. The 256 winchester which originally came out in the Ruger single shot Hawkeye was pretty much a flop. the extreme taper in this case makes full length resizing a trimming crucial or you will have stuck cases and I can see a nightmare in a lever gun. Try some 110gr. JHP's in you 357 Mag. carbine. It will do the job on varmints out to as far as you can shoot them with the little iron sighted carbine even with a reciever sight attached. The 218 bee is a neat little cartridge and does eclipse the 22 Hornet but other than the novelty factor the truth is that the 222 Remington which most today consider a pop gun put both of these rounds in the grave.

Kevin, I found a Marlin 1894 BNIB still had the tags and stickers on it. It shoots very well with factory ammo. Problem is its all hollow point. I'm about finished with the breakin process. I'll then be loading it with some Speer 46gr Flat Points. It's a fun little gun so far.

Mike, I'll try those out.

I think the lever three fifty seven makes a great starter rifle for women and the young shooters. Low recoil economical to shoot and the feeling that your part of the wild west are hard to beat.

Personaly, if your after a pistol caliber I would bump up a step And get the forty four. Just a little more juice in case you run into a bear or a Yetti.