[Mike Irwin]

Slamfire,

I'm wondering if your examples of using automatic weapons to show that oiling cartridge cases is not a problem isn't flawed. In an automatic weapon heavy bolt thrust is expected and is designed into the gun as the case will start unchambering while chamber pressure is still quite high.

The reason those weapons that you listed HAD (yes, HAD) to use oiled cartridges? Because the Austrians, Italians, and Japanese never really quite figured out that a slow primary extraction was necessary to avoid ripping the head off the case as it left the chamber.

US, Britain, Germany, and most other nations designed their weapons to include that initial slow but powerful extraction to break the case free of the chamber and extract it in one piece.


I also take some exception to your claim that reduction of friction through case oiling leads only to a negligible increase in bolt thrust.

I'm still looking for the report, but somewhere on the web is a relatively recent (last 30 or so years) military report on bolt thrust which shows that lubricating the case can increase static bolt thrust by up to 50%.

It may have been a NATO report, as their standard armaments testing includes as part of the protocol test firing with oiled cases and measuring the bolt thrust.

Also, I don't believe that there was any "tincan ammo coverup."

Cold welding of the bullets into the cases was known to be an issue soon after adoption of Many millions of these rounds were fired in military training and exercises with virtually no issues, even with low-number Sprinfields.



"The more I find, the more I find out that Hatcher lied."

Hum... I'd have to say that, given what you're finding, and how those findings have virtually no bearing on the discussions that Hatcher included (semi or full auto) regarding BOLT action rifles, the more you find, the more you find that really isn't germane to what Hatcher found, so that's a pretty off-base comment.