TargetTalk

I read a reply from an article posted inside another forum from a competitive BE shooter that he alieviated an intermittent miss-feed problem by placing a droplet of oil onto the head of the top round inside the clip. Apparently the shooter was having feeding issues with his MP95 Benelli and using CCI SV .22LR ammo. The symptom has since cleared and no issues over a full case of ammo. .... Is this a practice of old? ... Maybe an old gunsmith trick?

Does anybody do this or is this "Snake Oil" information from a gunsmith?

Sounds to me like a messy comprimise to correct the heart of a problem.

Anyone?

I do it once at the beginning of sustained fire with each gun. Not sure how much it helps but it doesn't hurt and since this is a mental game I have one less thing to think about.

Mass Shooter wrote:...Sounds to me like a messy comprimise to correct the heart of a problem....

The 'problem' is the snug chambers in competition firearms. Wetting an occasional round smoothes and guarantees cycling.

The hard wax coating on CCI SV bullets is often quite thick creating a buildup in the chamber. Lubing a round with this ammo is a good idea during a long session.

marvelshooter wrote:I do it once at the beginning of sustained fire with each gun. Not sure how much it helps but it doesn't hurt and since this is a mental game I have one less thing to think about.

What kind of oil do you use? .... Break Free, Hoppes, Rem Oil?

Any light oil that I happen to put my hand on.

The one drop of oil has been used for the Smith and Wesson model 41 for years. It seems to work well.

The Hammerli Trailside requires that you NOT put a drop of oil on the top round in a magazine. It will cause problems.

Not sure about the Benelli. I'd ask Larry Carter. He is the man in regards to them.

One small difference is I always understood from the old timers it was putting a small drop of oil on the brass part of the top round, not the bullet. The idea is to keep crud from building up in a match chamber that is already on the tight side of specs and it seems to work.

I doubt in most cases there is an underlying problem that needs to be fixed since in the guns where this helps it seems to just be a tight chamber and the lack of absolute perfection in the sizes of many bullets. A little oil occasionally seems to help keep the chamber cleaner and things working more smoothly.

I think I have found a better solution. I use Lyman Bullet Lube stick to put some lubricant on the lead bullet. Once I started doing this, I never had another (so far, fingers crossed) failure-to-feed with my S&W Model 41 and cheap ammo from WallyWorld. CCI Standard Velocity has always been extremely reliable in my gun but the cheap stuff was not -- the bullet lube seems to reproduce the wax coating that CCI applies.

Best,

Joe

I never had a feeding problem with my Hammerli 208s and never lubed the rounds. Went several matches without an alabi. I then started shooting an AW-93 and found that I also did not have feeding problems IF I clean the chamber well after every few hundred rounds and oiled the gun. I use Gunzilla. I will occasionally spray the chamber prior to sustained fire with Gunzilla. Only certain ammos work well in the AW-93 though. On .45's I know a lot of people who oil the first round. I think it will help prevent alabis but if your loads have good dimensions and you have the proper weight spring in your gun you should not need to oil the first round. As Roddy Toyota said, if you need oil all the time it is a sign of other problems. Either you have a bad gun/ammo combination or something else is wrong. Isabel

"if you need oil all the time it is a sign of other problems"

That nails it!

This is what I have done for many years. I consider that the only oil that is excess is what drips off ny elbow. My reasoning is based on the fact that a pistol has several moving parts when it cycles. Like an autonotive engine metal on metal should must be lubricated and the closser the tolerences the lighter the lubricant should be. But ,bottom line is feed it what it likes. Good Shooting Bill Horton

I have some old Winchester wad ammo in the yellow box. It would not feed without oil. But the real reason was total lack of crimp. Yes, no crimp on primo factory ammo. Ran it through a crimper and all is well.

I would bet dollars-to-donuts that my religion is not the same as yours...

...but in the same vein, I'll just proffer that I swear by the drop-of-oil-on-the-top-round trick.

I don't do it always, but it's the first trick in the "bag o'" that I turn to when needed.

Respectfully, YMMV, etc.

I've found with my Benelli 90S, that I need to oil the rear (case heads) of loaded magazines or it will not feed. I've had the same problem since purchase. Sent it back to Larry's, came back with the same problem, so I just keep oiling and it still keeps working.

A drop of oil on the top round definitely works with my Model 41 when using standard velocity other than CCI (in my case, mostly Eley). With my other guns it's not required, though.

jrmcdaniel wrote:I think I have found a better solution. I use Lyman Bullet Lube stick to put some lubricant on the lead bullet. Once I started doing this, I never had another (so far, fingers crossed) failure-to-feed with my S&W Model 41 and cheap ammo from WallyWorld. CCI Standard Velocity has always been extremely reliable in my gun but the cheap stuff was not -- the bullet lube seems to reproduce the wax coating that CCI applies.

Best,

Joe

Joe,

The link you gave above leads to a Midway listing for Lee Alox stick lube that Midway says melts at room temperature. Doesn't this make it extremely messy to use? Do you think a stick lube with a higher melting point would still do the job?

Thanks,
FredB

FredB wrote:...melts at room temperature...

only if you have a very hot room!
I think they mean that it will 'flow' in a lubri-sizer at room temperature.

Spencer