Oil in .22 cartridges

[Irod]

Why some .22 pistols NEED a little of oil aplied in the cartriddges to fucntion properly?

I´ll do this as the only way to make work my S&W ... maybe a too tight chamber?.

My M41 have the cocked indicator.

[Guest]

I ran into this problem tonight, at the local Bullseye league. Shooting CCI SV, and cleaning between matches- at round 171 I encountered a failure to extract. I ended up breaking down the weapon, and pulling it out by hand. I lost 50 points. Solution for next time- clean the chamber more often.

[Isabel1130]

Model 41's are notoriously picky about ammunition. You should not have to oil your 22 rounds to get your gun to function. In addition to cleaning, I would try some other brands of ammo and see if you have the same problem. Isabel

[waxman]

I have a Browning Buckmark that performed flawlessly with CCI SV for thousands of rounds, without oiling ammo. Along came my 1960's vintage Model 41, and a new Clark 5.5" barrel. Dry, it will often fail-to-eject, especially with a cold gun. After a few warm-up rounds, FTE only once/twice per magazine. The official reply from Clark was to put a drop of oil (FP-10) on the top round of every other magazine. It performs flawlessly now. Inconvenient, but worth the peace of mind in rapid fire!

[bebloomster]

I put a drop of oil (FP-10) on the top round of every other magazine with my 1995 era Model 41. Never really had a FTF or FTE problem but what the heck... it can't hurt. Runs slick as can be with CCI SV.

[EdStevens]

If I'm shooting CCI standard velocity, my Model 41 is happy, but if I want to shoot Eley in it I have to oil the top round or it WILL malfunction. With a drop of oil on the top round, it runs flawlessly. Despite being told that it should not need a drop of oil on the top round, well... it works, so I do it. The oil, from what I see, does three things:

1) it increases the chamber pressure on the first round (you will hear and feel noticeably more "bang" on the oiled round)

2) it lubricates the chamber, which probably aids in extraction

3) it cleans the chamber: if you examine the ejected cartridge case from that first round you should see a fair amount of gunk on it.

Why does CCI work? IMO, for a standard velocity cartridge, it has a little more "oomph" than the others. Enough to cycle the 41 reliably.

[TonyT]

I know some shooters ouil the top round in the magazine for timed and rapid fire. I shot a Walther GSP which ate everything you woukld feed it and then a PArdini SP which functioned flawlessly with Wolf MT. SKJagd and RWS Target as well as Aguilla SE SV.

[Art]

My 41, a 1988 version goes many thousand of rounds without malfunctions using CCI SV.

A ammo that might be worth trying is SK pistol match special - it's velocity is a bit higher than SK pistol match and it seems to shoot tight groups.

I don't oil my ammo and don't want to - I would rather take the time to tune my guns - ammo or recoil springs. Cleaning the magazines very thoroughly might help. I use FP 10 lighly on my 41. Carefully brushing the chamber could help.

[penman53]

I had people tell me to do that when I first got my Marvel conversion for my 1911. I was having all kinds of problems with the first round failing to chamber. What I found out was that the chamber was fairly tight on the new gun and by using a 25 caliber bore brush to clean my chamber after each 5 rounds, it helped alot. I then found out by pulling my slide all the way back and realeasing, the first round went in fine and I have had no further problems with Eley and Aguilla ammo at least. Good luck

[JamesH]

Why do some guns need oiled rounds?

My guess would be rough or not cylindrical chambers.

Some ammo tends to stick more than others, my guess is softer brass than other brands, oil can be a solution there.

[TonyT]

I would never put oil on the cartridge. I brush the chamber before a match and have never had any problems firing 100 to 200 rounds. My Pardini GSP literally ate everything it waas fed. My Pardini SP expereinced some issues with CCI SV but was totally relaible with Wolf MT, SKJagd or RWS Target. My ca 1965 S&W Model 46 functions relaibly with many brands of SV ammo.

[zoned]

... My Pardini SP expereinced some issues with CCI SV but was totally relaible with Wolf MT, SKJagd or RWS Target...

From what I've seen, it's the CCI SV's bullet diameter that causes feed and misfire problems with some Pardini SPs. The slide won't fully seat the bullet into the rifling, so the firing pin energy is spent tapping an unsupported rim.

Regarding oiling, two of my Free Pistols have had extremely tight chambers which would cause sticky ejecting. Rolling a batch of cartridges around in an oily rag left a slight film on them which was enough to cure the problem.

Tip oiling bullets with an automatic is usually done to ensure precise feeding during rapid fire. Bullet wax can build up in the mag and cause drag.

[Guest]

In my Lombardi barreled HS, the recent lot of Aguila SV fails to feed into the chamber faithfully. Previous lots did chamber. Real Eley chambers perfectly. The outside of this Aguila is dirty with a sticky wax feel. The Aguila works fine in a regular HS chamber and a 208s

Brushing the chamber out helps. But a drop of oil solves the Aguila problem. I believe the Lombardi chamber is tighter than most.