Over-greased .22 ammo

[Cumbrian]

Anyone ever had this problem apart from me?

I am working my way through 1000 batch tested (so otherwise excellent) Lapua Centre X rounds. All are overgreased so that after every few shots my Anschutz 1800 will not eject the case. Normally the claws on the bolt work perfectly but the build up of grease sometimes defeats them, so that I have to use my the nail of my index finger to extract the case. At best this really messes up one's concentration. At worst if I have failed to notice the non-ejection and have a live round in my fingers as I try to extract the case, and thus have to juggle both case and round, the movement caused by fiddling around in the breach will also destroy my position.

It may be that the recent cold weather in England has made the problem worse i.e. by slightly hardening the grease, but I am not sure.

Anyway, I have now taken to degreasing most of the rounds, which I don't like doing as I prefer to leave them exactly as from the factory in their plastic box i.e. I don't decant them into a wooden holder as many seem to do. I start, however, by using some greasy rounds to condition the clean barrel.

The de-greased rounds go into the chamber with almost alarming ease. Should I be worried by this? How important is the grease to the accuracy of the round?

For some reason, the de-greased bullets also seem to tear the card of the target even more than normal bullets. The card now used in this country is of inferior quality and tears much more readily than the old card, which must have had tighter fibres.

I don't recall that I encountered this problem in the past with other batches of Lapua. And certainly never with RWS 50 or Special Match.

[Tim S]

Roger,

I would not wipe away all the grease, after all it is there to reduce metallic fouling, but removing some excess probably won't hurt. I think the grease is important, its absence is why many barrels take a few shots to settle after cleaning. The composition also seems to make a difference; many years ago I shot back to back cards with Tenex and Winchester T22, initially the T22 shot rather better then the group opened up, something I attributed to the Tenex grease being overlaid.

[Cumbrian]

Tim,

Thank you as usual. I'll try to moderate my de-greasing after what you write. I hadn't thought of the metallic fouling angle, though I had heard of the inadvisability of switching ammo without cleaning the barrel. I must check my cleaning felts for signs of extra fouling next time.

The de-greased bullets seem to be accurate enough but with the mediocre standard of my shooting it is difficult to distinguish between normal pilot error (plenty of that available) and any extra degree of inaccuracy induced by the lack of grease.

Roger

[Tim S]

Roger,

Unless you're delberately removing all the grease, rather than just wiping off some, I would not think you'll irreversibly lead up your barrel. That said, inspecting felts for lead slivers won't hurt. If you are worried, bronze-brushing the barrel more regularly should remove any lead, and put your mind at ease.

[Cumbrian]

Tim,

Right you are. Many thanks again.

Roger