Burst Receivers

This has probably been discussed before but I can across an article on the 1921 National Matches that caught my attention and made me wonder if there's a correlation to early 1903 receivers failing.

"A Quick Note on the Ammunition Issued for the 1921 Matches:
The average (military) ammunition available to the competitor until 1921, utilized a bullet jacket composed of copper and nickel. While the cupro-nickel jacket was acceptable for issue military ammunition, the jacket material tended to leave a lumpy metal fouling in the bore that adversely affected the accuracy of the rifle after just a few rounds. The deposited metal fouling made things worse and caused even more fouling to be deposited in the bore with each subsequent shot. The cupro-nickel metal fouling was the ruination of match accuracy. A formula for “ammonia dope” was readily available to dissolve the lumpy metal fouling, but if you left the “dope” in the bore too long, it could destroy your barrel. A slight slip-up, or a leaky cork in the breech and your rifle bore was history! As a result, shooters resorted to drastic measures to solve the problem. The first attempt to maintain accuracy until the bore could be cleaned with “ammonia dope,” was apparently the use of Cosmoline on the tip of the bullet. For rapid fire, the entire end of the 5 round stripper clip was dipped into a small typewriter can full of lubricant (either cosmoline, or for the more affluent, a commercial grease called Mobilubricant). Now, no matter how careful you were, you were probably going to lube your chamber in the process. Since grease is incompressible, the chamber pressure rose sharply."

If a shooter was using grease, would that have spiked the pressure beyond normal limits causing the failures?

Carl

I think it was "Mobillube" not cosmoline

read hatchers notebook...it will open your eyes.

WWI was largely fought with "cupronickel" bullets. The 1921 matches used the so-called "Tin Can Ammo". They flash coated tin to the bullet to cut down on bullet problems. Problem was the tin cold soldered the bullet to the case. In a word "disaster". Lots written about the Tin Can Ammo, not news anymore.

I actually had read Hatcher's notebook before posting. The author refers to shooters coating the cupro-nickel bullets and the tin can ammo was supposed to alleviate that need. Hatcher said he focused on soft cases and the receivers. Not seeing and reference to the coated bullets in his notebook, I posted to see if anyone here knew what kind of pressure is generated by a greased bullet. I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable can answer my curiosity.

If I missed it somewhere else in the notebook, please let me know. I last read the whole thing in the 90s.

Thank you for the information.

Pressures generated by properly greased bullets were in the 70,000 to 75,000 lb range (or more) or basically the equivalent of a proof load. Also since the sides of the cartridge case did not "stick" to the chamber walls the rearward thrust on the bolt was greatly increased leading to cracking or shearing of the bolt lugs. (hatcher pp335+)

Regards,
Jim

the big question...why?? do you plan on shoot a bunch of rare collectors ammo in an 03?? no reason to grease any modern ammo.
if you have feeding issues, fix the fifle.