Quote Originally Posted by Alan de Enfield View Post
Absolutely correct in WW1 & WW2 the soldier couldnt go home in the evening, and in the comfort of his own home, strip down and clean his rifle - we can.

Slide forward 50 - 100 years
We dont need oil in the bottle (and anyway, most of them leak and oil-soak your butt.

Its a great idea to have easily broken, small parts on hand when at the range or out hunting. a broken extractor can ruin your day, but if you've got one with you it can be fixed in minutes.
I have a 'repair kit' in an oil botle for each of my 303s - and yes - a broken case extractor easily fits in the bottle (but you do need to unscrew/remove the spoon) You can even fit in a small watchmakers screwdriver.


Alan, you make excellent points (as did madcratebuilder) but I like my oilers in original condition and will not deliberately break the spoons out of the plastic ones or de-solder the spoons from the brass ones. I do keep a broken shell extractor handy just in case but I have never needed it and never expect to, it's just a neat thing to have. Spare extractors and their springs and screws are kept at home in my shop, I don't expect them to break at the range and if one does it is not a matter of life and death, I can fold up and go home for repair, no big deal, better luck next time. I do have spare metal spoons for the brass oilers, I have repaired a couple. Maybe I should have used those to carry spare parts but the rattling that they would have made would have driven me nuts. Besides, the brass oilers don't leak and I do keep one in the but of my Longbranch and have used the oil and even the pullthrough. We just look at things differently and if what you do works for you, that's great. We have a good time and that's what counts.