"Un necessary wear and tear"?
Let’s start with why 22lr cases have wax lubricants, grease lubricants, on the cases.
The Machine Gun, Vol IV
HyperWar: The Machine Gun
Chapter 1 Blowback Operation
Page 7
THE PRIMARY DIFFICULTIES IN BLOWBACK OPERATION ARE THE DIRECT RESULT OF EXCESSIVE CARTRIDGE CASE MOVEMENT DURING THE PERIOD OF EXTREMELY HIGH CHAMBER PRESSURE AND THESE DIFFICULTIES ARE AGGRAVATED BY INADEQUATE CASE LUBRICATION.
(all caps and bold by author)
Pg 11 Analysis of Plain Blowback:
In the preceding description of blowback operation, it was pointed out that the most critical factor affecting the design of a gun employing this system is the movement of the cartridge case during the action of the powder gas pressure….
1. If no lubrication is provided, the high pressures generated in the early part of the explosion will cause the cartridge case to seize in the chamber. Therefore, separation of the case will result unless the movement of the bolt is limited so that the allowable elongation of the case material is not exceeded while the case is stuck…..
2. Even if chamber seizure can be avoided by means of adequate lubrication, the cartridge case can not be permitted to move out of the chamber so far that its thin walls do not receive any radial support while the residual pressure is still fairly high…..
There is a whole chapter on blowback action operation, and I can’t summarize it in one word, one paragraph, and few people are curious enough to read the whole chapter. But the thing is, blowbacks use lubrication, they have to use lubrication, the 22lr is lubricated with wax or grease, and blowback firearms (22lr and other) are designed to operate to withstand the bolt thrust of a lubricated cartridge (and the assumption is, zero reduction of bolt thrust by friction) at a maximum pressure. It is safe to assume that SAAMI max pressures are safe in any commercial action in the US. Military weapons are another thing. The US Military regularly runs over pressure rounds on legacy weapons, and the lifetime of those weapons are accordingly reduced.
Incidentally, there is no increase in combustion pressures from lubrication
Slathing oil over a waxed case is not going increase pressures.
Wax is a lubricant by virtue of the fact it undergoes a phase change under the pressures and temperatures of combustion. Under high pressure, wax goes from a solid, to a liquid. Or rather, should go. I think old wax dries out and does not do a good job of becoming a liquid at 22lr pressures. That may be a reason by expensive pistol match ammunition uses a “vegetable based” lubricant. Eley would not tell me what the vegetable based lubricant was, just that was the lube used on their pistol match 22lr. I can say, my rifle match 22lr is greasy as all get out, and that grease goes from the bullet tip, all the way down to the rim. It must make a difference on target as the dry lube Eley Edge never shot as well as rifle Black box or Red box, which are very greasy
Wax lubricants don’t work well in cold weather. My gun club used to hold a combined rifle and pistol match in the winter. I always had function problems with my Ruger MKII, and others shooting semi auto 22lr's always had alibis. I could run a couple of five round magazines fine, but eventually, the pistol would gum up. What was happening was that vaporized wax lubricant (either bullet or case) would puff out of the barrel when the case ejected, Then it would condense into the mechanism, and somewhere around 10 to 30 rounds, the cold caused the wax to harden, and the mechanism would gum up, causing failures to feed, or failures to eject.
As a rule, to someone who wants to win in a competitive sport where accurate shooting determines the winner, and unreliable function will ruin a score, there are at least three strong rules.
An inaccurate firearm has zero value.
An unreliable weapon has zero value
A firearm is a disposable item in the pursuit of excellence.
