It was popular to coat 03 Springfield cartridges with grease before shooting in that period, and one of the reasons some blew up, Brittle actions with pressure increased because of the extra material in the bore. No doubt there was a lot of coating and doubt it helped at all. And dangerous in a high velocity round,

Most of that sniper stuff is pure BS.  Like the guys who keep taking there rifles apart and cleaning them, Wonder how they found the right sight settings when the gun was always apart.  I don't know of any Sniper Novels that are accurate,

If you want to read the best book on WWI Snipers read McBrides book "A Rifleman went to war", He was the real deal

Boats

Boats is right on with his book recomend, you won't be able to put it down!

Does anyone know what jacket material is used for the bullets in the Swiss G11 7.5 military ammo? It appears to be either a steel or a nickel alloy.
These rounds have a wax ring at the junction of the bullet and the case mouth. It would appear to be for sealing purposes.
Steve

If you suspect steel jacket material, check it out with a magnet.  That will differentiate between steel & cupro-nickle.

I've always been leary of steel jacketed bullets, even though they've been used for many years, during WWII the Germans made lots of steel jacketed bullets as well as steel cases, the problem with them is that when steel rusts it creats iron oxide which is a very strong abrasive. Usually the steel jacket is coated with copper or nickel to prevent rust, however it only takes one or two rusty bullets to destroy a rifle barrel. This may be why the steel jacketed bullets were coated with a layer of bees wax.

Bob

It might be interesting to note that NECO kits for molying copper bullets ( for Highpower shooting)include carnuba wax. The wax is applied after the bullets have been molyed.  I presume mostly to keep the moly from migrating to everything the bullets touch. While I moly coat, I do not use the wax on Boots Obermeyer's recommendation.

   Bee's wax is used for many different things. Like furniture polish, lip gloss, and bullet lube for shooting lead bullets. I have used it for years on my original Springfield 1861 barrels. These barrels were left in the white not blued or browned. One can imagine what dampness encountered outside for long periods would do to them. But, if you apply the bee's wax by rubbing the hardened  wax on the barrel and using a leather piece to rub it onto the metal. The friction of rubbing causes the wax to heat up and spread a ultra thin coat of wax over the entire barrel. Barrels thus treated will resist rusting in inclimate weather and even rain. And, if the same treatment is applied to the stock including the barrel channel your stock can take quite a bit of moisture without warpage as well. This treatment can also be used to treat blued or browned barrels as well. So, I also use it on my modern rifles when I know I will be outside hunting for some time and not be able to protect my rifle as I normally would. What it would do for a fellow under the conditions of trench warfare would seem obvious. But, one must realise that a metal jacketed bullet that was just dipped in wax and loaded in a centerfire rifle would probably be a dangerous  situation.