I made my comment because it seemed as if everyone was thinking of a wooden pencil. If he had, say, a stainless steel mechanical pencil (I've seen them), and removed the "mechanical" part, and then sterilized it he would have a sterilized stainless steel tube. So, Ladydocsin, if it were indeed a metal, let's even make the assumption of stainless steel, mechanical pencil from which all the internal parts had been removed, and he had sterilized it, and used a suitable lube and not just "oil," would that meet with your approval? Not that I think he did that. Disassemble, yes, sterilize, no. And his comment of "oil" is wide open.
Big K, I did read all of the posts about what Funsy wrote. Especially the one about the oil maybe softening the paint on a pencil. That is the one that made me go back and read Funsys post again. He "took the filling and everything out so the only thing left was the hollow tube". Which, on the second reading made me back off from the same assumption that everyone else seemed to making - that he was taking a good ol' yellow painted #2 Ticonderoga, dipping it in 30 weight, and shoving into someone. I'm wondering if you really read my post.
Note that I did not - NOT - say or suggest "Yeah! It's safe! Do it again!" or anything close, as I seem to be found guilty of. I asked those who were making the assumption of a painted wooden pencil if they had considered that it might be a mechanical pencil, and why I thought it might have been one. An assumption no less valid that the assumptions of a wooden pencil.
I fully agree, if it isn't sterile, it doesn't go in.
About looking down the bore of a 3" rifle. The piece had been discharged, wormed, sponged, flushed with water, sponged, and flushed again. Perfectly safe. 5 minutes before the photo was another matter.