That's totally normal.

A couple of stories, please don't try this with your BENZ!

My father was a Cat tractor mechanic most of his life, and when he had to re-ring a Cat diesel in the desert, he would assemble the rings & pistons DRY into the cylinders. Ring seating was nearly instantaneous, and you ran less risk of gouging your cylinder walls due to sand sticking to oil-lubed parts during engine assembly.

A friend of mine in high school was heavy into dirt track race bikes. He would fire up a newly re-rung engine, and blip the throttle while letting the engine suck up a small amount of Comet or Ajax thru the carb throat. He always swore the engine was race-ready at that point, with rings being fully seated.

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Nate Stanley
(Currently Benzless)
1985 F-250 6.9l 170K
2009 SCION XB 36.5K
2003 LS430 78K
2012 Kubota B 2320