Re using cast iron rings?

Garrett Ellison said

I'm in the new ring club, too. If you want to compare, get a fish scale and pull a piston through the bore with the old rings on and then install new rings on the pistons and repeat. You should see more resistance with new rings from tension with a new set. Ring tension is pretty important for a street engine.

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To a point ring tension is a factor. You can not rely on a specified # of pounds without knowing ring width. Ring tension has as much or more to do with oil control as compression seal. Low tension rings need the main and rod clearances tightened to prevent exess oil on the cylinder walls that the oil and second compression ring are not able to control.
New BMWs and some others have oil consumption issues on new cars. Like a quart in less than 500 miles. I would be really pissed if I had to put a quart in every 500 miles, in a car that costs $50,000+. In the '60's, Ford service required less than 800 miles to a quart, and that was with chrome rings that generally took up to 20k miles to fully break in. The cylinder finish was rough to aid breakin, so oil consumption during that time could be high until the cylinder walls got smoothed out. These new ring materials and cylinder finishes almost negate breakin as us old geezers were accustomed to.