Tracers?

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  • lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,677
    Tracers are only really cool at night in large numbers

    I remember my first time shooting them at a night fire with 50 lanes firing.....the range looked like Star Wars. It was awesome to watch.

    As for usefulness....there is none from a semi auto rifle. You have enough control over the rifle at a relatively slow rate of fire that you shouldn't need tracers

    Tracers come in handy for crew serve weapons with high rates of fire. They are necessary when you are trying to walk a machine gun onto a Target at 200 rounds a minute

    They are also necessary on large guns like a 25 mm cannon where your target may be 3000m out and you need to track your flight to make adjustments for the next volley. (Also they look super cool in thermal sights)

    But in a hand held rifle? They are a novelty one time without much practical use....unless you have an old she'd you really want to burn down from 500 yards away. In that unique scenario.....they serve function.

    Makes sense for signaling out of a semi auto or bolt action. Or cool at night where a fire isn’t a concern.
     

    ken792

    Ultimate Member
    Sep 2, 2011
    4,480
    Fairfax, VA
    My uncle gave me a belt of 7.62 rounds, every 4th one was a tracer (maybe 5th). I took the whole thing apart and separated the ammo. I have shot a few of the tracers here and there. The head stamp is '62. Some of them don't light but the ones that did were hard to see at under 100yds due to the short flight time and it being daylight out.

    I believe the M62 tracers are meant to be dim for about the first 100yd before it gets to the really bright compound. That would be why you can’t really see it at 100yd
     

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,726
    Socialist State of Maryland
    One other thing about tracers, is that they don't always ignite in shorter barrels. Part of the mixture is magnesium and it needs heat to light it off. The longer it is in the barrel, the more reliable the ignition.
     

    ken792

    Ultimate Member
    Sep 2, 2011
    4,480
    Fairfax, VA
    I don't know if they used dim tracers back that far. In the '80's, 7.62x51 dim tracer had a purple tip while the standard tracer had a bright orange tip. AFAICR from that long ago. :lol:

    They’re not dim tracers like the modern ones that remain dim through the whole burn. They’re set up to burn a dim compound at close range and the bright compound kicks in further out.

    Some of the WWII tracers did that by design

    http://forums.thecmp.org/showthread.php?t=50144

    Orange tip 7.62 would be M62 and I’ve read that it does the same of being dim at close range
     

    Pinecone

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 4, 2013
    28,175
    They’re not dim tracers like the modern ones that remain dim through the whole burn. They’re set up to burn a dim compound at close range and the bright compound kicks in further out.

    Some of the WWII tracers did that by design

    http://forums.thecmp.org/showthread.php?t=50144

    Orange tip 7.62 would be M62 and I’ve read that it does the same of being dim at close range

    This is what I remember.

    Delay in the tracer burn so it doen't give away your position as much.
     

    Scrounger

    Active Member
    Jul 16, 2018
    357
    Southern Maryland
    For the civilian world tracers are somewhat of a novelty item. As already posted, they are not barrel friendly.

    For tactical reasons they are useful for belt-feds. Just remember tracers show both ways.

    We used to load two or three ball loads, then one tracer, then the rest ball ammo in our mags. If you fired a tracer when things got interesting, sometimes it is difficult to round count, you knew it was time for a mag change.
     

    Blasting

    Member
    Feb 12, 2020
    27
    M856 does not have rod/stick powder in it...

    That is 5.56, not 308 the OP is asking about, but maybe there is an explanation????
     

    Jerry M

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 13, 2007
    1,688
    Glen Burnie MD
    I had a bunch mixed in with M-80 ball with the paint rubbed off. Shot them off and proceeded to catch a field on fire. I was able to kick it out before I burned the wood down. Be careful where and when you shoot them.

    I have never know them to cause damage to a barrel. What are you guys referring to in that regard?

    Good Luck

    Jerry
     

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,726
    Socialist State of Maryland
    I had a bunch mixed in with M-80 ball with the paint rubbed off. Shot them off and proceeded to catch a field on fire. I was able to kick it out before I burned the wood down. Be careful where and when you shoot them.

    I have never know them to cause damage to a barrel. What are you guys referring to in that regard?

    Good Luck

    Jerry

    The magnesium mix in the tail causes erosion due to the higher heat.
     

    U.S.SFC_RET

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 8, 2005
    6,696
    My personal take on tracers? They ballistically show you what your bullets do when gravity gets ahold of them. I really can't think of anything useful about a tracer in the civilian world, just the cool factor.
     

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