Tracer shotgun shells

[Astridgilberto]

I have been thinking about reloading shotgun ammo using some sort of tracer addition in order to keep my expenditure down when shooting clays. I find it is a waste of a lot of shells before you can find the target and a tracer type would be useful. Has anybody got any info. on this?

regards,
Mike

 

[Acheron]

I've never seen any tracing components for shotguns. I've seen plenty of tracer shotgun shells, but they are pretty expensive (which I assume is not what you want). Considering that most tracer shells have the tracer compound compressed into the rear of the wad (if using shot) or compressed into the back of the slug, it's kind of a difficult thing to do. I don't know if it's even possible to reload tracer shells. Sorry I can't be more help.

 

[Hoppy590]

I have been thinking about reloading shotgun ammo using some sort of tracer addition in order to keep my expenditure down when shooting clays. I find it is a waste of a lot of shells before you can find the target and a tracer type would be useful

huh? how many shots are you taking at each clay?! id focus on learning to get them in one shot instead of trying to adjust your fire via tracers.

 

[SDC]

True tracer ammo for shotguns is fairly rare nowadays (and expensive, as pointed out above), but you might be able to make a fairly close approximation simply by spray-painting your wads a fluorescent colour. At least at skeet distances, the wad doesn't deviate very far off the shot charge flight line. This has it's own problems, since it can sometimes be hard to tell the wad from a target chip, but if you use a different colour (say yellow, or green) it may work.

 

[JesseL]

Unless it's a slug, how would you get the trace compound lit? I'd think that the wad would get in the way.

 

[rcmodel]

How would you prevent Forest & Rangeland fires?

Thats always been a problem on military ranges when tracers are used during dry weather conditions.

You might better spend your money & time on something more productive, like some shotgun shooting instruction.


rcmodel

 

[Oldnamvet]

Some of this information might help.
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=232331&highlight=graphite
I tried loading with some graphite puffed into the shot and it just made people wonder if I was shooting some portion of blackpowder mixed in. Didn't help a bit. I still haven't given up yet. Something to give the shot a little "sparkle" in the sunlight might be one answer.
When you miss and don't know why, it would be nice to have seen a glimpse of the shot cloud going under/over/behind/etc. Most times when I miss I know why but it would be nice for those times when you thought everything was right.

 

[41magsnub]

This might be mildly helpfull.. with 12 ga low recoil trap ammo (the stuff that won't even cycle an autoloader) I can actually watch the shot go out which is about as good as a tracer. After shooting with that stuff and the handicap of such slow ammo, when I shoot the good stuff I'm deadly.

That stuff is fun, there is NO recoil whatsoever out of my Wingmaster.

Edit since "stuff" is not exactly descriptive: I just dug the box out of the trash of my last box from the case I was shooting. It is Winchester AA 12 Ga 2 3/4 MIN. DR EQ 26 Gram #8 shot Low Recoil, Low Noise.

I need to find some more of this for my 20 ga to introduce my GF to trap shooting.

 

[Milkmaster]

When you miss and don't know why, it would be nice to have seen a glimpse of the shot cloud going under/over/behind/etc. Most times when I miss I know why but it would be nice for those times when you thought everything was right.

Besides, it would be just plain darn cool to try a few of them for fun!

Go for it and then share the recipe!

 

[Bix]

I've tried the commercially-loaded tracer 12ga rounds for fun. The trajectory of the tracer element did not seem to correlate very strongly with the trajectory of the shot payload. As a result, I don't think the commercial loads would be especially useful for your purposes.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Since you're in England, check with Eley's. They used to have a tracer round listed.

As for fire danger, not that much in England. It rained the first six weeks I was there and most of the time afterwards.

 

[Astridgilberto]

Shotgun tracer ammo

Thanks for the feedback so far, I think OLDAMVETs idea about adding sparkle to the shot is the best so far, so will try something on those lines and keep you posted. I often see the wad tracking and even on some occasions hitting the clay, but obviously, the shot cloud is way in front of it at that point, so putting tracer behind the wad is a waste of time I would think, it is history by then.

Regards
Mike

 

[scout26]

Re: "Sparkle in the shot"

My daughter and I tried adding "glitter" to her 20 ga reloads.
To quote Jamie from Mythbusters : "That was a whole lot of nothing."


I second the idea of getting some instruction/training.

 

[Steve C]

Tracer shells can be purchased but they're relatively expensive. They're used for training and error correction not for competition. Once you learn how to shoot and have corrected any lead and swing problems they are like training wheels, no longer needed unless you pick up some bad habits later.

 

[ImARugerFan]

I don't see how tracer rounds would help shoot clays. Just keep both eyes open, aim, shoot. If you miss a lot, it just means you need more practice!

 

[rcmodel]

Anything you add to the shot column that is a different density & size then the shot will not stay with the pattern far enough to matter.

That rules out glitter, graphite, talcum powder, etc.

Beside, many hunting loads have buffered shot.
Did you ever the the plastic buffer material flying through the air?


rcmodel

 

[Hawk]

I'm giving away my age, but a tracer load was marketed around 35 years ago as a training aid for clay games.

BoxPic

IIRC, it used a single "000" or thereabouts sized pellet with combustible core and hollow "projection" nestled among a cupfull of #8.

Picture an orange with a straw stuck in it.

The "straw" part was routed through the bottom of the shot cup (might've been a wad, I don't recall) into the powder area so it ignited upon firing. The compound was visible exiting the "straw" which I assume stayed more or less stable in the same manner as a bottle rocket. However, since it was part of the shot column, it worked a lot better than making a low density shot cup visible. It was "just another pellet" albeit larger.

I believe it died early on - most didn't need the help and there was a concern over fires starting. The review I recall reading mentioned that the tracer appeared to hit the clay when the shooter was dialed in. A hollowed out "000" would be close enough in density that I suspect results would be servicable at trap type ranges.

The memory grows hazy so my description might be suspect - perhaps someone with stronger search-fu can find a cut-away of it. I'm not even sure the box picture is right - I thought it had carried the AA designator.

 

[rcmodel]

Your memory isn't too bad!

Winchester did briefly market a tracer target load back in the ?? late 60's early 70's.
I thought it was an AA compression formed case also.

I'd forgotten all about it until you mentioned it!

PS: Guess I was wrong, not AA.
They were MK5 branded in paper base-wad cases.
http://www.ammo-one.com/12GAWinTracer.html


rcmodel