What do I need to know about Tracers

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A friend on THR sent me some tracers in 223 and 30 cal that he had sitting around a couple years ago. Now they just sit around my reloading room. I can't seem to find a practical reason to use them that isn't out weighed by the risk of fire.
 
Running up and down a hill with nothing to carry water in except the hub caps off your pal's car is not 1) the easiest way to put out a fire, or 2) the most pleasant way to spend your shooting time. Don't ask me how I know this.
.

.......Or relying on your bladder capacity......
 
On another thread, someone posted that tracer rounds were loaded with WC844t, which was the standard WC844 with an additive to make the ignition of the tracer compound more certain.
 
The county has a volunteer fire department, but their response time is measured in hours, so we long ago made an investment in fire fighting equipment. The farm is a derelict catfish farm so I'm never more than a few yards from a source of water.
 
American Reloading had a 25% off sale on 22 caliber projectiles over Memorial Day, so on a whim, I picked up 500 rounds of tracers in mixed weights. The bullets themselves are pulled so they have some traces of the asphaltic solution used to seal them in the case but otherwise look very nice and well crafted.

My question is (after I get the weights and configurations sorted) what do I need to know about loading and using tracers?

Thank you.

In Viet Nam they used tracers on the C-47 Gunships-AKA "Puff The Magic Dragon. Mounted the 50 cal in the left rear door. The tracers burned holes in the left wing ailerons. The ailerons were doped fabric-not asbestos.

My close range had a range fire in December 2016. Many have stated it was blamed on tracers. The range is still closed due to insurance claims.


Tracers are bad Karma. Ask the aircraft commander if he wants an aileron on fire over the rice paddies...
 
Shooting steel with them is very fun. They make a brig flash and when they glance off they spin and spark and do all kinda interesting stuff. But, I've started some fires and it's pretty much gotta be raining to use them safely around here at least. So far I haven't been able to find a powder that makes them ignite at all in flight. It's the target that ignites them.
 
In 5.56mm (Radway Green 62gr tracer) I have used Ramshot Tac powder and had an ignition rate of around 95%. I used published load data for a 62gr projectile from Western Powders.

In .308 (Radway Green 139gr tracer) I have used Ramshot Tac powder and Reload Swiss RS50 (extruded stick powder which is very similar to Vihtavuori N140) and had an ignition rate of around 80% (there was no difference between the ball and stick powder). I used published load data for a 145gr projectile from both Western Powders and Reload Swiss loading website.

I use tracer on field firing targets, which are often at unknown distances, so it's useful to have tracer to gauge bullet drop and windage. You should seek the range owners permission to see if tracer are permissible. Also, the ground should be damp otherwise you could start a fire (did someone mention they start fires?). I have seen a tracer fire on the range but this was with .50BMG tracer, but it should still apply to smaller calibres.
 
Reloader Fred wrote:
Don't under rate your volunteer fire department. We have one, too, and they've never lost a foundation yet..........!! Not so successful with buildings, but those foundations get saved every time.

:)

By the time the call comes into the Sheriff's office and they can call the volunteers, the volunteers can drive to the fire station, don their equipment, drive to the fire over dirt roads and then deploy, about all they can do is make sure the fire doesn't spread.

When you move to the end of a dirt road in a bankrupt county, you pretty much have to take care of yourself.
 
Tracers really aren't any harder on a rifle's bore than any other bullet. The term "corrosive" is regularly misused in the shooting sports, since the priming compound that is referred to as "corrosive" isn't really corrosive. What it is is Hydroscopic, which means it attracts moisture, which in turn makes rust, and rather quickly, especially in humid climates.

There may be other aspects to it, but that's the basic explanation.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
Don't under rate your volunteer fire department. We have one, too, and they've never lost a foundation yet..........!! Not so successful with buildings, but those foundations get saved every time.

Fred

A long time ago in a world far, far away, I was the Lt. for our local VFD and there is nothing more disheartening than a structure fire when it is just you and the engineer.
Managed to save the foundation though just as the Forrest Service showed up....
 
Vernon1 wrote:
The tracers burned holes in the left wing ailerons. The ailerons were doped fabric-not asbestos.

Yep, I remember the DC-3/C-47. I many times flew into or out of Nashville on an Ozark Airlines DC-3 when I was a child.
 
Welsh Shooter wrote:
You should seek the range owners permission to see if tracer are permissible.

I own the property the range is on, so I didn't think getting permission was going to be a problem, but the guy can be really contrary sometimes. Still, when I pointed out that the tracer compound was missing from most of the bullets, he relented. ;)
 
rfwobbly wrote:
Running up and down a hill with nothing to carry water in except the hub caps off your pal's car...

I'm really impressed that in the immediacy of the situation you and your friend had the presence of mind to stay calm enough to look around and see what you could re-purpose as a water container.
 
Jeff H wrote:
I can't seem to find a practical reason to use them that isn't out weighed by the risk of fire.

Well, that's a big part of the reason I've never bought any before. But where they will be used the risk of fire is limited and equipment to effectively fight a fire is available. And now that I know from the response to this post that the fire danger is real, I will ensure the fire fighting equipment is readily available when these are shot.
 
In Viet Nam they used tracers on the C-47 Gunships-AKA "Puff The Magic Dragon. Mounted the 50 cal in the left rear door. The tracers burned holes in the left wing ailerons. The ailerons were doped fabric-not asbestos.

My close range had a range fire in December 2016. Many have stated it was blamed on tracers. The range is still closed due to insurance claims.


Tracers are bad Karma. Ask the aircraft commander if he wants an aileron on fire over the rice paddies...

We had Puff and also Stinger, Puff being the old but reliable DC 3 (C 47) and the Stinger was an AC 119 (C-119 Flying Boxcar). Those things were so cool when they opened up at night or dusk as all you saw was streams of red coming down. Every 5th round I believe was a tracer so some serious shooting was going on. Another neat place to watch tracers is the annual machine gun shoots in Knob Creek, Ky. The nightfire is pretty cool to watch.

Ron
 
Reloadron wrote:
The nightfire is pretty cool to watch.

I imagine it is.

I missed the draft for Vietnam by a year. Vietnam was my father's third (and last) war. When he got back he said that if I had gotten called up, he would have driven me to Canada himself.
 
I imagine it is.

I missed the draft for Vietnam by a year. Vietnam was my father's third (and last) war. When he got back he said that if I had gotten called up, he would have driven me to Canada himself.
Yeah, well I have to agree with your dad. While I served I don't know as I would have wanted any of my own children to find themselves in a war we have no business being in. One of the protest cries during Vietnam was "War is good business, invest your son". I was just in time before the draft went lottery and eventually eliminated. :)

We now resume tracers and how much fun they can be. :) Seriously I doubt much more can be said about them. They can be fun to shoot but as we covered many a range fire was spawned by tracers fired in the wrong place under the wrong conditions. Those using them simply be careful and think about things around you.

Ron
 
Reloadrom wrote:
Those using them simply be careful and think about things around you.

Everyone has done a very good job impressing the danger, the need for preparation and the need for care. I have taken those warnings to heart and will make sure conditions are not amenable to fires and will have equipment standing by to control one if it does get started.

Thank you all for your posts.
 
Living up in the northern east I do all my tracer shooting when there is a pile of snow on the ground. That stuff is pretty hard to ignite usually.;) I like the ability to get cheap bullets to blast with and can make safe use of them then. When it was available I got a few jugs of WC844T from Pats Reloading to use with them. I was told that it was"sticky" and designed to light tracers reliably. Years ago I was buying pulled bullets from a guy and he allowed he was sold out. I asked him when he would be getting more and he was not sure. But, he said, he had a pile of tracers I could have cheap as nobody wanted them. I payed next to nothing for them----I think at the time it was $20 per full ammo can shipped UPS. Mixed 5.56 and 7.62. I am still shooting them in the winter years later. Still I only get about40% light off rate but they are fun to use near/after dark. YMMV
 
Frogo207 wrote:
That stuff is pretty hard to ignite usually

That struck me because one of my sons is a lyricist and he wrote a song about it.

I started this thread the day I ordered the bullets. When they arrived and I started sorting the 55 grain from the 62 grain, I noticed the tracer compound was missing from just about all of them, so it seems I have a bunch of cheap bullets. And at 7 cents a round (postage paid) I'm not complaining.
 
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