What do I need to know about Tracers

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Tracers were fun to use in the military but so were grenades, claymores and other stuff that civilians have no legitimate use for. They might be interesting as a display but personally I'd trade them for something more useful, like a box of Bergers.
 
Tracers were fun to use in the military but so were grenades, claymores and other stuff that civilians have no legitimate use for. They might be interesting as a display but personally I'd trade them for something more useful, like a box of Bergers.

There are legitimate uses for tracers in civilian use, but usually in training shotgun sports shooters. Special tracer rounds are made for shotgun shells so the shooter can see where the shot pattern is going in relation to the target (trap or skeet). Those tracers are non-incendiary in nature, but are a valuable tool in correcting a shooter's aim and follow through.

I fired plenty of tracers in the Marine Corps, and afterwards had access to both .38 Special and .45 acp tracers, due to working adjacent to an Air Force Base and having a close relationship with the Security Police Detachment. The .38 Spl. tracers made big corkscrews in the sky when fired out over the desert, but had no relationship to where a good bullet would hit. The .45 acp tracers were pretty bright, but we had so few of them we only fired a few off. I've still got a couple in my collection somewhere.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
spitballer wrote:
...claymores and other stuff that civilians have no legitimate use for.

I beg to disagree. I've had more than one occasion where a Claymore would have been invaluable. When you're holed-up in your garage because some guys have shown up in the parking lot to "tune you up" for telling the local marijuana cultivators they cannot grow it on your "south forty", it would be very nice to be able clear the parking lot with the press of a button.
 
paddy wrote:
I wonder if you could soak them in something to intentionally disable the fire risk?

Well, as I said, it looks like whoever pulled these did something to remove the tracer compound from the backside of most of the bullets. As far as getting the rest of it out, I don't know what the tracer compound is made of so I don't know what it would be soluble in.
 
I wonder if you could soak them in something to intentionally disable the fire risk?
The only way I know of to reliably deactivate tracers is setting the compound on fire and allowing it to burn away.

Even the crappiest old "zero percent lighting" M-196 tracers with the plastic base closure will combust if they hit something hard enough at high velocity.
Tracers were fun to use in the military but so were grenades, claymores and other stuff that civilians have no legitimate use for. They might be interesting as a display but personally I'd trade them for something more useful, like a box of Bergers.
Sooo...
You believe that "fun" is somehow an illegitimate use unless a person is in the military when they have it?

Starting down that whole "stuff that civilians have no legitimate use for" rabbit hole is usually reserved for people that are afraid of a particular type of object and want someone to legislate their fears away.
 
hdwhit wrote:
As far as getting the rest of it out, I don't know what the tracer compound is made of so I don't know what it would be soluble in.

After doing some research on what the flare material in tracers is made out of, it appears that American tracers typically use Magnesium Oxide in combination with a Strontium Salt. Those two chemicals are, however, soluble in ammonia and little else. Since I think playing around with concentrated ammonia probably poses a greater danger to me than the few remaining tracers pose of fire - at the range where I have adequate fire control equipment available - I think I'll just segregate the "live" tracers from the ones that have already been cleaned out and reserve them for an evening display this Thanksgiving.
 
Spitballer wrote:
...civilians have no legitimate use for....

While I appreciate that is your opinion and you are entitled to have it and express it, I find it kind of chilling since that is precisely the rationale the anti-gun people apply to various guns that they want to take out of our hands:.
  • What is the "legitimate" use of an AR-15?
  • What is the "legitimate" use of a "Saturday Night Special"?
  • What is the "legitimate" of a Mossburg Shockwave?
 
As far as getting the trace compound out you MIGHT be able to use wet tumbling with SS pins. That compound literally fell out of some of the tracer rounds I had. They were not sealed at the base however and you could see the white compound in the base.
 
While I appreciate that is your opinion and you are entitled to have it and express it, I find it kind of chilling since that is precisely the rationale the anti-gun people apply to various guns that they want to take out of our hands:.
  • What is the "legitimate" use of an AR-15?
  • What is the "legitimate" use of a "Saturday Night Special"?
  • What is the "legitimate" of a Mossburg Shockwave?

...excuse me, maybe I should have said "that I have no legitimate use for". Others can do whatever they want as far as I'm concerned, it's still a free country for those with enough self-discipline to handle it. I have no desire to push the limits with regard to firearms, but in fairness at least we'll know what our limits are going to be - thanks to those that do.
 
I've loaded and shot somewhere north of 50K tracers (all but 1K in 308, the 1K was in 223). They WILL start fires. I have had the opportunity to shoot on a range where the fires "ok" and even during a one shoot in the rain, we started multiple fires.

Normally the military loads it with 844T for 223 or 846T for 308. Prior to those, it was loaded with IMR4895. I have used all three, 4895 is maybe a little bit more reliable, but not much. I have also used BLC-2 and TAC with about the same level of success. When developing the loads I always started at the low end of the loading range and then worked up to what ran the gun reliably (guns are full-auto). I was usually able to keep the load at the minimum, or even slightly underloaded, which was extending the 308 brass life out to about 10 loads before I had to scrap the brass. Still haven't reloaded the 223 more than once since I have buckets full of it, but when I've captured the brass it showed no signs of anything untoward.

As someone mentioned, the compound is made of magnesium and stronium and I know of no way to keep it from lighting (unless you tell someone to watch how cool they are going down range, then none will ever light :) ) On your 223 there is most likely a metal cover over the compound and it is usually (but not always) recessed so it would look like there is no compound when there in fact is. I know for a fact that we've had a bunch light in the barrel and they seemed to have no impact on barrel life. The only tracer I know of that is supposed to be corrosive is some old Israeli 9mm tracer - it is supposedly VERY corrosive to the bore. I have several boxes but have not shot it yet so I can't speak from experience.

Tracers can be fun - there is something really neat about going through a mag of 223 or a belt of 308 100% tracer. Use common sense load development starting low and you'll be fine. Use 844T if you have it, but if you have to use H335, IMR4895, BLC-2, or TAC, you'll still be ok and will get roughly the same light rate.

Chris
 
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