Posted: 6/28/2006 1:47:42 AM EDT
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I have a silly question, I tried to search it up on google but couldn't find any information on it. Are tracer rounds less accurate than regular ammo? In every video I saw of a gun being deployed with tracers, it seemed like sometimes the tracers would just do a 90 degree curve in a random direction. I know you want to laugh at me, but I'm damn curious 
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Those are just ricochets. You'd be surprised how many rounds will get deflected into the air at ~45 degree angle and land who knows where. Last week my unit was doing Bradley gunnery and I could see the 25mm tracer rounds drifting away into the darkness until tracer burnout...who knows where they will end up landing...they can go quite a ways. At Ft. Benning it was a sight to see when a company pounded away during a night fire training course with SAWs. I must have seen at least a thousand tracers fly into who knows where...and most rounds aren't tracers, you just can't see them fly off. Good shit. The liklihood of somebody getting hurt by something like that is very slim... |
| Yup, tracer fire is cool to watch. When seeing several machine guns firing at once (or even better....mini-guns or a 20mm M61 Vulcan), it's amazing just how much lead is flying downrange. Seeing all of those tracer rounds then realizing that they only account for 1 in every 5 rounds being fired leaves an impression. |
I don't know about the 90 degree stuff (?) but, a few years ago, my ORNG unit had to fire their annual qual' on a 50-300 mtr "Pop-up" range using only the M-856 round. The '856 is the tracer used with the current M-855 round. This was because of several units of the 162INF doing crew-Served training at the same time in the desert and an extra dry fall in Oregon that year. Somebody in Salem had the bright idea of having the units switch-out all the tracer (For the units firing in fire-risk areas) for ball and vice-versa for those of us firing in safer areas (We were shooting at Rilea that year). The results were a joke. Guys who regularly shot expert barely made sharpshooter. If you qual'd as a sharpshooter normally you were lucky to get marksman and on down the line. Now, I'll be the first to admit that it (The reduced scores using tracers) "MAY" have had something to do with the fact the the guys were shooting at "Ivans" that really WERE at 175,300,50,250 mtrs and not those idiot-proof 25mtr sheets but I was curious enough after all the non-quals we had to call Aberdeen and see if the ammo had anything to do with it. The guy they put me in touch with was a MR Marvin Mull (I remember it because it sounds so much like Martin Mull  ) the director of ammo classification. As He was most likely a GS-Bazillion at the time he's probably still there if you want to call and ask him yourself (Seemed like a really nice dude on the phone).Anyway, he told me that the M-856 (Tracer) was loaded to be "At least" (More would be better) HALF as accurate as the '855. It "Sounds" terrible but, when you think about it it ain't that bad. A 2.5 MOA weapon "Should" shoot at least 5 MOA using the '856. If the weapon shooting them is squirting out 650-850 rounds a minute you should be able to deal with that at any of the ranges they're (The tracers) meant to be used at. 
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Bullets are known to start "corkscrewing" when fired out of a MG that has gotten hot enough and/or has had the barrel worn badly enough. |
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In basic we did a nightfire with tracers. There were about 2 people firing. After you fired you could go to this small pad sort of on the side but back a ways from the range. It looked like star wars or something. In Iraq we were doing a night range with 1 mk19, 2 50 cals, 6 saws and some m16's all at once. That was cool then a blackhawk came to do some practice at the same time. This big arc would come out then bounce back up into the sky. Really awesome. |
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I remember learning in the suck that they have penetration issues after 100 yds or so...IIRC. Thats all I remember learning....Some fool on state owned land a few years back was shooting the heck out of them (like 2 mags full) and next thing you know we were rushing to put a fire out. |
| This may be ridiculous, but I was told that when you see the tracer bounce crazily into the sky or do a 90 degree change in midflight, it is the tracer material breaking off the back of the round and not the round itself. Something Ive done that makes me believe this is true is shooting at AR plate with a tracer. The tracer "bounces" off the AR plate. The bullets normally disentegrate when they hit AR plate, they do not ricochet. Has anyone else heard or tried this? |
yes it's true |