Posted: 4/1/2009 10:00:27 AM EDT
| I was at one of the local shops Monday and they had tracer bullets on a rack in several calibers. I know what hey are but of what value would they be to the general public. Am I missing something? |
if you are looking at .223 then don't bother, unless you are shooting at night you won't see them. Tracers allow you to see the bullets arc and general direction, they are mostly used in the military with machine guns but some guys load the last few shots in their M16 with tracers so they 'know' when they are nearing the bottom of a mag.
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if you are looking at .223 then don't bother, unless you are shooting at night you won't see them. Tracers allow you to see the bullets arc and general direction, they are mostly used in the military with machine guns but some guys load the last few shots in their M16 with tracers so they 'know' when they are nearing the bottom of a mag. They have always been visible right out of the barrel for me. |
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Fun thats what! http://gallery.libertynews.org/d/888-2/trucknite70uw.jpg BTW, I was in the lower right hand corner of this picture.  kind of off topic, but i have been wondering about that picture for awhile. is that a shit load of ricochets flying everywhere, or an illusion? |
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Fun thats what! http://gallery.libertynews.org/d/888-2/trucknite70uw.jpg BTW, I was in the lower right hand corner of this picture. kind of off topic, but i have been wondering about that picture for awhile. is that a shit load of ricochets flying everywhere, or an illusion? That would be ricochets. When you fire a tracer, you can see that bullets don't just dig into the ground or whatever. They typically go flying all over the place. |
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Fun thats what! http://gallery.libertynews.org/d/888-2/trucknite70uw.jpg BTW, I was in the lower right hand corner of this picture. kind of off topic, but i have been wondering about that picture for awhile. is that a shit load of ricochets flying everywhere, or an illusion? some of that is ricochetes most of it is the tracer element breaking off and flying around on impact |
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Tracers work in both directions. More times than not, their use starts range fires, especially on lesser used Army ranges. M856 tracers are more prone to start fires because they have more tracer compound.
Because of the lower density of the tracer compound, the center of gravity is shifted foreward, making the bullets more prone to ricochette, bouncing and making that impressive time exposure. |
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Fun thats what! http://gallery.libertynews.org/d/888-2/trucknite70uw.jpg BTW, I was in the lower right hand corner of this picture. kind of off topic, but i have been wondering about that picture for awhile. is that a shit load of ricochets flying everywhere, or an illusion? some of that is ricochetes most of it is the tracer element breaking off and flying around on impact This |
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tried them from Sportsmans Guide a few years ago on a sunny day they are invisible unless you are firing full auto.Quoted:
if you are looking at .223 then don't bother, unless you are shooting at night you won't see them. Tracers allow you to see the bullets arc and general direction, they are mostly used in the military with machine guns but some guys load the last few shots in their M16 with tracers so they 'know' when they are nearing the bottom of a mag. They have always been visible right out of the barrel for me. 
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tried them from Sportsmans Guide a few years ago on a sunny day they are invisible unless you are firing full auto.Quoted:
if you are looking at .223 then don't bother, unless you are shooting at night you won't see them. Tracers allow you to see the bullets arc and general direction, they are mostly used in the military with machine guns but some guys load the last few shots in their M16 with tracers so they 'know' when they are nearing the bottom of a mag. They have always been visible right out of the barrel for me.
it can also be range dependant. many times they won't burn enough inside 100 yards before hitting the berm to be visable. |
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tried them from Sportsmans Guide a few years ago on a sunny day they are invisible unless you are firing full auto.Quoted:
if you are looking at .223 then don't bother, unless you are shooting at night you won't see them. Tracers allow you to see the bullets arc and general direction, they are mostly used in the military with machine guns but some guys load the last few shots in their M16 with tracers so they 'know' when they are nearing the bottom of a mag. They have always been visible right out of the barrel for me.
it can also be range dependant. many times they won't burn enough inside 100 yards before hitting the berm to be visable. that MIGHT be it....the range was about 100 feet...in any case I sold them.
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tried them from Sportsmans Guide a few years ago on a sunny day they are invisible unless you are firing full auto.Quoted:
if you are looking at .223 then don't bother, unless you are shooting at night you won't see them. Tracers allow you to see the bullets arc and general direction, they are mostly used in the military with machine guns but some guys load the last few shots in their M16 with tracers so they 'know' when they are nearing the bottom of a mag. They have always been visible right out of the barrel for me.
it can also be range dependant. many times they won't burn enough inside 100 yards before hitting the berm to be visable. I have been told that there are some out there designed that way, to not burn until 100-200 yards. Correct me if i am wrong. |
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tried them from Sportsmans Guide a few years ago on a sunny day they are invisible unless you are firing full auto.Quoted:
if you are looking at .223 then don't bother, unless you are shooting at night you won't see them. Tracers allow you to see the bullets arc and general direction, they are mostly used in the military with machine guns but some guys load the last few shots in their M16 with tracers so they 'know' when they are nearing the bottom of a mag. They have always been visible right out of the barrel for me.
it can also be range dependant. many times they won't burn enough inside 100 yards before hitting the berm to be visable. I have been told that there are some out there designed that way, to not burn until 100-200 yards. Correct me if i am wrong. I've heard/read this too. Supposedly it is so that the enemy cannot tell directly where you are firing from. If they lit immediately out of the barrel, then they know exactly where you are, so they light ~75-100 yards out, so they can't pin-point your location. |
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I have used them several times.
Keep in mind that I live in Nevada. We have millions of acres of totally uninhabited real estate here. This is the state that conducted above ground nuke testing. I went to a steel plate shoot where you engage steel plates out to 800 meters. The day before the match I was trying to get sight dope on my rifle and couldn't get anyone to spot for me. So, I just happened to have some tracer and could spot for myself. This is when I discovered just how cool it is to shoot at steel plates at 800 meters with tracer. You wouldn't believe how high the bullet goes above your line of sight (M1 in '06). Then when you hit the plate the richochet is very cool also. Was all this nessessary ? Was there any real point to it ? No, probably not. For that matter I could have been at work making money because going to a rifle match isn't nessessary either. I have been to several shoots where we shot at remote controlled airplanes with rifles and/or machineguns. This is where tracer really helps you out getting the correct lead on the plane. Of course with everyone shooting tracer, it is hard to pick out which ones are yours. |
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if you are looking at .223 then don't bother, unless you are shooting at night you won't see them. Tracers allow you to see the bullets arc and general direction, they are mostly used in the military with machine guns but some guys load the last few shots in their M16 with tracers so they 'know' when they are nearing the bottom of a mag. If the tracers are useless for 5.56 then why do they have them for the M249? |
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if you are looking at .223 then don't bother, unless you are shooting at night you won't see them. Tracers allow you to see the bullets arc and general direction, they are mostly used in the military with machine guns but some guys load the last few shots in their M16 with tracers so they 'know' when they are nearing the bottom of a mag. If the tracers are useless for 5.56 then why do they have them for the M249? |
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I just jizzed in my pants. |
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if you are looking at .223 then don't bother, unless you are shooting at night you won't see them. Tracers allow you to see the bullets arc and general direction, they are mostly used in the military with machine guns but some guys load the last few shots in their M16 with tracers so they 'know' when they are nearing the bottom of a mag. They have always been visible right out of the barrel for me. Me too. (the red tips that used to come with a case of Lake City) |
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tried them from Sportsmans Guide a few years ago on a sunny day they are invisible unless you are firing full auto.Quoted:
if you are looking at .223 then don't bother, unless you are shooting at night you won't see them. Tracers allow you to see the bullets arc and general direction, they are mostly used in the military with machine guns but some guys load the last few shots in their M16 with tracers so they 'know' when they are nearing the bottom of a mag. They have always been visible right out of the barrel for me.
it can also be range dependant. many times they won't burn enough inside 100 yards before hitting the berm to be visable. I have been told that there are some out there designed that way, to not burn until 100-200 yards. Correct me if i am wrong. I've heard/read this too. Supposedly it is so that the enemy cannot tell directly where you are firing from. If they lit immediately out of the barrel, then they know exactly where you are, so they light ~75-100 yards out, so they can't pin-point your location. Yep.The tracer usually consists of a column of 2 or 3 pyrotechnic pellets of different illuminating properties for this reason. |
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I just jizzed in my pants. 
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