Anyone loaded tracers?

Yep. In 30.06, the red tips pulled from MilSurp. Shot them out of my Garand. Not remarkably bright unless you shoot them at dusk or in the dark. Don't shoot them into dry wood or grass.

Before you purchase, you may want to check with your local regulations. Some jurisdictions ban the use of tracers, and some even ban the possession of them.

I've shot tracers in .45 acp, .38 Special, 5.56, .308 and .30-06. They will set fires in dry brush, etc., so be careful. The .45 acp and .38 Special tracers made big circles in the sky, as they weren't very stable. Everything I shot was GI issue, but I've never really figured out why they made tracers in .38 Special?............

Hope this helps.

Fred

plodder said:

Don't shoot them into dry wood or grass.

Click to expand...

When I lived in South Carolina, I belonged to a private shooting range. The owner did not permit shooting of tracers. He had set the place on fire shooting them before my time at the range.

I've loaded them up and shot them in .30-06 and .223. Most of them worked, there were a few 'duds'. As mentioned, be careful, they will set fires.

I have loaded them in 308 and 556. Not accurate and about 30% light rate with mine in both calibers.The projectiles are longer than average for weight so you need to reduce your loads accordingly.

While I've not loaded those specific bullets, I have loaded tracer for .223 and .308 with good results. I weighed the tracers (62gr and 139gr respectively) and load them according to loading manuals. I have used Ramshot Tac and Reload Swiss RS50 (a powder with similar burn rate to Vihtavuori N-140) in the aforementioned calibres and they seem to work pretty well. Take note that the trajectory will not be identical to bullets of equal mass, but at least give a good indication on windage (and lets be honest, are also pretty cool to shoot!).

As others have mentioned, only use them while the ground is damp as they can set dry grass on fire.

I've shot a few tracers. They don't group well even sorted by weight. Tracers don't impress me much ether. They have their place I guess but even in basic when we was firing them ever 3rd round they never seemed to fly anywhere near where the other 2 rounds were impacting.

There biggest plus used to be they were cheap. I don't know if that's still the case or not. However I decided I'd rather pay the extra penny a bullet for the FMJ ball. Of course the price the ball had come up to a few years ago I decided I'd rather buy the V-MAX & just have good all around ammo.

Ive loaded the M856's. H335 set them off just fine. They light between 50-75 yards out to at least 400.

And, they set off some dry grass just fine too.

Redundant, but the fire warnings are real. Ruined a nice pair of boots when I jumped the fence to stomp out a fire! Best sprint time I've had in years, wish I had video.

The 1500 or so M856's I have left have sat since. Saving them for a rainy day...

I know of two ranges that had very significant fires because some jackwad shot prohibited tracers. Take the High Road and don't shoot the tracers. They aren't even extra cool, they really have few worthwhile uses for civilian use.

Tracer ammo is illegal in your state.

"California also prohibits the possession, sale, offer for sale, or knowing transportation of a “destructive device,” defined to include “[a]ny projectile containing any explosive or incendiary material” or any other chemical substance including, but not limited to, that commonly known as tracer or incendiary ammunition (except tracer ammunition manufactured for use in shotguns), and any “explosive missile.”32 The state provides for the limited issuance of permits to possess or transport any destructive device, issued at the discretion of the California Department of Justice."

If you're gonna shoot 'em I recommend a 1/7 twist rate. The main reason the US military went to 1/7 was to stabilize those lllooonnnggg M-856's.

I got my highest ignition percentages with M856 using H322 powder and CCI #41 primers. IMR 4064 worked about as well, but life is too short for me to spend my time shoving oversized grains of powder into tiny .223 cases.

Tracers are nice to have around for the cool factor, but I almost never shoot them nowadays. If you ever have one ricochet into a field of pine slash, you'll know why I don't shoot 'em much anymore.

It does make for an extremely fast acting and effective laxative though!

I've shot just a few. Ive loaded them in 223 , & 300 win mag. they will start brush fires unless shot so the bullet goes in a high arc and peaks at twelve in the sky. the red phosours lights on contact with oxygen and will burn out as long as it has oxygen oxidizing it and it usally burns out before the bullet drops to 3/4 oklock. Firing the cartrige burns the gas check or coating off as its going down the barrel. I have watched streams of fire come back towars the tank when the gunner was elevating. That was my que that the loader was about to pass me another barrel and I kept an asbestos glove with me. it was my job as driver to open my hatch and climb out to pull out the red hot barrel and stick the new one in so he could secure it to the 30. Ive lit a bunch of Winstons on those barrels. We always carried 3 to the range when qualifing and only one spare for the TC s 50 caliber. we had fun one time when we snagged all the artillery simulators we could carry home in our duffel bags. mos 19F 1979-1985 M60A3 driver Mississipi ARNG