[soundguy]

I see these for sale from time to time.. what's the downsides for using them.

I can think of a few obvious ones. perhaps a fire issue at an outdoor range?

any firearm wear / damage issues?

 

[aa1911]

no firearm damage, but fires, yes! started my fair share with the 240 machine gun and even SAWs.

and remember, tracers work both ways....

 

[soundguy]

cool. is it willie pete ring on the projectile? or?

 

[gunboat]

Some ranges do not allow them --
Some states do not allow them -- check your state -
Possession is a felony in california -- Though AP is legal
Pellet in base of bullet is the tracer material.
I do not recall it's composition, but it is not WP -
my tuppence

 

[JLA]

its a magnesium insert. propellant gasses ignite it and it burns. they do indeed start fires.. be careful

 

[soundguy]

our range has 3 options for shooting. one is just a massive dirt berm for proof of concept testing ammo from relaoding.. chrone and stuff.

looks like that will be the test bed..

 

[Grizz]

Tracers are pretty cool, just too much brush around here. after seeing all the fires started on sons of guns with those things I opted for the API rounds instead.

 

[jim brady]

Tracer ammo is fun to use, and no, there is no more barrel wear from them than from standard ammo. Like everyone has stated - they offer tremendous fire hazzard. Even if you shoot into a dirt berm, I can almost guarantee that some of the projectiles WILL wind up leaving the berm and ending up elsewhere. I'd only use them now if the ground was soaking wet and there was little or no vegitation or anything that would burn in the area.

 

[Tom T]

Take a 50 cal all tracer's in the belt and a shot out barrel make's a good jungle burner. To T

 

[gdmoody]

I have some .308 tracers and some 5.56 tracers but have never fired any in any of my rifles. A different story from my old days of being able to play with the M-60!

 

[Smoke]

The range I shoot at is not long enough to get most of the tracers to light but if you whack a steel gong with one in the evening you will see a big splash of sparks & smoke.
Having the other shooters turn & give you that deer in the headlights look is priceless. LOL

 

[DixieLandMan]

They will start fires so just use them when the ground is wet or there is a very low risk of starting a fire.

 

[Carne Frio]

I have a bunch of it. It's safe to use half the year around here.

 

[aa1911]

Even shooting them at steelies at short range (10yds), you can see most of them after they hit, they continue to burn in the dirt wherever they land, usually nearby.

7.62 NATO, tracer burnout is around 900m give or take, 5.56 is pretty close to that although don't recall the exact distance. I know it's at least 800m from shooting that distance with mags full of tracer rounds. They do spark up pretty quick after leaving the gun.

 

[soundguy]

too bad I can'ty shoot it thru my remington 700 boltgun..

 

[ryan42]

They now have them in shotgun shells for a training aid in trap shooting but the stuff in them dont burn its more of a orange smoke.

There not incenderary

 

[aa1911]

too bad I can'ty shoot it thru my remington 700 boltgun..

why not? or are you joking with us?

 

[soundguy]

it's chambered in .223 ( as in it does not list 5.56x45 .. but actually 223rem n the bbl ). It's a change out bbl I think as the chamber mak is a flat pad and it has been stamped in.. though it is a short throw bolt, not a long throw bolt like my 700 30-06. looks exactly like my 700 in .222rem

 

[fasted23]

They heat your barrel up a bit more than ball ammo but not to the point to be a problem and as every one had said fires fires and more fires