• Thanks for stopping by. Logging in to a registered account will remove all generic ads. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

Tracers

Soldier of Fortune

Member
Inactive
Reaction score
0
Points
210
Hello,
I am wondering about tracers. I am aware them are beam of light shot from a rifle however if hit with one, what will it do? will it hurt you or is it just a beam of light?
 
A tracer round is a bullet. The tip of a tracer round is coated with a chemical so when fired the bullet will glow.
 
The tracer round‘s bullet contains WP (white phosphorous) that actually burns red (green for former Warsaw Pact countries). So what you see is actually a trail of fire. WP ignites when in contact with oxygen, and is nearly impossible to put out. So if you are hit by one, you will get the same effects as a normal round, plus burns if the WP is still burning... :cdn:
 
Soldier of Fortune, even more dangerous are the tracers for blanks, as they burn a lot hotter.
 
Infanteer- not as deadly as the Blank Armour piercing!!!! :D
 
Just to clarify a few points, tracers do not contain WP, but most use a Strontium compound (no, I don‘t know what the **** is in Strontium either), although there are others (like magnesium).
As Jungle said, willie pete ignites on contact with oxygen, and there is of course air in the cartridge itself.
Trace compound is ignited by the powder, and is contained in the rear of the bullet, not the tip. Tracer bullets are long for calibre, so that they weigh the same as ball rounds (the light tracer material reduces density and the BC).
Unless ignited by fire, tracers are stable, enough so that they can be pulled from mil ammo and are sold as seperate components (try ammoman.com)
The odds of tracer inflicting burns or damage above and beyond that of ball rounds is minimal, given the very small amount of compound used and the speed of bullet travel. If one impacted nearby and broke apart and the tracer pellet flew out and landed on you, you may get a burn like if someone put a cigarette out on you, but that‘s about it. Even shooting propane tanks with trace won‘t reliably set them off (don‘t try this at home).
 
Thanks for the help, but is there really blank tracers? How would they work if there was no actual bullet being ejected?
 
Just think long and hard about what has been said on this thread and then come back to me with an answer, SOF....
 
Good boy, you passed the test, NOW RIP OFF 50 FOR FAILING TO DO RESEARCH ON THE NET!!!

www.fas.org
 
This is pretty close to jerking the chain on (dare I say it? Gasp!) SocNet. Jock, I agree. Just came in from doin 2 days of cold wet recce and needed a good hoot.
 
Just like you can‘t get a hundred yards of Firing Line from the QM.
 
That rates up there with a bucket of prop wash or a length of hangar line for the airforce. The navy’s, report aft to attend a wake. :p
 
As the chemistry nerd, strontium is an element, so the only thing in strontium is...strontium.

It probably is in a salt (the chloride, or something). It does make a nice brick red though colour when you burn it though.
 
From what I remember from many, many moons ago, strontium was mixed with WP to produce the red we see :cool: .

I forget what the former WARSW pact used to make green, might have been copper sulfide (or sulfate) or something :confused: .

I do not want to get into a deep chemistry diatribe on it and I don‘t want to dig around in a bunch of stored boxes, cause "The truth is out there" (in my garage) ;) .

Just one of those threads that twigs the old memory banks. Reminds me of certain cohorts firing FN blanks, supplemented with cleaning rods and t-flashes (liberal gun tape application around base) :rolleyes: .

Amazed no one was ever killed, mutilated or lost an eye. Even funnier that the Q would replace the missing rods and never question it :warstory: .

:eek: , I am getting old.
 
From http://aec.army.mil/prod/files/range21_01a.pdf, the component chemicals in red tracer composition are:

Magnesium - 28%
Calcium Resinate - 4%
Strontium Nitrate - 40%
Strontium Oxalate - 8%
Potassium Perchlorate - 20%
 
Back
Top