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Re: Which powder needed to light 7.62 & 5.56 tracer

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 5:53 pm
by M99
No marks on the ones I've sourced :twisted:
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Re: Which powder needed to light 7.62 & 5.56 tracer

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 6:19 pm
by pb86
Silly question from a newbie, but what purpose do tracer rounds have in the civilian shooting world? Or is it simply because you can?

Must say I have always wanted to have a go with tracer rounds but didnt realise you could buy them. Do they have to be annotated on your FAC?

Re: Which powder needed to light 7.62 & 5.56 tracer

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 6:21 pm
by Mattnall
pb86 wrote:Silly question from a newbie, but what purpose do tracer rounds have in the civilian shooting world? Or is it simply because you can?

Must say I have always wanted to have a go with tracer rounds but didnt realise you could buy them. Do they have to be annotated on your FAC?
Firstly I guess just because you can, oh, and it is a bit of fun.

Second, ammunition has to be annotated on the FAC just like normal rounds (bullets aren't controlled).

Re: Which powder needed to light 7.62 & 5.56 tracer

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 6:44 pm
by M99
pb86 wrote:Silly question from a newbie, but what purpose do tracer rounds have in the civilian shooting world? Or is it simply because you can?

Must say I have always wanted to have a go with tracer rounds but didnt realise you could buy them. Do they have to be annotated on your FAC?
Not silly at all.

We use it on FFA (Field firing areas) where seeing your fall of shot is next too impossible, even with the .50bmg.

The tracer allows you to glean a lot of info about the wind and where your shots are going.

The secret is knowing the ballistic difference between your tracer and your ball ammo.

Earlier this year a couple of us spent an awful lot of time with some experimental .50bmg tracer, working a load to match our competition load.

As a result we now have a .50bmg tracer load that works to within a small variation of elevation to our match ammo out to 2000yds. This is pushed faster than my .223 ammo!

Tracer is not section 5 so does not have to be conditioned on your fac unlike expanding.

Oh and yes it is fun too shoot! :twisted:

Re: Which powder needed to light 7.62 & 5.56 tracer

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 7:04 pm
by DW58
dirtydawk wrote:I bought 500 of the pulled bullets locally a couple of years back and they looked like they had been pulled out in a vice. Some were that misshapen they would not even chamber!
I tried Varget and N140 behind them and had more success with Varget if memory serves.

Just as an aside with the Singapore tracer- my .308 has a tight cut chamber which I need to turn the case necks down to get them to fit. I pulled 20 tracer rounds using a kinetic hammer, poured the powder into some turned down cases, re seated the bullets and they fired/ignited/extracted swimmingly.

Regards,

Ian
In my opinion we're getting into the realm of dangerous reloading practice here.

Re: Which powder needed to light 7.62 & 5.56 tracer

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 7:09 pm
by M99
DW58 wrote:
dirtydawk wrote:I bought 500 of the pulled bullets locally a couple of years back and they looked like they had been pulled out in a vice. Some were that misshapen they would not even chamber!
I tried Varget and N140 behind them and had more success with Varget if memory serves.

Just as an aside with the Singapore tracer- my .308 has a tight cut chamber which I need to turn the case necks down to get them to fit. I pulled 20 tracer rounds using a kinetic hammer, poured the powder into some turned down cases, re seated the bullets and they fired/ignited/extracted swimmingly.

Regards,

Ian
In my opinion we're getting into the realm of dangerous reloading practice here.
Care to expand on what you think is dangerous?

Re: Which powder needed to light 7.62 & 5.56 tracer

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 7:14 pm
by DW58
Transferring powder to other cases - you don't state which cases. If they are cases of different or worse unknown volume you could be into a situation where dangerous pressures occur.

The poster clearly does not state which cases he reloads with the pulled powder/bullets.

Re: Which powder needed to light 7.62 & 5.56 tracer

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 7:21 pm
by M99
DW58 wrote:Transferring powder to other cases - you don't state which cases. If they are cases of different or worse unknown volume you could be into a situation where dangerous pressures occur.

The poster clearly does not state which cases he reloads with the pulled powder/bullets.
No, but you are making assumptions about his reloading practices without the facts.

He clearly states that he has a tight chambered rifle, necessitating the turning down of the necks, this indicates more than a basic understanding of the principles involved in reloading, does it not?

He has not suggested anyone else does it, nor has he detailed every step or what he used, yet you saw the need to jump in and attack his practices.

Re: Which powder needed to light 7.62 & 5.56 tracer

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 7:40 pm
by DW58
No, I'm not - I'm not criticising specific reloading practices, but in fact the rather vague nature by which the reloading of the cases is described.

If, as I suspect, the same cases are merely turned down and re-filled then presumably no problem, but that is not confirmed in the post. This is exactly why I used the exact wording I did, i.e. we're getting into the realm of dangerous reloading practice.

Purely a Caveat no more, and certainly no attack.

Re: Which powder needed to light 7.62 & 5.56 tracer

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 8:05 pm
by shotgun sam
On a side note where in the UK can you get tracer 22 rimfire?

Sam