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tracers failure to ignite

golferboy426golferboy426 Member Posts: 970 ✭✭✭
edited December 2008 in Ask the Experts
We decided to show my son how tracers work a dusk yesterday , shot 2 both didn't trace. I know they are old 40 St Louis stamp. Typical??
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Comments

  • burpfireburpfire Member Posts: 1,158 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    hello. were they orange tipped? if so, they need at least 80 to 100 yrds to light. if they are red or green tipped, they should light instantly. so if they are orange, and you are shooting over 100yds, and they dont go off, they are junk. i have a ton of old ( ww2? )tracer bullets that i re-loaded ( 30-06 ) and they all have worked so far. some of them arent as bright as others, but they work.
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  • golferboy426golferboy426 Member Posts: 970 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    These were red tip
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  • HerschelHerschel Member Posts: 2,035 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Cartridges of the World shows the red tip tracer is visible from muzzle to 900 yards.
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  • XXCrossXXCross Member Posts: 1,379 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    FYI The orange tip tracer didn't come into use until the Nam era. (late 60's)
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  • ammo guyammo guy Member Posts: 810 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The tracer element does go bad over time. Most tracer ammo will start to do this after 20 years depending on the type of compound used. Anything in the WW2 time frame would have gone back many years ago. As noted above the tracers made since the early 50's are of the "delayed trace" type and don't trace for the first 50-75 meters.
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