So I acquired some .224 64 gn tracers and can’t find any information in terms of handloading specs/guidelines. Should I just follow normal practice and load for the grain weight of a jacketed bullet?
Considerations for handloading tracers?
- Thread starter MAsSiVe MeDiC
- Start date
GotRDid
Gold $$ Contributor
Can we assume you have the M856 Tracer projectiles?
Perhaps your only consideration is the overall bearing surface of the bullet, since the ignition/ tracing element is much lighter than the lead core behind the hardened steel insert of the standard M855/SS109 bullet.
No need to firewall them; that long bullet takes up a lot of internal capacity, so Starting Charge for your intended propellant would be wise.
M856 on left
M855 center
Hornady 50 VMAX on right….
Base of M856 on left, M855 on right.
If the LRDI variant (Long Range Dim Ignition) you may not be able to see the trace in bright light conditions. Think Night Vision compatible.
As stated above always a Fire Hazard in dry conditions.
Perhaps your only consideration is the overall bearing surface of the bullet, since the ignition/ tracing element is much lighter than the lead core behind the hardened steel insert of the standard M855/SS109 bullet.
No need to firewall them; that long bullet takes up a lot of internal capacity, so Starting Charge for your intended propellant would be wise.
M856 on left
M855 center
Hornady 50 VMAX on right….
Base of M856 on left, M855 on right.
If the LRDI variant (Long Range Dim Ignition) you may not be able to see the trace in bright light conditions. Think Night Vision compatible.
As stated above always a Fire Hazard in dry conditions.
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Our clubs forbid them. A few years back we had a major fire at the rifle range at one of my clubs. The backstop is lines with old tires, and they caught fire from firing tracers. It told quite an effort to put the fire out.
GotRDid
Gold $$ Contributor
Talon is a “Pull-Down” contractor for some of the Ammunition Plants for de-milling lots of ammunition that fail standards for safe operation.
(The Tracer in my image was pulled from a batch of WCC-94 ammunition, with no orange or red paint to identify it as a tracer. I collect some weird stuff.)
They have handled everything from .30-06/M2 for the CMP up to .50 BMG and 20MM cannon rounds.
Yours look like standard Tracers, so likely not LRDI; it still has the 7gr hardened steel insert in the nose. Fellow shot a few of those rounds into a mild steel plate at 300 yds at a range where I was a guest. Barely make out the trace, but when they struck the steel, 2 rounds embedded in the steel and continued to burn for a fraction of a second. The others “splashed” into sparks.
(The Tracer in my image was pulled from a batch of WCC-94 ammunition, with no orange or red paint to identify it as a tracer. I collect some weird stuff.)
They have handled everything from .30-06/M2 for the CMP up to .50 BMG and 20MM cannon rounds.
Yours look like standard Tracers, so likely not LRDI; it still has the 7gr hardened steel insert in the nose. Fellow shot a few of those rounds into a mild steel plate at 300 yds at a range where I was a guest. Barely make out the trace, but when they struck the steel, 2 rounds embedded in the steel and continued to burn for a fraction of a second. The others “splashed” into sparks.
GotRDid
Gold $$ Contributor
As SeaBeeKen and K22 stated, there were Range Fires at Ft.Knox on more than a few occasions that burned huge plots of the Impact Areas. One fire there occurred in the mid 90s that burned for weeks. The smoke made traffic on I-65 South/North, and Hwy-31W between Elizabethtown and Southern Louisville quite hazardous.
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