Is shooting Tracer bullets damaging to bore?

[corbinace]

I have a bunch of 147 gr tracer pulls in 30 caliber that I would like to load up and shoot in the winter time.

Will doing so cause any damage to the bore?

[Larry Gibson]

No, it's the same as shooting any other jacketed bullet. The "trace" element does not burn enough to leave any deposit/residue in the bore until some distance from the muzzle. While the "igniter element" is ignited by the cartridge's burning powder the gas from such blows any residue out of the barrel in front of the escaping "muzzle blast". You will notice that when firing them the "trace is not immediately visible at the muzzle.

[Drm50]

I disagree, the tracer doesnt start burn till it hits air but particles are left behind when cartridge is fired. When bullet clears barrel they burn. It’s not like they have the heat of the tracer but firing a bunch of them is chain reaction of residue burning shot after shot. I would not fire even one tracer out of one of my rifles. If you have a beater milsurp use it. Also be careful tracers can easily set things on fire. 1-2 punch was a AP to fuel tank followed by tracer. They will start wooden structures on fire too.

[FLINTNFIRE]

I doubt most of us will see any damage in our shooting , I am with the no issue on this as the force of the burning powder should keep any residue of tracing compound pushed out .

On my rounds I have fired through a AR I have not noticed any damage or extra residue after firing tracers , I agree with the due care of when and where to shoot them , but same goes for bi- metallic rounds and shooting copper jacketed against steel or rock/concrete .

I have bought the 30 caliber from CDVS and it was cheap with the sealed base . No issues through the 300 blackouts either .

[Winger Ed.]

The ones I've seen in USGI .30 and .50 cal have a red plastic disc crimped inside their base.

With that, and not seeing them light off for several yards downrange- I don't think they could damage a barrel.
At least they don't seem to have hurt any of mine.
I've only known a couple of machine gunners that had combat tours, and they never mentioned anything bad
happening to the gun, or any concerns about limited use of tracers.

However;
They can start a nice grass fire if you're not careful.

[tomme boy]

Also be careful tracers can easily set things on fire. 1-2 punch was a AP to fuel tank followed by tracer. They will start wooden structures on fire too.

Good luck with that. I have shot a bunch of propane tanks and none have ever went off with a 50 cal tracer. We had to use a road flare behind the tanks to get them to go off. Or use a Spotting round or incendiary round. Others I know have seen the same thing.

[Winger Ed.]

I have shot a bunch of propane tanks and none have ever went off with a 50 cal tracer..

Just like a engine won't fire off if the fuel mixture is too rich, or too lean-
propane is the same way, and in a even narrower window to light up.

I think a tracer would go in & through a tank so fast propane couldn't vaporize or mix with enough air to light.
The propane liquid and/or gas in the tank would be too 'rich' to burn.
With the flare burning, and a fresh bullet hole, then the gas could escape and seek its own level of concentration, then light up.

You'd probably see the same effect by shooting a container of liquid gasoline too.

[Drm50]

I have considerable experience on 50 and 30 cal. Fuel tanks have to be punched and leak/ aired before tracer will ignite. Tracers weren’t capped with anything in 7.62 or 50. On training ranges they towed in junk cars. Some with all windows they would dump a 1/2 gal of gas. Ones with gas blew fairly good for only 1/2 gal of gas. The ones with no gas would have upholstery smoldering and on fire. Tracers were 1x10. Instructors told us tracers were hard on barrels because of burning residue being ground by following slugs. The next time you shoot a propane tank hit it with AP or Ball, then tracer. It will even work with 223. I saw many burnt out hulks from fuel trucks. Dinks shot them up when they were on return trip empty and full of fumes. None of us ever complained about barrels, they gave us all the new ones we wanted. I’m going to have to pull a new issue tracer and check out the plastic plug. It must protect a little timer that sets off tracer a couple hundred yards down range. Attachment 262465

[Winger Ed.]

[QUOTE=Drm50;4907203] I’m going to have to pull a new issue tracer and check out the plastic plug. It must protect a little timer that sets off tracer a couple hundred yards down range.QUOTE]

Don't make extra work for yourself.
Plenty of other people are more than glad to do that for ya.

Here's some .50 tracers left over from my .50BMG days.
They are USGI pulls I got at a gun show, at least 15 years ago, but I have no idea how old they are.

These are brown tip M-17 tracers. Not sure the difference between them and the M-10 orange tip.

I've got some 7.62s loaded, so I can't show one, (Edit) but they have a brass cup.

[Larry Gibson]

From TM9-1305-200/Small Arms Ammunition;

"Tracers. These bullets contain a lead-antimony slug in the forward position and a tracer composition in the rear. They have either square or boat-tailed bases. The bullet jackets are made of gilding metal or gilding metal clad steel. An igniter composition is also present, which is ignited by the burning propellent gases which, in turn, ignites the tracer composition...…."

As noted by others there is usually a plastic plug though for many years M62 Tracer (as used in 7.62 NATO) has a small inverted gilding metal cup. The photo is of LC-75 M62 of which I just pulled the bullets for the photo. The trace element is not ignited until the igniter composition ignites it which occurs after the bullet has left the muzzle. The little cup and any residue from the igniter composition are blown out of the barrel by the expanding gases of the burning propellent.

Apparently no one has noticed the M60 I am holding in my avatar(?). During many, many years in the Army in infantry (Airborne), Special Forces (Weapons NCO) and Armored cavalry (Scout) I also have much experience with and shooting different kinds/calibers of machine guns. It was karma as my initials are "LMG"..... Also in Special Forces I attended numerous technical weapons training in ordnance, especially in the clandestine use of.

Again; the firing of 145 - 147 gr M62 tracers (30 caliber as the OP refers to them) will not damage or hurt the barrel. The OP mentions their use in "winter time" so I suspect he is aware of the fire potential and will practice due diligence.

Attachment 262476

[M-Tecs]

Propane is not flammable ---Propane and oxygen mixed is highly flammable. In the mid 70's I was tasked with disposing of couple of dozen highly rusted 1 pound propane cylinders. Shot with a single tracer the gas just vented out. A second tracers would give you a nice fire jet but nothing resembling the Hollywood type type explosions. To get that we would fill balloons with Oxygen and Acetylene. Hit with a tracer they popped pretty well.

I had been given about 1,100 rounds of 30/06 tracers. Shot them all and I didn't see and noticeable damage from the tracers. I did pit the bore from not being aware that corrosive primers required different bore cleaning techniques. Those tracers killed a couple of dozen propane tanks, a bunch of Oxy/Acetylene balloons and maybe 700 or 800 carp. Yes not legal but this was in the middle of nowhere in the 70's. It's amazing how much water deflects bullets.

[ulav8r]

My only experience with tracers were 38 Specials fired in a Blackhawk. The owner brought it in saying "These tracers welded the barrel shut". There were six bullets stuck in the bore. I removed them without damaging the barrel.

[elmacgyver0]

All bullets will eventually damage your bore.
Tracers may erode a bore marginally sooner than FMJ bullets and FMJ bullets will definitely wear a bore sooner than cast.
The best way to protect your barrel is never to shoot it.
Unless you have a fancy target gun I would not worry about it.

[Dieselhorses]

Just like a engine won't fire off if the fuel mixture is too rich, or too lean-
propane is the same way, and in a even narrower window to light up.

I think a tracer would go in & through a tank so fast propane couldn't vaporize or mix with enough air to light.
The propane liquid and/or gas in the tank would be too 'rich' to burn.
With the flare burning, and a fresh bullet hole, then the gas could escape and seek its own level of concentration, then light up.

You'd probably see the same effect by shooting a container of liquid gasoline too.

Never had a problem igniting ANY size propane tank with my 30-06 or .303. Just have to leave the tank on the fire long enough.

[biffj]

Tracers do light in the bore. If they didn't they'd never light. Its the hot powder gas that ignites them and as noted above they have a small portion of the mixture that has more oxydizer and finer magnesium so that it will be easier to light. This portion does not have the brighteners that make the flame easier to see so you don't notice it burning. People think because they don't see the bright flame its not burning but either its burning or it won't ever. Once the igniter portion burns through it will light up the bright trace which normally uses a different oxydizer and magnesium mix along with brighteners. This part will throw a flame 3 inches or more from a 30 cal bullet if you light it up out of the barrel. Some tracers like our US M20APIT 50 cal use an oxydizer in the igniter that burns with a green tint so when you watch these you see a green trace that turns red about 100yds out or so. For the 223 and 30 cal tracers you don't really see it because the surface area is so small and the brightness much less than the main trace. If you video the tracers firing you'll see in the video that there is a streak from the muzzle out and that it gets brighter somewhere downrange where the main trace ignites. Your eye doesn't always see it because it happens so fast but you will sometimes see them light up from the muzzle.

As for wear or erosion the tracers do not cause any more than normal ammo. The part that is burning doesn't leave much heat behind because its gone so fast. The powder gas contributes a bit to the barrel heating but a lot of the heat is due to friction of the bullet in the bore. The residue from the tracers is magnesium oxide which is a great anti-acid so no corrosion to worry about either. The only reason you'd get any more wear out of tracers is that they usually have a longer contact area because the bullet weight needs to be close to whatever you're normally firing but with a magnesium powder compressed core the density is so much less that your overall length is far greater. More contact area can mean more friction and therefore more heat. I don't see it being enough to make a difference in real life though.

Frank

[Winger Ed.]

Just have to leave the tank on the fire long enough.

I had a buddy like that. Among the more crazy people I've ever met.
If we went to the poison ivy farm and tick ranch for the weekend,,,,,,,,,
the more and more he drank, the larger and larger caliber of ammunition he'd throw in the fire.

[Hickory]

Tracers do light in the bore. If they didn't they'd never light. Its the hot powder gas that ignites them and as noted above they have a small portion of the mixture that has more oxydizer and finer magnesium so that it will be easier to light. This portion does not have the brighteners that make the flame easier to see so you don't notice it burning. People think because they don't see the bright flame its not burning but either its burning or it won't ever. Once the igniter portion burns through it will light up the bright trace which normally uses a different oxydizer and magnesium mix along with brighteners. This part will throw a flame 3 inches or more from a 30 cal bullet if you light it up out of the barrel. Some tracers like our US M20APIT 50 cal use an oxydizer in the igniter that burns with a green tint so when you watch these you see a green trace that turns red about 100yds out or so. For the 223 and 30 cal tracers you don't really see it because the surface area is so small and the brightness much less than the main trace. If you video the tracers firing you'll see in the video that there is a streak from the muzzle out and that it gets brighter somewhere downrange where the main trace ignites. Your eye doesn't always see it because it happens so fast but you will sometimes see them light up from the muzzle.

As for wear or erosion the tracers do not cause any more than normal ammo. The part that is burning doesn't leave much heat behind because its gone so fast. The powder gas contributes a bit to the barrel heating but a lot of the heat is due to friction of the bullet in the bore. The residue from the tracers is magnesium oxide which is a great anti-acid so no corrosion to worry about either. The only reason you'd get any more wear out of tracers is that they usually have a longer contact area because the bullet weight needs to be close to whatever you're normally firing but with a magnesium powder compressed core the density is so much less that your overall length is far greater. More contact area can mean more friction and therefore more heat. I don't see it being enough to make a difference in real life though.

Frank

This is a good explanation of the goings on of a tracer and the actions that take place in and out of the barrel.
To my thinking, and my knowledge of pyrotechnics the magnesium doesn't light until sometime in the last 1/3 of the barrel. Time in the barrel can be anywhere from one and a half milliseconds to two milliseconds on average.

As far as leaving residue behind in the barrel, about the only way much or any way this could happen would be if the lit tracer was pulled through the barrel and not pushed out the barrel with the expanding gasses from the gunpowder.

To my thinking, tracers and any excess wear on the barrel is a non-issue.

[GregLaROCHE]

Are there any close up slow motion videos of tracers on YouTube ?

[tomme boy]

[QUOTE=Winger Ed.;4907217]

I’m going to have to pull a new issue tracer and check out the plastic plug. It must protect a little timer that sets off tracer a couple hundred yards down range.QUOTE]

Don't make extra work for yourself.
Plenty of other people are more than glad to do that for ya.

Here's some .50 tracers left over from my .50BMG days.
They are USGI pulls I got at a gun show, at least 15 years ago, but I have no idea how old they are.

These are brown tip M-17 tracers. Not sure the difference between them and the M-10 orange tip.

I've got some 7.62s loaded, so I can't show one, (Edit) but they have a brass cup.

Brown tips are M62 Green Trace SOCOM, Desert Storm round.

[Lloyd Smale]

If its a bolt gun your not going to shoot 500 in a day without cleaning and if its an ar or ak even if it did hurt the barrel which I really doubt replacements are cheap and im sure youll have many more grey hair before you shoot enough of them to wear out the original. Heck you wear out your barrel EVERY time you shoot. I shoot for fun. Im not going to worry about some minor wear and tear. If its fun do it. If the gun is collectable put it back in the safe and take something else out and shoot the snot out of it. to me its about like buying a new corvette and worrying about wearing out you tires driving it hard. Why buy it in the first place.