Tracers are they a good Idea????

[AJthemarksman]

Hey everybody, I like shooting rabbits and coyotes at night with my .22lr and was lookin at buying some tracers but being a teenager and trying to save my money I would like to know if tracer effect accuracy and which brand makes decent tracers. Any input is appriciated.

 

[JoeMartin]

Re: Tracers are they a good Idea????

Only tracers I ever used was in the military to help stay on target when laying down fire.

I personally can not see an advantage of using them in the civilian market for hunting at night. One very good reason not to use them at night is you simply do not know who or what is beyond that rabbit or coyote in poor light should you miss with the first shot and decide to walk those tracer rounds in - following that coyote or rabbit as it tries to make it's escape.

I think you'd be better off to adopt the one shot one kill credo.

 

[Lindy]

Re: Tracers are they a good Idea????

Tracers are effective at starting grass fires, too.

 

[338WinMag]

Re: Tracers are they a good Idea????

Lots of dry leaves available this time of year too. Phosphorus burns as long as it has oxygen or until it runs out of fuel. If you can't hit on the first shot, regardless of lighting conditions, then what makes you think tracers would serve any better purpose in low light or night applications? Once the shot is on it's way, if it misses you spook the quarry and then any adjustment info you may gather from the first splash is wasted as it relocates before any possible follow-up shot.

 

[rrflyer]

Re: Tracers are they a good Idea????

the ones I shot out of my .22 tended to have the phosphorus tip break off and send the tracer flare zinging off in strange directions.


Fun to shoot pumpkins with at dusk though.

 

[Luke]

Re: Tracers are they a good Idea????

I have a feeling tracers are not particularly accurate either... They look cool...but serve no purpose outside of the machine gun/combat world.

 

[AJthemarksman]

Re: Tracers are they a good Idea????

Im using a single shot with no clip so I cant walk the shots in and its 10 degrees, not many leaves in the fields ,and theres 2.5 inches of snow here in Minnesota. I just thought it would be neat to see the rounds impact.

 

[338WinMag]

Re: Tracers are they a good Idea????

Tracers don't "explode" on impact so the "show" wouldn't really be worth the expense of the ammo, IMO.

 

[Dave3220]

Re: Tracers are they a good Idea????

The .22 tracers I played wiht were "neat but erratic".
A few would corkscrew off to the side, some failed to light, and you gotta wonder what might happen to your barrel.

Flat-noses or a good h.p. like Win. Power-Point 40 gr. h.p. are going to be better killers, but I too was intrigued by being able to follow my hsot better, or possible use for signalling, self-defence in poor light, etc.

Dave

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

Re: Tracers are they a good Idea????

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: HareSplitter</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hey everybody, I like shooting rabbits and coyotes at night with my .22lr and was lookin at buying some tracers but being a teenager and trying to save my money I would like to know if tracer effect accuracy and which brand makes decent tracers. Any input is appriciated.

</div></div>

sure, go ahead, that is if you don't mind possibly torching your favorite hunting spot....

 

[heydavemd]

Re: Tracers are they a good Idea????

The only benefit I ever found to tracer are if you load the first 2 rounds in your mag as tracer, when you see a tracer round come from your weapon, you have 1 shot left. I've yet to meet anyone who could count to 30 in a firefight, and since belted weapons load 1 in 5 as a tracer, it never seemed to draw attention when I was changing mags. The only advantage in the civilian world is starting a grass fire from a long ways away. Rounds go where you aim them, tracers wont change that.

 

[BMelton]

Re: Tracers are they a good Idea????

+1 on the grass fires....Our unit burned down the range in NorCal and Ky during guest training evo with the ARMY. (gotta love the Marine Corps) If it absolutely, POSITIVELY, has to be destroyed overnight........

 

[Graham]

Re: Tracers are they a good Idea????

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: heydavemd</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I've yet to meet anyone who could count to 30 in a firefight</div></div>I've met some who, after hearing artillery, counted to twenty while seeking cover and were still counting upwards of thirty while sucking mud.

And about tracers in combat: they signal your firing location to the enemy. I've never needed that badly a reminder that I'm out of ammo.

I've also never seen an accurate .22 tracer. Buy good target ammo and learn the craft.