When leaving the US Army, was able to pick up a box of .38 tracer rounds that.........fell off a truck. I traded them for something or other some time ago without every using any.
I currently have a box of 9mm tracer rounds purchased via mail order a number of years ago, also never having fired any.
What is the general opinion on having these for signaling purposes in a survival situation?
I think there are issue with potential fire hazzard, barrel damage, etc, but I wonder if it would be worth throwing 6 or so into a SK if one were to already have included the proper caliber handgun/rifle. I know there are plenty of better signaling devices, but I am curious about the effectiveness of such rounds.

Shooting them up it the air when a plane passes overhead, they might be mistaken for "fireflys" on methamphetamine looking for love.

Worse yet, a civilian aircraft might mistake them for "unfriendly fire" and radio your position to the nearest military aircraft which would probably blow you out of the woods with an air-to-ground missle.

Dump them and buy real flares.

Bountyhunter

Last time I checked my California Penal Code tracers, except for the shotgun rounds that used to be available, were illegal to possess. I'd be real real careful when and where I carried them, let alone used them...

Here is a part of the section...CALIFORNIA CODES
PENAL CODE
SECTION 12301-12316

12301. (a) The term "destructive device," as used in this chapter,shall include any of the following weapons:
(1) Any projectile containing any explosive or incendiary material or any other chemical substance, including, but not limited to, that which is commonly known as tracer or incendiary ammunition, except tracer ammunition manufactured for use in shotguns...

Odd, I wonder how long the law has been in effect. I know I had them shipped to a Ca address, perhaps 10 years ago. Nice to know that even posession is against the law.
Thanks for the feedback.

The firearms community is all to willing to sell full auto sears,switchblade kits ad nauseum with tongue in cheek disclaimers about checking local laws. Tracer and incendiary rounds are inferior to dedicated flares because the greater velocity makes for extremely short burntime. A dedicated flare is short enough as it is. Early chinese ammunition brought in with SKS rifles was all hard steel core. I was at the Ventura Police range when an unfortunate soul managed to ( unkowingly) A. purchase one of the full auto versions that were shipped and B. set a brush fire with the hard hitting rounds. His rig immediately went bye bye. I purchased a large quantity of .30-06 ball for a M1. The seller had tumbled tracer and indendiaries to remove the tell tale orange and red I.D. paint. Several of us promptly took the stuff to the fire department for disposal after nearly burning down the Ojai Calif. range <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> Shotgun rounds are legal because dedicated flare pistols share common guages. Just because some outfit wraps their logo in eagles and old english script ammendment doesn't make them your shootin buddy.

Hey Chris:

Go easy on the knife thing.

I have about 125 Italian stilettoes left with 4-inch blades and a fingernail groove in the blade for manual operation. The knives come with a spring, pivot pin, and locking pin which can be placed through a premade hole in the handle. It is a drop in modification and everyone is told to check their laws, payment is by cash in person, or postal money orders by mail. So far I have sold most of the knives to government employees on the Federal level. The local police are younger than my generation so they are not as fond ot these knives as they are of the tanto blades. I have 4 in my personal collection, and none of them has the spring inserted as I am a fan of the Italian Stiletto design but spring knives are illegal in Wisconsin.

They are sold and function as standard folding knives and the fingernail groove in the blade cements that contention. The release button has to be pressed before you can open the blade, and they have a safety for the button. There are still states in the US that allow possesion of switchblades so the spring kit leaves you an option which no one forces you to take.

I sell them around Milwaukee, WI and the only flak I have ever heard from any of the law enforcement officers I deal with is "Don't ever have an assembled one laying around". I also sell them to the general public and make a point of determining their age to be 21 or older(18 years is sufficient for forming a legal contract, but some of the laws hereabouts use 21 for possession of certain items).

If you just want a deadly knife for crime, you can buy 46 chef's knives for $.99 at the local Good Will as opposed to what I charge for a beautifully crafted Italian Stiletto.

Bountyhunter

It has been on the books since I went onto law enforcement in '71. Funny tho, long before that my dad and I used to shoot .30 cal competition, and every year we got ammo issued by the DCM. All old GI .30-06, sometimes we got tracers, sometimes armor piercing (also illegal in CA). Still have some of that somewhere.

I watched some Navy Seals start a nice grass fire at the Coalinga range one time. .50 cal tracer starts a fire real fast...

Any thoughts about the idea of Glazer slugs being used for home defense? I have them in a revolver due to the fact that they are supposed to lose a great deal of their velocity and expand within a wall rather than penetrate it and go on to hurt an innocent person. They were quite the item for this purpose 15 or so years ago, but I hear very little about them these days.

Coalinga brings back some fond memories... I remember the oil wells, the heat and shooting from 1000 yards while watching the range flags at every yard line pointing in different directions! I competed in the Cal State High Power Championship 3 times and the long line ate my lunch every time!

Semper Fi, George

Yup. I started pulling targets there when I was about eight, and shooting (informal then) at about the same time. Probably one of the reasons my ears are shot now (no one thought of ear protection back then). I can still remember how small that bull is at 1000 yards...

My wife has Glazers in her house gun, a 2" .38. Mainly because she is not really a gun person and they have almost no recoil. They are supposed to work well as long as the bad guy isn't wearing a real heavy coat, or doesn't weight about 500 pounds (putting the vitals too far in to reach)...

The Glazers have always been tauted for the safety edge, low penetration through walls, doors, etc. However, several years back, I read an article in one of the gun magazines (I don't remember which one) that did a comparison shoot for effect on the target. For comparison, they shot a beef carcass at point blank range with a .410 shotgun and from 15 ft. with a Glazer .45 gov't. auto. and the wound cavities were almost identical. I was so impressed that I had to do some "field testing" myself, and afterwards, I was just as impressed. To this day, I have a clip full of Glazers for "things that go bump in the night". As far as the penetration (or lack thereof) I've never done any testing to back their claims, but I can say that it IS SIGNIFICANTLY LESS than hard ball ammo. Bottom line... the round empties all of it's energy into the target, and in my opinion, a massive wound with little or no "through and through" ballistics is much more effective than a narrow channel running completely through a target that goes into shock and shoots back. For those of you who haven't already guessed, yes I am a big fan of the .45, and while I'd rather have a 9mm than a hand full of nothing, I don't want enything less than a .45 for defensive use, although, for anything under 30 yards, NOTHING beats a 12 guage pump.
Thanks for taking the time to read my rant, have a nice day <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Troy

Thanks for the feedback.
I have a 6" Colt Python for the "night gun", (can always use it as a club) with the first two chambers empty, next two with Glazer slugs and the final two with .38 ammo. I read that the idea of having the first two chambers empty is a decent margin of safety if the gun ends up in the wrong hands. Just have to remember that if you need to make use of it.
If an "unknown" were to come into a home in the middle of the night, the best non-lethal weapon would be the sound of the action of a pump shotgun, provided they knew what it sounded like.

Ditto on the pump gun. In my experience, even someone whose never actually heard the sound, finds their hands reaching for the ceiling when they hear a slide action being cycled behind them...Thanks Hollywood. <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Troy

I have to agree with the Glasser rounds for use in the house.The few well documented uses of them that I've read show that they do work well. As the saying goes, a 12 gauge pump will handle most "social situations". Here in CA both tracer and incinderary ammo are prohibited, they can and do start fires.