If you’ve never used tracer ammunition, it can be…informative. And, let’s face it, fun. The military uses it to walk in automatic fire, but the average Joe or Josephine can benefit (and be entertained) by watching the path of their shots, too.
But there’s one big problem. Conventional tracer ammo burns. It can and does cause brush and other items to catch fire when struck. As a result, there are very few outdoor venues where you can shoot tracer ammunition — and virtually no indoor ranges.
Now, however, Ammo Incorporated has rolled out their new line of STREAK Visual Ammunition, a non-burning, indoor-safe round that lets you follow your bullets’ path…without all the incendiary complications.
Here’s their press release:
Ammo Incorporated Releases STREAK Visual Ammunition
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Dec. 12, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AMMO, Inc. (POWW), a technology leader and premier American ammunitions manufacturer, today announced its newest product offering, STREAK Visual Ammunition. AMMO, Inc. holds the exclusive worldwide rights for the incredible patented technology used to make the STREAK products. STREAK is one of the most technologically advanced ammunition to hit the market in decades.
“We are beyond excited to bring STREAK Visual Ammunition to the market. Our acquisition of the exclusive rights for the STREAK technology is a game changer for both our company as well as the shooting industry. Once you shoot with STREAK and you can actually see your projectile travel throughout its path, you will be bored by shooting normal ammunition”, said AMMO, Inc.’s CEO, Fred Wagenhals.
Unlike conventional tracers, STREAK rounds are NOT incendiary, they don’t use burning metals to generate light. Replacing fire-hazard burning metals is non-flammable phosphor material that utilizes the light emitted during the discharging of the round to make STREAK glow. STREAK does NOT generate heat, making STREAK rounds safe to use in environments where traditional tracers are prohibited and can be a serious fire hazard.
The results are game changing in many aspects for the consumer, law enforcement and military.
The glowing material used is applied only to the aft end of the projectile, making it only visible to the shooter and those within a 30-degree viewing window. Military and law enforcement appreciate that unlike conventional tracers STREAK’s glow is not visible to the target.
STREAK ammunition is currently available in 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP. The STREAK line will expand to include hollow points, a wider range of calibers and will be available in both red and yellow/green colors.
About Ammo Incorporated:
With its corporate offices headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, and a manufacturing facility in Payson, Arizona, AMMO, Inc. (the “Company and/or AMMO”) designs and manufactures products for a variety of aptitudes, including law enforcement, military, hunting, sport shooting and self-defense (see www.ammo-inc.com). The Company was founded in 2016 with a vision to change, innovate and invigorate the complacent munitions industry. AMMO promotes branded munitions, including the Jesse James line of munitions and accessories, /stelTH/ subsonic munitions, and OPS (One Precise Shot), a lead-free frangible tactical line of munitions for self-defense.
Being one-way visible, that ammo has definite military and personal defense applications…
Yeah, get it into 5.56 and the military will seriously consider replacing reload tracers with it at the very least.
This is hardly news — this kind of “cold tracer” ammo has been around for years. (Google “Glow Ammo” — I’ve got some of that on my shelf.)
Does it work? Kinda sorta, but nothing like the real McCoy. In a low light situation, you can see it. In sunlight, forget it.
That’s what I figured, but I’m not directly familiar with it like you are. It’s basically glow in the dark. Nerf dart sponge head guns had that in the 1980s. This looks fun for night shooting, but that’s not the sort of shooting I do. Could be nice as a novelty, though.
I might have to try this out. How well does it work in daylight?
We have some on the way. Stay tuned for video.
Assuming it’s the same tech as Glow Ammo (and it appears to be), not especially well. (I suspect the promo videos are indoor and in low light situations for this reason.)
“How well does it work in daylight?”
Pretty much what LKB said, it’s tough getting blood from rocks.
That being said – There have been some serious advances in ‘cold glow’ tech since I was a kid in the 70’s, thanks to some NASA grants for aerospace safety. I became aware of this from a NASA spin-off publication I picked up at an aviation convention in the early 90’s.
See those here, fairly large (but worth it, for geeks) PDFs :
https://spinoff.nasa.gov/resources.html
Lots of industrial and commercial applications like tape glow-in-the-dark arrows for fire evacuation, paint for instrument faces, etc.
Just Google ‘glow powder’ and be surprised at the number of hits. A number of the companies sell the stuff in small quantities. Pick up a sample pack and have some fun playing with it.
In general, the coarser the crystal size, the brighter and longer the residual glow.
(Come to think of it, pick up some of that stuff and make your own glow ammo. Drill a shallow-ish hole in the base of the bullet, mix some of the powder into some clear two-part epoxy and fill the base of the bullet. When cured, reload as usual…)
I like streaking. Oh and this ammo could be cool too.
And the age-old musical question …
… how much per round?
9MM 147GR goes for 0.65 a round
In the first incarnation, weren’t there also little adhesive dots of various diameter (caliber) that reloaders could stick onto the rear ends of bullets?
Some ideas keep coming back – classics never come back because they never left…
Tracers have another issue which is that they are lighter than the live rounds and therefore they do not follow the same trajectory. You can allow for this in firing if you are aware of it and have practiced with it.
Huh? AFAIK m856 has the same trajectory as m855. By design.
Cool, now I can watch my bullets curve when I go all Wanted at the range.
For everyone asking how well they work in daylight I have one question. Why are you worried about daylight performance? Seriously if you aren’t firing full auto and even if you are just use your impacts to walk fire in on your target. That’s how I was trained in the Army we only used the tracers for walking in fire at night or to mark the last few rounds in the magazine for our personal weapons to let us know we were out.
The real tracer can be seen in bright sunlight.. the color on the nose burns, not the inside of bullet. As it gains speed, it ignites.
No.
Normal tracers such M856, work very much the same there is a pyrotechnic compound in the base of the bullet that is ignited by the powder combustion process.
Your wrong. I’ve used them extencevly in war.
Jerry,
You’re wrong. The compound in the base of the bullet is ignited by the gun powder when you fire the round. The orange tip doesn’t ignite. It’s just paint. I’ve got about 5000 military pulls of M856 sitting right next to me i use for reloading to shoot coyotes at night. i can email you some pictures if you would like some proof. Or you can cite some sources to make your argument stronger than “i’ve used them extensively** in war”
Jerry you are wrong sir. The tracer burns at the rear where a glob of phosphorus is placed and ignited when the round it touched off. I don’t know what war or Army you were in or who in the hell told you that but whoever did should be reported to your chain of command for incompetence and should no longer be trusted to train soldiers or whatever it is you were if you ever were in any sort of combat.
Bullets do not “gain” speed after leaving the muzzle, they lose speed.
You got that from Mythbusters, didn’t you?
They were wrong. The pyrotechnic is from a compound in the tail/base of the bullet, not the nose.
Think about it: do you really want the nose burning off, destroying the aerodynamics of the bullet? Where’s the benefit from that? The trajectory wouldn’t match the ball ammo at all. Makes the very idea of tracers useless from the git-go.
our grade school bathrooms were covered in obscenities that only appeared when you cut the lights. not sure if it would register any rads but as face paint it just seems wrong. except of course as goldie hawn body paint on laugh- in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsPaZAH_EDg
not to necro an old argument i’ve had on here (“tracers bullets work both ways”) but wouldn’t real phosphor rounds give away the shooters location?
“our grade school bathrooms were covered in obscenities that only appeared when you cut the lights. not sure if it would register any rads but as face paint it just seems wrong.”
The stuff sold nowadays is relatively harmless.
The stuff from the early 1900s was made with radium, a *highly* radioactive compound. Google “The radium girls”.
It was a rather ghastly way to die, I’ve heard…
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/06/the-radium-girls-still-glowing-in-their-coffins/
When I was a little kid in the 70’s, I had a small bottle of old glow-in-the-dark paint. I was painting something with it (can’t remember what) in my room and of course spilled it all over my hands. It burned my skin like crazy, and as I was running to the bathroom to wash it off, I was violently wringing my hands. Got them clean and thought nothing else of it – until that night. There were glowing specks all over the hallway walls (like stars) and into the bathroom, and the entire sink glowed this eerie green glow – for the next 14 years at least, through many scrubbings, a house fire, and at least two paint jobs. As far as I know, it’s still there.
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