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There are problems with modern tracer rounds, the biggest is that they rely on the friction from flying through the air to heat up the element which glows and makes it visible. Not only does a “hot” tracer such as that have a tendency to start fires, but it can easily be seen by enemy troops (or home intruders or whoever your bogeyman of choice is). Glow Ammo claims to fix all of those issues, using a “cold” tracer substance placed on the back of the bullet that is visible only to the shooter and others on their side of the firing line. Ammo is available and seems to be shipping, but at about $1 a round it’s still spendy stuff.

The site appears to have been up since 2009, but this is the first I’ve ever heard of it. Rest assured, we’ll have a couple boxes shipped to us for testing and evaluation ASAP. This has the potential to be a fantastic training aide and do some real good in the military so we’ll be keeping a close eye on it.

[Glow Ammo via Reddit]

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18 COMMENTS

  1. Okay, the big questions that come to mind are…

    A buck a round for any caliber or are rifles more? Then, is the round essentially still FMJ? Lastly, it’s “cold” and it glows…does that mean the compound is already stable and glowing in the box, lowering the shelf life of this round in a tracer capacity?

    • IIRC, it uses the same stuff in glowsticks, only it consumes the chemicals a MUCH higher rate than glowsticks so it’s brighter and shorter-lived.

      Also, it uses the bullet motion to mix the two reactants together.

  2. Nick this is the same stuff you, Ben and I shot at the range when we did the revolver test. Hopefully your reloads won’t squib in anyone’s pistol 😉

  3. It would have been nice if their video had a remote camera looking at the shooter to show that the trace was only visible from the shooter’s perspective.

  4. You wouldn’t have use only these rounds. Military loads tracers 1 in every 5. Keeps the barrels cooler. You could load these every other round to save money. Kinda looks like a firefly kitting your windshield at night.

    • I had always wondered how guns didn’t way overheat when using tracers, because I can’t see how the thing wouldn’t be burning from the second the bullet leaves the case. Some have told me the tracer only starts once the round is out of the barrel, but I haven’t found any documentation that specifically addresses that yet.

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