Playing with tracers

[Jimski]

Hello gentlemen and gentle ladies,

recently I've changed my AEG for the longest one I could get without being a sniper, so I got a G3, and I added a tracer silencer.This way I get the best grouping at long range and I can see very precisely where BBs go.
Of course the thing is pretty long but it hasn't been a problem anyway.

After finding that it is extremely useful to set-up a hop-up, I noticed that my gameplay style changed a lot, and also that I started hitting my targets a lot more than before.
It came to a point where I'm able to hit laterally-moving targets, like people running across the field along the engagement line, a thing I was very bad at, before: since you see every BB, it becomes very easy to re-adjust your aim.
On the downside I don't really need to use my sights anymore, so my aiming stance suffered from that.
I also see very clearly when people don't call their hits

So basically my take on the tracer changed from the opinion that it is a gadget to considering it as a very effective/important feature, at least in medium-to-low light environnements.

What is your experience with tracers ingame ?
Do you think it should be considered as some vital element, would you advise other players to get one ?

[lurkingknight]

what kind of range are you talking about here? I can track my BBs in open air up to 55-60m and have made hits on moving targets at that range.

Actually my best shot was on a guy running full tilt through the trees at about that range. I was using a red dot reticle sight.

[Fong242]

Same goes for flashlight on a side rail: you can where the white bbs go.

The AC500 is more low-light than medium! I tried "tracer mags" without much success... The bbs didn't glow enough and I lost sight of them pretty fast.

[Jimski]

yep I tried Tac lights but I'm much happier with the tracer.Tracer mags suck I'm really talking about tracer units here.

what kind of range are you talking about here? I can track my BBs in open air up to 55-60m

roughly, maybe a bit less than that...nothing amazing, it's still airsoft.

I'm looking for comments from people playing with a tracer rather than comments from people who think they don't need one, thanks

[Danke]

For night games I love having a tracer. I find it really adds atmosphere.

I wish more folks would step up and get them. The only downer was no heavy glow BBs but BBB is remedying that I hear.

[ShelledPants]

Tracer units are fucking awesome viewed through NODs. Impractical for 100% tracer loads, but I'm seriously thinking about getting one and loading 1 tracer to every 5 white for my SAW load.

[Danke]

If you're not running a box mag etc. you can mix an match the load too.

Load it so you get five in a row when the mag is half empty. Another stack of five when you're about to run dry.

[ShelledPants]

Originally Posted by Danke

If you're not running a box mag etc. you can mix an match the load too.

Load it so you get five in a row when the mag is half empty. Another stack of five when you're about to run dry.

Yeah, I run mid caps. I like the 5 in a row idea. I'll probably run 10 at the end, and 5 in the middle.

[Jimski]

Originally Posted by ShelledPants

Yeah, I run mid caps. I like the 5 in a row idea. I'll probably run 10 at the end, and 5 in the middle.

I liked that idea but it's too much of a hassle when reloading so I just go full tracers.

[coach]

For a box mag just run a 5:1 ratio. Get a big bag or jar and dump them in, mix and enjoy.

Since .25's are the current heaviest tracers, I just run .25's on everything I own and make it work. I typically run 2:1 or 3:1 though. For loading black and whites for daytime tracer effect, I'm lazy so it's 1:1 for an m249 big box mag.

For the Muskoka 24hr milsim, when it got dark, I just swapped to 100% tracers on my WE PDW. No, I did not modify my tracer unit to allow for a brighter muzzle flash.

When the temps got low and it started over hopping, I just utilized the magic bullet effect around trees and bushes.

[Dynamo]

i just mix tracers with the whites. it's too much of a hassle loading a tracer after every 3-5 whites. i am completely ok with the tracers being random, so i just dump a jar of 2k into a bag of 4k whites. remember to mix well before serving.

i found tracer mags to suck donkey dick. you literally have to spray 10-15 rounds before the lit tracers start flying out. tracer units (silencers) i find work really well, but they have what i consider a huge drawback when playing with people who are running NVGs. when viewed through NVGs the tracer units let out a really bright pulse of light that can be seen from almost any direction. you basically become a strobe in the middle of the field.

my self i use a hopup tracer mod. i have 3 UV high output LEDs, one right at the top of the feed tube in-line with the nozzle, and the other two further down where i have room for them. the single top LED is wired to a tactile switch i moded into my Magpul AFG, which also houses it's power source. so this top LED only lights up when the tact switch is depressed. the two lower LEDs are wired directly to my MOSFET, and has another tact switch to activate it located under the bolt catch release. these two lite up when the gun shoots while the bolt catch is depressed, otherwise they remain off.

this set up lets me pick and choose when and how i use tracers. as an example, if i'm doing a lot of semi fire, i like to use the single top LED as it lights up the tracer BBs as they are loaded into the hopup and fired. the bottom two LEDs i use if im going to be doing any full-auto bursts. the main benefit to using a hopup tracer set up, is there is no strobe effect out the front of the gun, which makes it really difficult for NVG users to pinpoint my position. also, it's really nice not needing to run a tracer can on the front of the gun, so i can keep it short or run a longer barrel into a normal silencer.

also, HUTUs are fairly easy and cheap to make, and they work just as well and make the tracers glow just as bright as a silencer type tracer unit. they do give you more options as to how to set it up. it's nice to be able to control the tracer unit without moving your hands off your grip.

[coach]

Oh yeah, I forgot. I've also experimented with the Madbull HUTU. Works remarkably well if you're too lazy to build one. Not quite as bright as a silencer unit but it did the trick.

I wired mine to a 9v battery stored in my handguard and had a momentary switch mounted on the front hand guard either at my front thumb or index finger so that I could actuate it when required. I also had a mini 3 position toggle switch wired in so that I could set it to 1) power the momentary switch, 2) HUTU power always on, or 3) off to power it down for transport, as I noticed the momentary switch would often get pressed when in my gun case resulting in a depleted battery the next game. lol

using a HUTU in conjunction with a silencer (or tracer unit) helped suppress some of the flash out the front. being able to flip on the silencer unit allowed for a much brighter full auto burst down range when you're not particularly worried of return fire. (eg firing for effect)

[Danke]

I don't really object to the strobe on my tracer. I have a Gen 1 TM and since we're acting like all this is real I know that after I pull off a couple shots I'm not standing around with my mouth hanging open.

[Brockavich]

I don't if they're useful or not, but damn do they look cool

[audi_bhoy]

I really love my TM tracer unit, greatly increased my hit accuracy in night or dark building games, I don't mind the flash as stated by some others, it's just realistic, and it also makes a good decoy while your teammates are moving in the dark