Moar Dakka

[Tegyrius]

I thought that might be the case.  Import law and "sporting purpose" clauses are a mess.  Don't even get me started on 922(r), which would wreck several dozen thousand people's lives if ATF had the inclination and capability to effectively enforce it.  

I've never disputed the status of the rifle itself as a DD.  I just wanted to see if I'd missed something on tracers because, well, M856.

- C.

[Valentina]

Ok, stupid question time: someone gets shot by a tracer round from this, or any comparable AM rifle, how dead are they? I'm curious just how big the practical difference is between an actual "dangerous" round is and a tracer.

[MilitiaJim]

Tracer rounds are only a few grains lighter in lead and powder, catching one lands you in a world of hurt.

[Valentina]

Question answered, thanks MilitiaJim.

[Gentry]

Quick and Dirty rule, would you give tracer rounds the damage of a subsonic load?

[Tegyrius]

Quick and Dirty rule, would you give tracer rounds the damage of a subsonic load?

Naah.  Standard damage.

The primary use case for tracers is to allow gunners to see and adjust their fire.  This means the tracers need to have a trajectory that is identical (or practically so) to that of the ball ammo with which they're loaded.  

Why do tracer ammo's ballistics need to match ball ammo?  Because you rarely see a belt of pure tracer ammo; rather, a mix of one tracer to several ball rounds, evenly repeated.  Near-identical trajectory means similar mass, shape, and velocity, which comes out to identical damage dice.  They may not be mathematically identical, as Jim implied above (for example, the projectile of M855 ball weighs 62 grains while its M856 tracer counterpart weighs 64 grains), but the differences are insignificant for game purposes.

Disclaimer: Jim may need to calibrate me here, as my knowledge is not based in firsthand experience.

- C.

[Krensky]

The only difference for me, beyond a bonus to hit, would be allowing a critical hit our miss to maybe set very flammable things on fire for enough dice.

[MilitiaJim]

The only difference for me, beyond a bonus to hit, would be allowing a critical hit our miss to maybe set very flammable things on fire for enough dice.

It would be a bonus to hit the same target from round to round, assuming it isn't moving too much.

I did have to pull the tracers out of a belt of ammo when we raided a gasoline storage depot, and I have been at ranges that were dry that did get set on fire with tracers.

[Krensky]

I think the accuracy benefit works like that, it's been a while since I ran 2.0. I think they even mention that they work both ways.

Also, cinematic physics, so tracers catch things on fire when it's cool (or interesting for when it's not to the players' advantage).