Jippo

For guns that size danger area is something in the class of 200m to front and 25m to sides from the muzzle. It is perfectly safe to stand behind or on the side of it when it fires though.

By the way, do you really think it makes a difference if you & your opponent use the same or different tracer color? I mean that although it may ease the situation a little bit when deciding what to do, but you can't base any judgement on that thing alone. You should always be aware of who is the enemy by some other means not just tracer color alone. That means visual ID on the most cases, and in most others somebody else is already shooting at you so it is ok to shoot back. So in which way does the difference in tracer color help to make identification? I'f you are going to shoot the first round you must ID the target, if the target is already shooting at you he's the enemy. If two other parties are fighting with each other, then you should be already having a pretty good idea who's who just by looking at their respective locations. On top of that there shouldn't be that many tracers flying in normal infantry combat anyways, at least not in this part of the world there isn't.

So I should trust wikipedia instead of my own eyes. Btw. Did you notice that wiki-page you gave has links Degtyaryov plant promotional videos where they shoot (guess what) tracers. Actually second of my videos is from the same shooting as their advertisements. http://youtube.com/watch?v=8imIgaFTfLI [ June 20, 2007, 01:22 AM: Message edited by: Jippo ]

Couple of related videos: http://youtube.com/watch?v=qK6OP8I_VsE&mode=related&search= It seems that the tracers don't change color when crossing a border. I think the lesson here was not to trust tracer color judging who's your enemy or not. Remember: friendly fire isn't.

Sure they would change the color as the SU industrial system insisted on using the same components on everything they produce from helicopters to tanks (Mi-8 has some same instruments as T-72)! I really don't think they would bother about that kind of things with the tiny FDF order. Sure, not a problem. AK vs AR fight anyone???

Couple of pics just for fun:

It was 1980's/90's Soviet stuff. You can see the boxes in the pics. The difference is that I have used almost solely AP-t or API-t, maybe Ball-t is green? I have seen that on few occasions and I should think it was red too, but I may remember it wrong there. Also I haven't seen SU/WP tracers in smaller calibers than 7,62x53R, but for all I can remember they were red: PKM/PKT, NSV, KPV, all the way up 125mm. [ June 19, 2007, 09:27 AM: Message edited by: Jippo ]

Oh ****!

Where do the ammunition boxes in the picture come from? What is their color code? What color is their tracer?

All of the ones I have seen burnt red, and that is as rare as 7,62x53R and 12,7x108. I have never seen a SU tracer that burned green, although that is not to say that there isn't. And the tip of the bullet is black violet as in case of API-t (all calibers), green in the case of normal -t. Maybe that is where your idea of green comes from. But if the weapon is NSV or DshK in the video, and the ammunition is API-t I can assure you it is red (burning doh!). [ June 18, 2007, 02:03 AM: Message edited by: Jippo ]

They're red. </font>

They're red.

Sure, difference here is that instead of molding a piece for cutting and covering to prevent back blast & directing energy where wanted, we have a HE charge which is actually 5-10cm off the cutting point. Also the energy of HE round is designed to burst to the sides, and not towards the fuse. On top of that, without knowing the exact composition of the steel used in tracks, I very much doubt it is construction grade mild steel. Depending on the fusing there might not be any kinetic energy of a direct hit as the round goes off, blast is directed to sides mostly and shrapnel surely hasn't got enough power to knock out roadwheel or or tracks themselves. Of course (depending on the fusing and caliber) tracks could be taken out by HE only, but I would like to see these fellows here describe the conditions where & why: "You should atleast be able to take out the tracks using HE." "Cos it is enough to take out tracks, thats why." Are just simply stupid statements with zero information value.

IIRC, track of 40 ton tank (T-72) weighs 3 tonnes. I have seen rocks that larger than your fist reduced in to sand just simply getting in between of the drive wheel & the track. Links on that track are at thickest point 50mm thick (or so), and are designed to take the weight of the tank for thousands of kilometres on road. I have also seen HE mortar hits on sandy ground that have penetrated on the (softish) soil no more than 20mm. I woud like to think that HE is not a destroyer of armoured targets, but you can prove me wrong. (Not ment to you Shifty)

Not to be rude and blunt, have you ever seen tracks of a MBT? Where would this energy of unknown quality show it's power and destroy the track? And, more important question is, how?