While shooting miscellaneous reloads and factory 38's and 357's recently a surprising thing occurred. About all I shoot are my own reloads, but some odd factory rounds find their way into the collection.

At the range all went well except for two 38's that had to be tracer rounds. They were two brass cases with copper colored primers and full copper jacketed bullets in them. Both left a trail of fire and then hit the dirt backstop and flamed out.The rounds had a normal sound but were as smokey as black powder and the gun was very dirty from these two rounds. The cartridges were both headstamped,WRA 38 S & W Spil. Was there 38 Special Tracer ammo made?

Thanks, Gary

Yes, both Remington (REM-UMC) and Winchester (WRA) made 38Spl tracers for military use. They were 130gr FMJ bullets with a reddish/maroon colored tip. Often times the bullet tip paint will get rubbed off through rough handling and the cartridge then looks like any normal 38Spl FMJ round from that era.

Thank you CTG Collector!! Learn something every day. Gary