SmallCaliberCentral

My friend has a Savage FV in .204 with a blue barrel. Today he told me that when he shoots it, the bullet leaves a smoke trail all the way to the target .I thought it might be a VERY dirty barrel.His load is 27.0 H4895,Sierra 39BK,and CCI BR4. Any help would be appreciated. And No, It's not my question..It's truly a friends

If the conditions are right you can see vapor trails, but if he sees smoke, he's got a problem! Gary

It is a vapor trail. On humid days, the exact occurrence happens with mine.

Combination of humidity and bullet speed. I use 27.4 or 27.5 of H4895 behind 40 grain VMax.

Just got off the phone with him and he says it's SMOKE. I did see a fired case and the primer was kinda flat.No powder stains at all on outside of the shoulder and neck.

Possible that it is not burning all the powder. Try a CCI450 (small rifle magnum) and go again.

My Savage 12FV has what looks like smoke, but is not.

Hawkeye Joe

And as far as he can tell the entire bullet is making it to the target?

What twist is his barrel?


I have seen some bullets leave a trail out many feet (not sure if all the way to the target) when a bullet comes apart.

In order to have smoke go all the way to the target he would either have to be very close like 10 ft..Or the bullet is producing the smoke which means
it is burning or has something on it that is burning as it is traveling .
Think about it .once the bullet leaves the barrel it is no longer being propelled by the charge. It is going on momentum alone so any remaining smoke stays with the gun not the bullet.
I think it may be your friend who is smoking.

Varmonter
He tells me it smokes ALL the way to a 100 yard target. That's why I told him it maybe a VERY dirty barrel causing massive friction. . The thing that bothers me the most is his primers are flatter at 27 grains than mine are with 27.7. I think a good 4 day cleaning is in order .Next time I see him I'll pat him down for contraband .



Waldo
1-12 TWIST

Me and my "friend" have also had this happen. It IS NOT SMOKE. We were also concerned about this until we discovered that it doesn't happen on a dry day. It is a vapor trail and you will discover this is the case when you shoot in other conditions.

Mike: Shooter is correct. When we were all out for our 4-day squirrel shoot two weeks ago, we repeatedly saw these vapor trails all the way from the muzzle out to as far as 300 yards to the rat of interest. It is NOT smoke, but a vapor trail that the bullet makes under just the right set of conditions.

At first we thought it was a fluke, as we've seen it before on rare occasions, but on this particular day, during a period of about 1/2 an hour, we saw it almost every shot. After some time passed, the trails could not be seen, so it's a temporary conditon, but very cool to watch. Not sure if Skippy enjoyed it, but we sure did!

Rick, Skippy could follow that vapor trail right back to your position!

Yikes! I had not thought of that! Good thing he's not as well armed as we are, but you know how those sneaky little rodents are.....we must be prepared for anything!

(Sort of like the first time you ever used tracers....."gee, now they know exactly where I'M at!" )

It COULD BE smoke and not just a vapor trail, but if it is smoke, the bullets would not be reaching the target or they would be key-holing at best or leaving a tell-tale comet ring on the target showing that the bullet is starting to disintegrate and is spewing material.

Accuracy would be terrible also if it is smoke.

Several years ago my son was filming some PD hits from a tripod mounted camera next to him while he was shooting, and he got several film clips where you could see the vapor trail to PD very clearly. You almost wanted to holler "duck" to the PD as the bullet was on the way.

-BCB

I have seen the vapor trail once. An early morning shot taken by my brother in Paso Robles CA. It was clear and sunny but the grass was very wet with dew and the humidity was probably high. As BCB mentioned it was very cool. Sort of like watching a laser beam to the target. I have seen it on film in a couple of trailers for varmint DVD’s. I believe the trailer was “When Pigs Fly” or one of the other trailers made by those folks. Almost all the shots contained the trail which makes me wonder if it was a result of high speed photography.

You guys better be careful.Remember the picture of skippy sportin a helmet and M9 Bazooka

I have never seen any kind of vapor trail. I assume it's like the kind a F16 gets on the wing tips. I'll be on the lookout.

He says it shoots accurate and will penatrate both sides of a propane tank at 100 yards.He shoots at his campground dump . He also says the holes are nice and round. I'm thinking it's vapor. Thanks