I'm curious how tracers work exactly. I found a few old 7.62 tracers in an ammo bin, and almost all the orange paint has been worn off. This paint doesn't do anything other than differentiate the tracer from a regular 7.62, does it? I mean, it has nothing to do with the bullet lighting up, right?
I assume not, so how does a tracer work? Where exactly is the tracer material (phophorus?)? How does it become visible? How does it ignite?