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Laser Trace Round?

oic0

oic0

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Ok before you tell me "STFU and SEARCH", this is different than the ideas people were having to put lasers in bullets or on arrows.

Anyhow here goes.

I shoot some ol lever actions that fire big bullets at pretty low FPS. My plinking loads are .38 special and out of the rifle they fly at probably 1000fps. They also don't kick much if any. When the light catches the bullets right you can see them fly through the air for a split second. Would there be some sort of way to rig up a laser with a beam expander to shine down the path of the bullet and light it up for a portion of its flight? A laser strong enough to light the bullet up brightly when it hits it but not strong enough to have a visible beam in expanded form. What I can't work out though is how one would be able to get the laser to be parallel to the bullet path since the barrel is in the way.

No practical use but it would look cool as heck. Think I can somehow get it to work with one of my 445s?
 
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00Giorge

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It will be a little tough since the bullet trajectory rises and falls and is not perfectly straight, you would be able to get part of the bullets path but not all of it. If your bullets are only at 1000fps more than likely you won't have any rise just drop. Laws of gravity!
 
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chipdouglas

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think of it like aligning 2 beams of different color. they have to be right on top of each other for it to work. becase at any angle they will only intersect once. so unless you had a hollow laser that was in your barrel, it will not work.

ps. stfu and search.... jk

michael
 
oic0

oic0

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Within 100 yards, the path of the bullet will only change about 5inches, the divergence of the laser should cover that part easily. Like chip said, the barrel being in the way is whats bothering me. I'm wondering if I use one defocused enough that it drops down an inch within a few feet to cover the bullet, if it will trace it for very far or be bright enough to notice.
 
magonegro

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I guess you can keep in a straight line the bullet and the laser, changin' focus could help but... have you tried to paint the bullet with a phosphorescent tint ? that makes good effect even without a laser, and is long enough to trace gravity trails, just paint your bullets with a sensible paint, but just a bit till you have the good point. And let it desecate before firing. Infrared light of different wavelenghts could impress the phosphorescent paint and make a wonderful trail along the bullet way... I used to see this when I was in the army using ainti-aereal cannons; but.. never know what kind of paint it was applied... I can only remember it had was green tinted...
 
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WLHostage

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oic0 said:
Ok before you tell me "STFU and SEARCH", this is different than the ideas people were having to put lasers in bullets or on arrows.

Anyhow here goes.

I shoot some ol lever actions that fire big bullets at pretty low FPS. My plinking loads are .38 special and out of the rifle they fly at probably 1000fps. They also don't kick much if any. When the light catches the bullets right you can see them fly through the air for a split second. Would there be some sort of way to rig up a laser with a beam expander to shine down the path of the bullet and light it up for a portion of its flight? A laser strong enough to light the bullet up brightly when it hits it but not strong enough to have a visible beam in expanded form. What I can't work out though is how one would be able to get the laser to be parallel to the bullet path since the barrel is in the way.

No practical use but it would look cool as heck. Think I can somehow get it to work with one of my 445s?
Click to expand...

Well... you have a couple issues here...

1. Your bullet doesn't follow a straight line, due to gravity it has an arced trajectory. So even if you placed the laser directly behind the bullet in the chamber (in the bolt) it still would not server your purpose since the bullet would only be visible for a very small portion of it's arc.

2. The only logical way I see to accomplish this is by using a laser tracking system that will actually follow the bullet. The problem with this system is I don't think it will be small enough to fit on the gun.



They do have laser tracking systems setup that can actually track mosquitoes and shoot them down. So a system like this is possible. However, it will be fairly large and so far it has only tracked relatively slow moving targets, so I'm not sure if it could handle the speeds of a bullet or not.

Laser Beam Mosquito Killer | gadgettastic
 
oic0

oic0

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WLHostage said:
Well... you have a couple issues here...

1. Your bullet doesn't follow a straight line, due to gravity it has an arced trajectory. So even if you placed the laser directly behind the bullet in the chamber (in the bolt) it still would not server your purpose since the bullet would only be visible for a very small portion of it's arc.

2. The only logical way I see to accomplish this is by using a laser tracking system that will actually follow the bullet. The problem with this system is I don't think it will be small enough to fit on the gun.



They do have laser tracking systems setup that can actually track mosquitoes and shoot them down. So a system like this is possible. However, it will be fairly large and so far it has only tracked relatively slow moving targets, so I'm not sure if it could handle the speeds of a bullet or not.

Laser Beam Mosquito Killer | gadgettastic
Click to expand...

But see over the course of 100 yards, which is about as far as youd be able to see the bullet, it will only move about 5 inches total not including any compensation with an arc.


I'm going to try it with my 445 but I dont expect the results to be too god since my diode isn't perfectly aligned in the module.
 
millirad

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Beam expander maybe? Then alot of the path would still be within?
 
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WLHostage

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oic0 said:
But see over the course of 100 yards, which is about as far as youd be able to see the bullet, it will only move about 5 inches total not including any compensation with an arc.


I'm going to try it with my 445 but I dont expect the results to be too god since my diode isn't perfectly aligned in the module.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that your barrel and bullet are very small. So while 5 inches may not sound like a lot, that means if your beam is in the bolt in some way (to assure it lines up with the bullet) it will only hit the bullet for a very small fraction of that 5 vertical inches that your bullet will travel.

As the previous poster mentioned you could increase the divergeance of your beam so that it covers up to a 5 inch vertical path at 100yds. At that point the best position of the laser would probably be directly on top of the barrel. Since the bullet will rise from the barrel, then fall back below the barrel line (most likely past the 100yrd mark). This position would give you the best overall coverage. I'm not sure how well a wide laser like this would mark your bullet however, but might be worth a test or two in order to figure it out.
 
chipdouglas

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a beam expander won't work either. because it makes the beam fatter but with better divergence. so if the laser is still mounted on top of the barrel, the bottom part of the laser beam will still be above bullets trajectory. now if you made a mechanical device fully automated that shoots the bullet and then drops down the correctct distance to put the laser beam "behind" the bullet, then that will work.

michael.
 
AJ_Dual

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.38 Special tracer ammunition is available if you look hard enough. Expensive, but probably not as much as working with that laser setup.

SBR LaserMatch Tracer Ammunition 38 Special 158 Grain Full Metal Jacket ERVT Box of 50 - MidwayUSA

I'm sure if you dig hard enough, you can find them for reloading as components only.

Otherwise, I'd suggest just using a very shiny based bullet, or gas-check in your reloads, and getting something like a powerful HID spotlight, leaving it on the bench and shining it downrange.

Something like this is under $100, and probably putting out close to 3000 lumens.

Amazon.com: Stanley HID0109 HID Spotlight: Home Improvement
 
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FarewellToKings

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People are really critically over thinking this. Mechanisms that track the bullet?

Put the laser near the end if the barrel. If you use 445, vertically align the fast axis. The divergence should easily cover the path of the bullet for at least 100 yards. Im interested to see how this works out.
 
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FarewellToKings

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People are really critically over thinking this. Mechanisms that track the bullet?

Put the laser near the end if the barrel. If you use 445, vertically align the fast axis. The divergence should easily cover the path of the bullet for at least 100 yards. Im interested to see how this works out.
 
oic0

oic0

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Gonna try just that. Need to work on some mounting and to offset the barrel taper + my laser not being perfect (diode not mounted perfectly straight in aixiz).


yes, I know that sight looks out of place. Its just so fun to use.
wv8t9l.jpg
 
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