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Picture Page December 2012 A couple of boxes of U. S. military tracers........
I only have a couple of boxes of military tracers in my box collection, not surprising as I have never focused too much (effort or $) on the post-1900s boxes.
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The
first of these is this rather ratty 20 round box of M1 tracers made at the
Frankford Arsenal in 1941. The M1 was adopted as the standard tracer in
1939. The bullet has the usual '+' stamped on the tip, and the nose is
painted red. The headstamp is F A 41 with a 5 point star.
The star indicates the neck have been annealed to prevent them from cracking
as a result of the swelling of the tracer composition. By mid-1945, the M1
tracer was classified as obsolete. Later development and testing lead to a
number of experimental tracer variations, resulting eventually in the
adoption of the M26 Tracer. 
The
second is a 50 round box of M26 tracers made during the Vietnam War by
Olin Mathieson; these have a 1965 Western Cartridge Company headstamp. The Olin
name has always been associated with Western Cartridge Company, which was
formed in1898 by Franklin Olin. In 1931 the company bought the bankrupt
Winchester Repeating Arms Company, but production continued under the two
company names. In 1944, the Western company name was changed to Western
Cartridge Company, Division of Olin Industries, Inc. The Winchester and
Western production facilities were combined in 1952. In 1954, Olin merged
with the Mathieson Chemical Corporation, and the company name was changed to
Winchester- Western Division of Olin-Mathieson Chemical Corporation. In
1969, shortly after this box of tracers was produced, the company was
reorganized and became Winchester-Western Division, Olin Corporation. 