I do not doubt that you have experienced it. You’re on the Range, ready to go, and you press the trigger. In that moment, a significant fireball erupts from the front of your gun. This is the notorious muzzle flash. While it does have a bit of a cool factor, it can be problematic if it involves defensive shooting. If you are serious about carrying a weapon for personal protection, muzzle flash should be a genuine concern. Today, we’ll go over some of the fundamentals of muzzle flash and how to avoid it.
Fighting Muzzle Flash – Protecting Your Vision in a Fight
Muzzle flash is of the exothermic combustion of the propellant, and any remaining unburned powders reacting with ambient air. In simpler terms, muzzle flash is a result of escaping gases and unburnt powder that ignite and continue to burn at the muzzle. This phenomenon is much more prevalent in shorter-barreled guns, large-caliber weapons, and guns with compensators.
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The biggest challenge we face with muzzle flash is its effect on vision in low-light conditions. Your eyes will react in the same way that they would to a bright light shining in them. There’s a substance in the eyes called visual purple, and when exposed to bright light, it begins to fade and even disappear. This visual purple is one of the things that allows us to see things in low-light situations. The result of this is an inability to identify our target once a shot has been fired. If you have ever been on the receiving end of a photography flash, you can relate.
How to Deal with Muzzle Flash
The question is then, how do I deal with muzzle flash? The most important thing you can do is to test your defensive ammo. Try to go in the late afternoon or move to an indoor range where the flash is easy to see. For time’s sake, I encourage you to bring multiple options to test. Fire a magazine of each round that you’re considering using for your defensive load. Carefully observe how much muzzle flash is produced when the gun is fired.
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Once you have determined which round has the lowest flash, make a note of it. In fact, I encourage you to note not only the brand and specific version of the ammo, but also the lot number of that round. I say this because manufacturers may occasionally make slight modifications to the propellant they use. With the information in hand, I then encourage you to buy a substantial supply of that specific lot number. This can be a bit of a challenge, but it is certainly worth your time. When the day comes that that ammo is finally expended, I would start the testing process over once again.
Fighting Muzzle Flash
Muzzle flash is simply a part of shooting. As I mentioned earlier, it does have a cool factor, but that should be limited to range time. If the worst day ever happens and you need to present a firearm to protect yourself or family, it’s important that something like muzzle flash does not interfere with the protection of life.
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