Something Else To Think About When Choosing Your Self Defense Ammunition

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cslinger

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So whenever I am shaking down a new gun I like to run a mix of ball weights and of course some defensive ammunition.

I have pretty much settled on Gold Dots and HST as my go to defensive ammo so that is generally what I run in my testing phase. Today however I was cleaning out some old stocks of ammo and I had with me some Gold Dot, HST, Hornady TAP, Hydra Shock, a little Golden Sabre and some fairly old Remington Green and White Box hollow points.

So we all know to function test our defensive ammo. I am also of the mind that any decent, reliable defensive ammo is about as good as their peers. One thing however most folks don't take into consideration if they just grab a cheap box of HP defensive ammo is the flash of the powder. The cheap stuff usually doesn't use low flash powder...................
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So about that old Remington Green and White Box HP stuff. Holy Pink Floyd Batman, what a light show. Fairly inconsistent as well. This stuff would definitely distract you in ANY kind of low light as it was distracting under direct light.

Now I am not saying a box of cheaper grade defensive hollow points are ineffective crap just pointing out, mostly for folks new to the game, that low flash powder makes a big difference. I had a mag loaded up with a mix of Gold Dot, Hydrashok, TAP and the stuff above. When you hit that cheap stuff it was like a camera flash.

So anyhoo, might be something else to keep in mind for the new shooters to consider as most of the time we tend to hammer reliability of a given load and forget to mention other factors like consistency and flash.

As always, take care, shoot safe,
Chris
 
One of the reasons why my favorite range is my favorite range is because he allows low light shooting. If I am there by myself he lets me adjust the switches to be as bright or dim inside the range as I want to practice. This is where I test how flashy my ammo is. Good lessons to walk away from.
 
Great post. One of the ranges I sometimes go to is very dimly lit. In fact, that is the only reason I sometimes go there because it is a terrible range (not the greatest clientele, rather nasty management, outrageous range rules, etc.), but it is a great place to test out a load you are thinking about using as your defensive load since you can get a better feel for the flash than at most ranges.
 
I have a 45acp with a magna ported 3” barrel, it always throws a healthy flash and I’ve never really found it distracting. I mean I notice it but that’s about it, Just a quick flash and it’s gone.

Maybe my eyes aren’t as sensitive as most.
 
When I was in the academy, many moons ago, we trained at night by flashing a flashlight on, then off and shoot where the target was, with handgun and shotgun. We actually were issued the Remington ammo on our department. I don't remember the flashes bothering me as much as noticing they lit up the target when you fired, like a strobe.
 
I am also of the mind that any decent, reliable defensive ammo is about as good as their peers. One thing however most folks don't take into consideration if they just grab a cheap box of HP defensive ammo is the flash of the powder. The cheap stuff usually doesn't use low flash powder...................
....
So about that old Remington Green and White Box HP stuff. Holy Pink Floyd Batman, what a light show. Fairly inconsistent as well. This stuff would definitely distract you in ANY kind of low light as it was distracting under direct light.

Now I am not saying a box of cheaper grade defensive hollow points are ineffective crap just pointing out, mostly for folks new to the game, that low flash powder makes a big difference.
Chris

I noticed this as well. I have only carried a 9MM for almost a year now. I carried During its early trial I carried 147 grain job WWB. Watched and read more about it and decided against it as a primary carry.115 Grain Remington JHP Green&White box as well was tried. Both rounds would work fine in a pinch. 147 had less of a bright yellow flash as OP described when speaking of the 115 G&W box. I have reserved that ammo for carbine use when I get one and last ditch. Hoping the muzzleflash would decrease in a carbine due to barrel length.

For what it's worth I use a Shield 9MM as my test gun. Federal HST seem to have a low amber glow. Not bright like an 1800's camera. Least in my expirience, not +P. 135 grain variants. Just my experience.
 
When I first started carrying my 4" Kimber, I bought 2 boxes of +P for it... thinking I needed as much advantage as I could get. I put exactly 16 rounds of that +P through it... the flash from that muzzle blast was blinding! I wound up giving the rest of it away to a friend of mine... who likes that sort of thing.

I now carry Gold Dot Short Barrel ammos in it... it's listed as low-flash specifically for... you guessed it... short-barreled pistols. It works very well, and I get almost as much velocity out of my 4" with them as I do standard loads out of my 5"... with much less flash.
 
When I was in the academy, many moons ago, we trained at night by flashing a flashlight on, then off and shoot where the target was, with handgun and shotgun. We actually were issued the Remington ammo on our department. I don't remember the flashes bothering me as much as noticing they lit up the target when you fired, like a strobe.

I can beat that one with a different "when I was at the Academy" story. It was dusk when we went out to the range and we listened to the training sergeant talk. He kept going until it was dark, no moon, real dark. He then had us line up next to each other and point in the direction of our targets, which we had trouble seeing.

At that point someone asked the obvious question, "Sergeant, how are we going to hit our target? It's too dark.

He answered, "when the guy next to you shoots it's going to light up this whole range. . and you're all going to shoot at once."


. . . sometimes I wonder how those guys ever got insurance . . .
 
One of many reasons I downgraded my carry gun to a 38 Special and wadcutters, I've shot 357 mag, fantastic muzzle blast, will definitely blind at night, 9mm most SD loads are pretty bright, but the lowly 38 even out of a 2" barrel isn't as intrusive at night as the 9mm. Now if you want total night blindness, I have a DW 357Max, and with the 6" barrel fired at night is a total blinding experience, even if you miss, the perp will be as blind as you at least.
 
I haven't found muzzle flash that distracting, even with the cheap bulk range ammo we train with. It's the smoke that gets in the way of low light shooting.
 
When I first started carrying my 4" Kimber, I bought 2 boxes of +P for it... thinking I needed as much advantage as I could get. I put exactly 16 rounds of that +P through it... the flash from that muzzle blast was blinding! I wound up giving the rest of it away to a friend of mine... who likes that sort of thing.

I now carry Gold Dot Short Barrel ammos in it... it's listed as low-flash specifically for... you guessed it... short-barreled pistols. It works very well, and I get almost as much velocity out of my 4" with them as I do standard loads out of my 5"... with much less flash.
You should see the flash, feel the concussion and hear the deafening sound of a 357 from a snubbie - even +p is bad, but nothing like a 357........ OUCH!
 
I had a bet with a former rangemaster years ago, I said full house .357 mag 110 and 125 gr loads out of my 2.5" m-19 would light up so bad they would blind me for follow up shots.
He said they wouldn't, and I would be able to make those shots even in our indoor ranges' really subdued light. (Only light on was in range office, behind glass)
I lost that bet.
It was a flash, but certainly not like a flash bulb from a camera.

We even went total darkness and I held it at waist level and fired to see if I could spot the target using the muzzle flash. I could barely make out where the target was even after 6 shots.
I guess if I was looking to see the flash I would, but when I was looking past and concentrating on my target it didn't affect me much at all.
 
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Ah, you guys and your puny handgun cartridges!

If you want to see some impressive muzzle flash (and feel one hell of a shockwave), try an Encore pistol with a 12 inch barrel in .30-06. Even if you miss the target, the fire blast should take care of it. The one I handled was braked, and would bite your ears even through 2 layers of ear pro.

Recoil is stern, but surprisingly manageable. Probably the loudest gun I've encountered.
 
The biggest handgun muzzle blast I have seen was 180 grain Remington 44 magnum out of a 4 1/2 barrel Blackhawk.
 
It is not just the amount or the size of the flash. The color signature is also very important. Red being the best. Orange being in the middle. White being the worst. With low light and a white light muzzle blast you can lose the ability to identify a target at night in as little as 2 shots. A red signature even with a larger blast will not effect your vision as much.

Another big factor is shooting more than one shot like you would in a defensive situation. Firing 3 or more will have a stacking effect on your night blindness. One shot will not always tell the whole story.
 
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