I want a Big Fireball

Jdague12 said:

View attachment 1127306 24.5gr of 300-MP with a 240gr Berry’s plated flat point out of a Desert Eagle will roast a marshmallow

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Yeah, 300-MP is a very slow magnum pistol powder. It likes heavy bullets and long barrels. When you do the opposite of that - a short barrel and a light bullet - the velocity is thoroughly underwhelming, and most of the powder burns outside of the barrel.

To get this,


From this,


Fill it with this…


America!

Nasty canasta I'm more interested in the UFO in some of your pictures. Are you shooting near area 51? I'm seeing the UFO in pictures1/3&5 . also some nice fireballs there.

Shooterbob said:

Nasty canasta I'm more interested in the UFO in some of your pictures. Are you shooting near area 51? I'm seeing the UFO in pictures1/3&5 . also some nice fireballs there.

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That’s not a UFO, it’s a government drone.

Hmmm maybe they are always watching!

Blue dot is flashy
So is H110.
Max loads of either under the lightest bullet you can find.

H110 or AA5744 will give you a big fireball with a short barrel like that, lol. The Western Powder data is still downloadable or you can buy their load manual for 5.00 for the 5744 loads.....H110 loads are on Hodgdons website (heck, might even be some 5744 loads there now too).

2400 will give you lots of that w/ a short barrel. I loaded some .357mag once in a 2.5" barrel and got a sheet of flame at least 3-feet long.

I actually try to avoid huge fireballs and flash but I do like some low pressure shorty loads for my Specials and they are a little showy. One is a .44Spl load of 10.5gr of Blue Dot under a 200gr Bull-X BNWC. Very accurate out to 25yds Last time I shot it at the indoor range the kids on either side of me asked what I was shooting and if it was okay for the range.
I told him it was a light special and I preferred it to a .357 with wadcutters because I got better control with a .44. He nodded and said, “Oh, yeah, that’s what I figured. Nice!”
I second the suggestion of Blue Dot and a light cast bullet. Lubed, not coated. The smoke adds to the overall effect.

Edit: Sorry, I remembered wrong. It’s 11.6gr of Blue Dot.

jaguarxk120 said:

H110 is known for very large muzzle flash's!
When to light the fire with H110 the range officer look to see what
you are shooting.

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Especially indoor. I shot 357 with h110. It was fireball city indoors. 44 should be even better.

Nothing much to add, except to agree with using H110 for the flamethrower effect.






It does pretty well in .300 BLK also.

Light bullet such as a 180gr XTP and WIN 296 makes a huge fireball.
I will admit that it's satisfying every once in a while to show off your big booms in front of your friends.....
Have fun, and be safe.

GeoDudeFlorida said:

I actually try to avoid huge fireballs and flash but I do like some low pressure shorty loads for my Specials and they are a little showy. One is a .44Spl load of 10.5gr of Blue Dot under a 200gr Bull-X BNWC. Very accurate out to 25yds Last time I shot it at the indoor range the kids on either side of me asked what I was shooting and if it was okay for the range.
I told him it was a light special and I preferred it to a .357 with wadcutters because I got better control with a .44. He nodded and said, “Oh, yeah, that’s what I figured. Nice!”
I second the suggestion of Blue Dot and a light cast bullet. Lubed, not coated. The smoke adds to the overall effect.

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Just watched Magnum Force the other day......for probably the 20th time of my life..

Palladan44 said:

Just watched Magnum Force the other day......for probably the 20th time of my life..

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A man’s got to know his limitations.

The largest fireball I have created was using my bowling ball launcher.



And adding a remote trigger so I can get well away from it.



Fill the cylinder to the top with fine dry saw dust and stick a road flare in the top. It will still be going by the time you get to the end of the rope.

Looks like the one around :50 into this video.

JAMES Michael WILKIE said:

Well, I tried the 20 grains of 748 with a LRP and 165 grain LSWC,(44 Mag case)and the bullets did come out of the muzzle,NO FLAME,and the recoil of a .38 wadcutter.
Oh well, back to the drawing board.
I really appreciate the suggestions, but most of them would result in a very powerful (ouch) load..
I just want fire,minimal recoil...

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Oh. Well, it doesn’t really work like that.

The flame is a symptom of power in smokeless. It’s cool because it’s a sign of the pistol trying to tear your hand off.
It is the excess fuel in the chamber igniting when the super heated gases reach oxygen in the atmosphere. The excess fuel comes from the pressure dropping as the bullet leaves, stopping the burn until it reaches an oxygen rich environment.

If you want flame, not so much as a ball of gas flashing, just use the slowest powder that will have the bullet still leave the barrel. With luck, still burning powder will belch out the muzzle after the bullet. Things like fast rifle powder.

Which is unpublished territory, and comes with risks. Watch for squibs. A light charge after a squibbed bullet can blow up a gun.


With proper cleaning, modern arms can use black powder as well. Then you’d have smoke, too.

Don't the big fireball, loud muzzle blast, and heavy recoil go hand & hand?

JAMES Michael WILKIE said:

Well, I tried the 20 grains of 748 with a LRP and 165 grain LSWC,(44 Mag case)and the bullets did come out of the muzzle,NO FLAME,and the recoil of a .38 wadcutter.
Oh well, back to the drawing board.
I really appreciate the suggestions, but most of them would result in a very powerful (ouch) load..
I just want fire,minimal recoil...

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Well, at least now you know why the first - and every other response in the thread - said W748 was NOT going to do what you want.
Time to try Blue Dot, H110/W296, Accurate 4100/Ramshot Enforcer, or Accurate No.9. Any one of those WILL give you a big blast and fireball. I suggest Blue Dot. You get the fireball and boom without all the recoil.

Black powder

A guy here wanted to light up our indoor IDPA match, so he loaded a 2.5" M19 with Vihtavuori N110 and 110 gr bullets.
The flash was impressive.

If you want a manly automatic, a 9mm with plenty of Power Pistol has a bright flash and a loud report. When using up my one can, bystanders would ask "What have you got in That Thing"

GeoDudeFlorida said:

200gr Bull-X BNWC

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Had those a while, haven't you? I shot Bull X until they went out of business. I understand one partner was killed in a car wreck and the other could not keep the shop going alone. I bought my first coated lead bullets from them, too.

Palladan44 said:

Don't the big fireball, loud muzzle blast, and heavy recoil go hand & hand?

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Mostly yes but not necessarily. An 11.5gr charge of Blue Dot under my 200gr BNWC doesn’t recoil too badly but it will put out a nice fireball. Even in a .44Spl case. Load that up in a bigger, magnum case and Blue Dot will spit ash and flame all over itself.

Jim Watson said:

Had those a while, haven't you? I shot Bull X until they went out of business. I understand one partner was killed in a car wreck and the other could not keep the shop going alone. I bought my first coated lead bullets from them, too.

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A little while, yes. Then again, I also still have some JDJ branded, moly-coated 240gr LSWC .430’s. Not many, a few hundred, maybe. I’ve got maybe a thousand of the 200gr BNWC left. When they’re gone, they’re gone ‘cause there ain’t no mo.
JD Jones was a real pioneer in the world of handgun hunting. He wasn’t flashy and he wasn’t a “journalist” so he didn’t get the attention of some other folks, but he was the real deal as a hunter and outdoorsman. Lee Jurras was also the real deal as a shootist but I think the two of them together did some good, some bad, and some just plain stupid things. Like every other human being ever born.

Just to be clear, even though I mentioned using slow pistol powders like 296 and light bullets, this is a dangerous road you're going down.

Seriously, you need to be extremely cautious.

I forgot to add, 7.62 x 25 Tokarev can be REAL impressive with the right ammo. I had some, I think it was of Bulgarian origin. Not sure what they loaded it with, but the shock and awe was impressive.

The biggest flames i ever got was with a CETME and some Talon re-man military ball. It had a ball powder that resembled WC846, but must have been different, a very slow lot, or had extra graphite deterrent. I was at a strange range in a relatively urbanized area. For sound control, you fired through a 2' culvert that extended from your firing point some 5 or 6 feet downrange, evidently to focus the noise in that direction. The range master came over as I was sending flames out the end of the tube, and he wondered WTH I was shooting. The flash in that culvert section was so bright it took several seconds between shots for the eyes to adjust back to normal.