Over the years, I have seen many posts on internet forums relating to the "loss of night vision" after firing a weapon.
It just so happened that when I took my CCW training, we had a dark range portion where we fired with a standard pistol or revolver at a man-sized target in the dark. Then the lights were brought up for us to review our results. We then repeated the test with night sights. After that we shot with a tac light.
I had a few observations:
1. Although I hit the target (I think it was at 15 feet) in the dark without any aids, I wasn't terribly accurate/consistent.
2. Given either night sights or a tac lite I shot nearly as well as in the light.
3. I didn't once lose "night vision" or have a "blinding flash" effect.
We shot a variety of weapons, most fired a Glock 9mm or S&W 38spl. first, then a mix of other 9mm weapons. All using regular FMJ target ammo (American Eagle, IIRC).
#3 is what I'd like to discuss with the group. It is often repeated that firing in the dark will ruin your night vision. People mention this often, such as in this thread about snub load ballistics:
THR snub load thread
Anyone who has shined a taclite in their eyes (ok, yeah I tried it once :banghead: ) knows that yes, night vision CAN be lost. But...
Question: can this actually happen when firing a handgun, resulting from the blast of your own handgun?
Question: does the type of weapon affect this (revolver vs. auto)?
Question: does the caliber have an effect on this phenomenon?
Post #15 in that thread got me thinking... I'd love to see some good discussion on this one. When faced with the choice of choosing carry ammo, some expensive brands use flash-suppressed powder. While I don't think this would ever be a negative... Is it necessary to retain night vision?
It just so happened that when I took my CCW training, we had a dark range portion where we fired with a standard pistol or revolver at a man-sized target in the dark. Then the lights were brought up for us to review our results. We then repeated the test with night sights. After that we shot with a tac light.
I had a few observations:
1. Although I hit the target (I think it was at 15 feet) in the dark without any aids, I wasn't terribly accurate/consistent.
2. Given either night sights or a tac lite I shot nearly as well as in the light.
3. I didn't once lose "night vision" or have a "blinding flash" effect.
We shot a variety of weapons, most fired a Glock 9mm or S&W 38spl. first, then a mix of other 9mm weapons. All using regular FMJ target ammo (American Eagle, IIRC).
#3 is what I'd like to discuss with the group. It is often repeated that firing in the dark will ruin your night vision. People mention this often, such as in this thread about snub load ballistics:
THR snub load thread
Anyone who has shined a taclite in their eyes (ok, yeah I tried it once :banghead: ) knows that yes, night vision CAN be lost. But...
Question: can this actually happen when firing a handgun, resulting from the blast of your own handgun?
Question: does the type of weapon affect this (revolver vs. auto)?
Question: does the caliber have an effect on this phenomenon?
Post #15 in that thread got me thinking... I'd love to see some good discussion on this one. When faced with the choice of choosing carry ammo, some expensive brands use flash-suppressed powder. While I don't think this would ever be a negative... Is it necessary to retain night vision?