Revolver night-time muzzle flash a real problem?

[Samilitant]

I've seen a few places talk about a 357-magnum making a huge muzzle flash at night and blinding you. I don't think I'll ever get the chance to try it out, so hopefully someone can tell me. Do you think a 357mag would be any worse in a home defense situation than a 38-special? Don't all guns have a deafening boom and flash? I once fired a 38 indoors w/o hearing protection and I could not hear for 2-3 seconds...wouldn't imagine much of a difference with a 357 magnum. Whuddaya think?

 

[Beelzy]

In a home defense situation, folks have their eyes closed when they pull the trigger.

No problem there at all.

 

[gunnutery]

I may have the opportunity to try this in the near future. Perhaps if you carry a flash light in an HD situation the muzzle flash may not be as big a problem as HD without. I'll test that out too.

 

[MrCleanOK]

.357 will be worse than a .38 out of the same length barrel, both in muzzle flash and noise. That said, in a real home defense situation you may be so amped up on adrenaline you wouldn't notice the difference.

 

[Sport45]

Do you think a 357mag would be any worse in a home defense situation than a 38-special?

Yes, without a doubt.

Don't all guns have a deafening boom and flash?

All handguns from .22lr up have enough report to damage your hearing. But even though they are all loud they are not all the same. The magnums are much louder than non-magnums and the flash can be much larger depending on the powder used.

I once fired a 38 indoors w/o hearing protection and I could not hear for 2-3 seconds...wouldn't imagine much of a difference with a 357 magnum. Whuddaya think?

The mag might not leave your ears bleeding, but it will be much louder. You might be waiting days for the ringing to go away.

 

[Ken Rainey]

Yep, .357 magnum blast and flash is much, much worse than .38 special. Way back in 1990 when I went thru the academy, we all used revolvers and all of the training was with .38 special ammo...but, at one point during night fire training we were given .38 +P+ ammo so we could "see" the difference ... and it provided a blinding flash which would cause followup shots to be off due to the image being "burnt" in your eyes like a bright camera flash can do....not a good situation when your rear end is on the line...

Low pressure and low flash is a substantial benefit of the good old standard pressure .38 special (.44 special and .45 LC and ACP) in low light and/or indoor firing. In fairness, most law enforcement ammo, which is usually higher in pressure, now uses flash suppressed powder to over come the excessive flash part of that handicap. I suggest everyone try their defensive ammo in as low of light as you may have to use it to see just how much it will flash and then choose accordingly...

 

[blutarsky]

In a home defense situation, folks have their eyes closed when they pull the trigger.

No problem there at all.

no. just, no.

plus which, to get back to the op, .38spl (and .38spl+p) are less startling than full-house .357mag generally speaking which can make a huge difference in your bedroom hallway, for instance.

 

[BullfrogKen]

Like Ken says, it depends.


Some premium defensive ammunition produces less flash than the more economical loads. .357 magnum is going to produce more flash both because there's more powder, and the blend burns more intensely.

Blinding? Probably not. Harder to see after? Yes. Especially in total darkness. It's probably on par with momentarily touching off a Surefire or another high intensity light and having the light reflect off a white wall back at you. The darker and less ambient light in the environment, the harder it will be to manage the extremes between light and darkeness.

It's just another good excuse to have a good, high intensity light on your person to help manage such a situation.


I've played around a fair bit in darkened indoor ranges. The effects can be managed. It's certainly not blinding, though.


Noise? I've touched rounds off indoors without hearing protection. It hurts, but I could hear. My ears rang, and they were in pain. I winced at loud sounds for a day or two after, but I certainly wasn't deaf.



Go find an indoor range and try it out for yourself. Low light shooting, that is. There's no need to damage your hearing just to prove touching a round off indoors won't make you deaf.

 

[c919]

Just out of curiosity, what possessed you to shoot without hearing protection?

FWIW, I think in any self defense situation, you would most likely not notice a difference simply due to BAR.

 

[kmrcstintn]

as far as the muzzle blast & noise level from shooting indoors w/o hearing protection; inadvertantly shot .38 spl in my home (causing a negligent discharge and I payed the piper for that incident); I had noticable ringing in my ears for @ 5 seconds; I once shot .357 mag indoors without a properly sealed earplug and had noticable ringing in that ear for several hours...not very fun!!!

I have to deal with persistent tinnitus ringing in ears) that is a side effect on medication that I take to reduce/eliminate migraine headaches; I notice a 'slight' increase in loudness of the ringing after a lengthy shooting session (wearing earplugs and earmuffs)

 

[ms6852]

In a home defense situation you won't worry about recoil, sound, and flash. Your heart is already pounding 200 beats per minute. The only real problem with the flash depends on what side of the gun you are standing on when you see it...(front of the gun or the back of the gun).

 

[blindhari]

At one time it was sort of necessary to shoot at night. Because of that and flares I learned to close the dominant eye almost automaticly when there was any surge in white light. It sounds sort of stupid but it still works for me. As soon as dominant eye is opened night vision seems to be refreshed.
I never minded losing my hearing and the ringing in my ears was an indication I was still ok.

blindhari
Sgt Inf Long ago and Faraway

 

[armsmaster270]

My Dept was issued 110gr +P+ Federal 38spl #38F-TD or the Treasury load. When we qualified we fired all our duty ammo and were then given "fresh" ammo. During the night fire (indoor range lights off) firing from the hip was no problem as we were looking at the target and our model 15's were more than 2' below eye level only past 7 1/2 yards where we had the revolver in point shoulder or aimed fire at 25 yards did it make a difference and then it was both from the muzzle and cylinder gap. but using a flashlight took a lot of the burnt vision away.

 

[ar10]

I took an advanced CCW training class that started at 7pm and ended at 1am at the outdoor range where I work. I used my xd 40 and .38 Tarus snubby with the ported muzzle. The only visible light were the star, none of us could see the targets at 25 ft. There were 12 of us using different flavors of ammo and guns and during the whole class there was not one single question or comment on the muzzle flash. If anything the flash lit up the targets for a few milliseconds. At 25' we all made about 1 in 5 hits. At 10' most of us got 5 in 5 hits.
At the 10' targets we would have to draw and fire from the waist and most of use did pretty well considering we couldn't see a damn thing.
The one thing we did learn is how and when to use the flashlight. Those affected our sight much more than muzzle flash.

 

[RON in PA]

A few years back I had an indoor range to myself and turned off almost all of the lights. Was shooting 38 special standard loads from a 4" revolver. The thing I noticed most was not the muzzle flash, but the flash from the barrel-cylinder gap. It however did not affect my vision.

 

[Iggy]

I was in a serious social engagement while on duty as an LEO. I had to shoot my .41 mag in a dark room with a flashlight. I remember seeing his gun coming up toward me, seeing my gun appear between us and firing. I didn't hear the guns fire, I felt the recoil of my gun, I don't remember any muzzle flash. That was 42 years ago and my ears still ring today.

Tinnitus sure beats the alternative.

 

[Steve C]

I've always seen muzzle flash as a burst of flame, its not like a flash bulb going off which is a lot brighter. If you think its bad behind the gun I'll bet its a lot worse for the person in front of it. As previously mentioned, most premium defense ammo or police surplus has a flash suppressant added to the powder and a little red flame is all you usually see. Reloads using slow powders have lots of flash but again not near as bright as a photographers flash which gives me temporary blindness.

The one thing muzzle flash does is give your position away which is why its a special concern for the armed forces.

 

[sw282]

I did a little night firing with some 110gr +p 38s recently. I shot some old SUPER VEL stuff along with some of Hornady's new Critical Defense ammo. The Hornady was pleasent enough. The S V lit the room like a grenade. More recoil and bang too. I suspect the latter may have been a bit faster too. Will stick to the Hornady for my bedside 15-2 snubby

 

[Gunfighter123]

I have shot IPSC/Action matches for 20+ years and have shot many Low Light/Dark House stages --------- one thing I found is when useing a flashlight and fireing multiple rounds is that a layer of "gunsmoke" blocks the target and learned to start to crouch or kneel for anything more then a double-tap.

 

[ar10]

The S V lit the room like a grenade. More recoil and bang too.

Stick with SV stuff, you'll either hit the target, blind them, or scare the hell out of them.

 

[KBintheSLC]

In a home defense situation, folks have their eyes closed when they pull the trigger.

If you close your eyes when you are firing a gun, you ought to consider working on your technique. Closing your eyes is never a good idea when firing a weapon.

 

[armsmaster270]

Back when they came out Super Vels were the best SD round out here almost every cop carried them at their own expense, as the cities provided LRN.

 

[friscolatchi]

In the hundreds of "Armed Citizen Reports" that I have read, I have never come across a comment about muzzle flash or report loudness. I believe for us using a firearm for HD it's a non-issue. If I were a LEO, or in an environment where I would more likely be firing at night (crack/meth house as a neighbor or bears) it would a concern. However, it's a honest consideration that I'm not concerned about. I'm just glad that I have a gun for defense. I work in an environment where "what ifs" become a reality so I fully understand the concern.

 

[blindhari]

Years ago I was impressed with 357 mag supervels and overbought for my needs. I now am down to my last few boxes and limit myself to six selected at random each year. I push them through a winchester 94 trapper that is one of my major go tos for home defense. During that time I have made my money back several times over selling empty cartridges and boxes to collectors. I figure those rounds must be closing in on 40 years old, but they are still awesome as ever.

blindhari

 

[Averageman]

To be honest, when your blood is up; I don't think you'll notice. That being said how dark is dark? You certainly must have some light to ID the bad guy. Closing your eyes??? Come on now, not at all a good idea.
I've shot a lot of rounds at night, most bigger than .357 and usually keeping track of several people while we were all shooting, it just wasn't a factor. I have had the "Flashbulb" effect, but it only lasted seconds and I can't say it effected my performance.
In my home I would get a sight picture, fire a double tap at center mass and duck to cover and listen.
If it gets past that I got much bigger problems than being flash blind.