Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Huge Muzzle Flash?

Last night just before dark I was finalizing working up loads for my 338-06 Ackley and my 350 Rem Mag.

I noticed that the 22 inch barrel 350 with 200 grain TSXs and 58.5 grains of H4895 left a normal muzzle flash. However, the 61 grains of Varget with a 20 inch barrel and 160 tipped TSX bullets made a huge yellow flash that completely filled the scope I was looking through and made all observers comment on just how big the flame/flash was.

What would cause something like this? What does this mean. The barrel lengths, bore sizes and powder charges are very similar in both of these rounds. The burn rates are also somewhat similar.

My guess would be that the 338-06 Ackley's Powder was still burning as it left the barrel so I might want to go to a faster burn rate with the short 20 inch barrel. However, I'm looking for more expert opinions that mine. Is this a characteristic of Varget?

Unburned powder.

I'll add that a 257 Wby. Mag. with a 24" barrel, 100 grain boolits, and RL25 make a nice fireball, in bright daylight. I can't imagine it in near dark conditions!

Yes, I tend to move to slightly quicker powders as barrel length gets shorter. My objective is to have more powder burn in the barrel and less out in the atmosphere. My Rem 600 6mm is almost blinding if one torches it off in the early AM or late evening.

ditto the .257 and unburnt powder

hmmm... I would suspect a powder that was a little slow for barrel length. I do not have a burn rate chart at the office how does 4895 compare with varget? I havent used enough 4895 to know its properties. From what little I have used I would suspect that they are fairly close in burn rate.

Slower powder + lighter bullet = larger muzzle flash

Varget should work well, even better than H4895, with the 200 grainers. And, I'd think H4895 would be the ticket for the 160 grainers. Flip-flop the powders and I think you'd be stylin'.

You want to see a sweet muzzle flash, round up some of the old Winchester MRP... that stuff was notorious for producing some radical fireballs.

I used to have a 10" barreled contender handgun in .223 that would leave about a 5 foot long X 3 foot in diameter muzzle flash that would really grab peoples attention at nearby shooting stations......that was a lot of fun.

My XP-100 in 221 Fireball tends to have a pretty nice muzzle flash. Wonder where they came up with the name for the cartridge?

My 7.5" ar-15 makes lots of fireballs.

great for photos!

Shooting a lot of 223, I can tell you that H 335 is literally a fireball do'er, with any bullet weight or any barrel length...

at night, it will light up an area the size of most people's living room..

I'd hate to have to shoot that in combat at night, or shoot it lying prone during varmint season, when the grass is real dry...

after shooting it once at night, I haven't used that powder since...

100grs of Retumbo in my 300RUM makes really pretty flashes, quite the light show....

You may want to try RL-15. I use it exclusively in my 338-06 and 35Whelen and get excellent accuracy, velocity, and no noticeable fireballs in the evening.

Steve

Yep. Lite my Rem 600 off late one evening as the agreed upon signal that I was coming off the mountain and to hold the boat until I arrived. Should have closed my eyes, as the flash had me essentially blind for about 90 seconds. That was IMR 4320 out of an 18.5 inch barrel.

H110 or Blue Dot (it's been a few years) and a 357 mag snubby will light up a darkened lane in the indoor range.

A 14" barreled TC in .35 Remington, with 158 grain XTP's and H335 is a real mans flashlight I touched it off one night at our familys' cabin up the Swan (A real cabin, with no power or running water) just so I could see where the [bleep] was.

Truer words were never spoken. I had a Remington 660 with 20" barrel in .308 in which I shot 150 gr. Sierra SPFB bullets over a stiff charge of H-335. The muzzle flash was something to behold. The report of the rifle ws almost a "thudding boom" as I recall. One late August after noon, my hunting partner and I were doing sight checking and a bit of practice. It was right about noon on a bright sunshiny day. When I shot that .308, my buddy said the fireball had to be at least 4 feet across and was almost as bright as a strobe light for a camera.
I do have a theory about this which may or not make sense. (It does to me anyway.) One of the gases generated when a cartridge is fires is hydrogen. (I read that somewhere BTW.)On most cartridges. the gas is usually burned up prior to the bullet exiting the muzzle. My thoughts are, what if some powders generate more hydrogen gas than others, with H-335 being a prime example. There is very little oxygen inside a cartridge case and I believe powders have the chemical ability to create some oxygen to keep the burn going until the powder is consumed. What if certain powders create not enough oxygen to burn up all that superheated hydrogen, what happens then? What happens to the very hot gas when it hits the outside atmosphere? Instant flash/bang type explosion with a very loud report. FWIW, that was the only rifle load that made my ears ring, even with plugs and headphones on. I do believe that if I'd shot that gun from a sitting position that day, it would have started a grass fire for sure.
Funny thing about that powder though; when I worked up to a max load for my .35 Whelen, I did not get that flash/bang effect and loud report. Maybe it can only happen with the smaller bore rifles? Quien sabe?
Paul B.

Here's some flash for ya.