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Old 11-06-2009, 01:57 PM
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Hoptob Hoptob is offline
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Pacific NW
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Default Thank you, Dave!!!

First of, I'd like to thank Dave very much for doing this excellent work! He really gives me way too much credit for the simple act of mailing a few cartridges. Dave on the other hand had devised a well thought through procedure to reproducably record (and share with the rest of us) the muzzle flashes, and he started systematically looking at various commonly used self defense rounds.

Dave's work allows us to move from speculations and vendors' claims to looking at the real data. Time and again we hear that fast powders produce less flash than slow powders, long barrels are better than short barrels, flash suppressed powders are better for SD than canister powders. Is it really so? Is the difference big enough to matter? Now -- thanks to Dave's work -- we can see it for ourselves. And as they say, seeing IS believing.

One of the most interesting and unexpected findings here is how little flash is there in Remington full house 357 magnum loads - both R357M1 and R357M2. One would expect, based on their ballistic performance and handload duplicates, that these rounds are akin to flamethrowers. Turns out it's exact opposite. In reality these excellent rounds, with some of the best ever stopping power scores, make less flash than many of the 38 spl loads. I don't know how Remington manages to do it, but their results speak for themselves.

It was also interesting for me to see how +P+ Longshot handload compares to expensive commercial SD rounds. I developed this load to duplicate muzzle velocity of Speer 135 gr. short barrel 357 magnum load but in 38 special cartridge. It clocks at just over 1000 fps in my 442. Before I saw Dave's pictures, I thought that commercial loads would win hands down because of the flash suppressed powders. Turns out it ain't so...

This thread is one of the 3 threads about muzzle flashes that Dave had started. I'll insert the links to his other threads to make it easier for everyone to see the results.

Link to muzzle flashes of 357 magnum cartridges.
Link to muzzle flashes of 38 special cartridges.

Thank you, Dave, for your excellent work!

Mike

Fine print. I do not recommend that anyone uses handloads for self defense or shoots +P+ loads in any handguns that are not rated for it. If you choose to do so, you will be responsible for all consequences.
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