Taming Muzzle Flash by Handloading

Minimal muzzle flash is a desirable trait in self-defense ammunition or ammunition used while practicing for self-defense. Most self-defense shootings take place at night, or otherwise in low light. While having low muzzle flash doesn’t really matter if we’re shooting in bright light, in dim light, by contrast (pun intended), muzzle flash can leave us with an afterimage that’s literally blinding. Thus, most top-shelf self-defense ammo is loaded with flash-retardant powders. But how can we handload ammo that gives us the same effect, should we want to practice low-light shooting without burning through our spendy hollowpoints? Why, I’m glad you asked!

Double-base powders contain both nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose. Single-base powders contain only nitrocellulose. What gives us excessive muzzle flash is the nitroglycerin in double-based powders. Thus, if we want minimal muzzle flash, we simply choose a single-base powder. Problem: single-base powders tend to cost more.

Cheap generic ammo is loaded with double-base powders, thus has extreme muzzle flash. The commonly available brands of generic 9mm hardball (Federal’s American Eagle brand, Winchester “white box,” etc.) are notorious for this.

Several years ago, I was practicing low-light shooting with a friend of mine named Cameron, on a range with almost all the interior lights turned off. He was firing Federal-generic American Eagle hardball, I was firing my handloads running Vihta Vuori N310, a single-base powder. We both happened to be firing Glock 19s. We were actually running ourselves through the low-light portion of the Firearms Academy of Seattle’s Handgun Master Test which consists of firing one round apiece on each of three targets at five yards, two yards between targets, drawing from the holster with a time limit of 3.50 seconds per rep, six reps, 18 shots total. Ambient light was barely enough to make out the shape of the targets. Sights? Forgeddaboudit.

Cameron went first. Every time he pulled the trigger on his G19, a fireball erupted from its muzzle, it was like a flashbulb popped on the range. When we turned on the lights to score his targets, he had 17 misses, he’d only hit one target, one time, in the C-zone. Can’t really say I was surprised, since he had to have been blinded most of the time.

Then I shot. If you have a solid index, the totality of your technique, stance, grip, etc. that causes the gun to point right where you look, AND you’re firing low-muzzle-flash ammo, the muzzle flash will be a mere lick of flame, just enough to silhouette your sights. As soon as each shot fired, I saw the sights, I knew I’d hit the A-zone. On my third rep, on the first shot on Target 2, the middle target, I saw the front sight good for elevation but slightly misaligned to the left; my read of the sight picture said I’d hit the target about an inch to the left of the A-zone.

Before we turned on the lights, I said to Cameron, “I’d say that was 17 As, one C on Target 2, good for elevation but about an inch to the left of the A-zone.” We turned on the lights to score my targets, I had 17 As, one C on Target 2, good for elevation but about an inch to the left of the A-zone. Cameron said to me, “How the hell did you do that?”

Well, folks, a huge part of it is stuffing your handloads with powder generating a low muzzle flash.

Every powder in Vihtavuori’s 300-series (N310, N320, N32C a.k.a. Tin Star, N330, N340, N350, 3N37 and 3N38) is single-base. Alliant BE-86 is double-base, but it’s actually had flash suppressant added. This list is, of course, not all-inclusive and only reflects the low-flash pistol powders of which I’m personally aware.