I shot a hog late Saturday evening with my m70 270, 24" bbl. I load 55.0gr of Imr4350. I saw flames in my scope. Is this a bad thing???
Velocities are not excessive at all, 3,050fps. I would think 24" was more than adequate to burn up that load of powder.

Perry

I’ve seen that with several rifles at dusk. Both factory and handloads. I’ve seen it in even .22 rimfire occasionally. Shotgun - this is common.

I wouldn’t be concerned.

If the load is accurate and the velocity isn’t doing weird things, it’s normal.

Try a 8 bore rifle with 10 Drams of black at twilight!

see my icon .. but that was 150gr of ffg

Accuracy is great, velocities are stable. Sounds like all is well.
Thanks gents!

Cold barrel
Oil in barrel from cleaning
Humidity and air temp and altitude play a part
Powder is old type IMR stick
Powder charge is close to max
Perfectly normal to see a flash.

Muzzle flash is as normal as breathing, but you don't see it in daylight. That is why military use flash hiders on their rifles. They don't keep the muzzles from flashing but do help a little to hide it, hence the name.

You know its a good shot and a dead pig if the last thing you see is fire!!!

I like loads that shoot fire out the muzzle; it impresses the natives and probably the game as well. But they never comment on that.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
I like loads that shoot fire out the muzzle; it impresses the natives and probably the game as well. But they never comment on that.

bet they would if you hit em in the right place!! the natives i mean.

Hell you could most likely back off 5 grains on the load and keep the same ballistics. Saving both in powder and excessive wear on the rifle.

But you all already knew that...


Phil

The faster burning powders such as BL-C create a ball of fire out the muzzle, more so than slow burning powder, add to that a short carbine barrel and you have a flame thrower, Its not a problem safety wise but its disconcerning to some..Ball powder tend to blow more flame btw. Its there day or night just shows up more in the darker times of day..The only complaints Ive heard were by those shooting fast burning powders, Powders like 4350, 4831 don't seem to disturb most of the hunters making evening and morning shots.

Keeps things interesting and a conversation starter for sure, but not good for barrel life. Course what might be considered a flash compared to flames could leave a lot to interpretation too.

Phil

Barrel life? I don't see many worn out big game hunting rifle barrels. None in fact.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Barrel life? I don't see many worn out big game hunting rifle barrels. None in fact.

Shootacow says they are only good for 100 rounds, after that, they won't hit paper.

Then again, it could just be Shootacow.

IF that impresses you.
You should have seen the flames out the
stack on the old naturally aspirated
diesels we used to pull the mtns with.

I've read a book from the light that fire
made on the long hard pulls. During the
day, a big black cloud followed us.

Shooting high powers after dark can sure
light up the surroundings.

George

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
The faster burning powders such as BL-C create a ball of fire out the muzzle, more so than slow burning powder, add to that a short carbine barrel and you have a flame thrower, Its not a problem safety wise but its disconcerning to some..Ball powder tend to blow more flame btw. Its there day or night just shows up more in the darker times of day..The only complaints Ive heard were by those shooting fast burning powders, Powders like 4350, 4831 don't seem to disturb most of the hunters making evening and morning shots.

ball from faster, dragon's tongue from slower... at dusk you can really see it

If one can keep the eyes open and watch through the scope, then the muzzle flash can often be seenin the shade even with small capacity cartridges.

The trick is avoiding the blink!

I actually have never seen muzzle flash from any hunting rifle I am shooting; I am usually focusing on the target. Except for tank cannons.
As for muzzle flash at night, most impressive is the M256, 120mm tank cannon; those you can see. And feel. Smooth bore, 20 pounds of propellant, 5500 fps. Pressure; close to 100K psi. Cost, $8K per shot. Specs vary by ammo type.
As for flames shooting from an engine, the original M88 Medium Recovery Vehicle had a V12 gas engine, and would shoot flames ten feet out. They changed them to the M88A1, which had the V12 AVDS 1790 Diesel, same as our tanks. Each Battalion had two of them.

I have used Supreme 780 in my 300 magnums, and shooting them at night is NOT a good idea.
We do a lot of spotlighting here, every occasion on shooting loads with 780, the muzzle flash was so bright it took around 10 mins before my night vision came back.

Yes, this is NORMAL

Cheers

It’s a firearm, they exhale fire as that is their nature.

Once upon a time I had a Winchester 88 in 308 with an 18 1/2" barrel. With a full house load of H-414 (now W760) and a 150 grain bullet, and on a cloudy day it was like a flash bulb going off in front of me.. It was like a ball of flame the size of a party balloon.. very impressive.