Muzzle Flash: What does it mean?

[gotime]

I went through about 300 rounds of my 9mm reloads (115gr Berrys with 6.2 Power Pistol) and about half of them had some serious muzzle flash. All 300 shot fine and accuracy didn't seem affected, recoil between flash/non-flash was negligible. What's up?

[Toast]

Maybe there was a little more powder in some of the cartridges?

[Sheldon]

It may just be the powder combination. I used to have a shorty 9mm and it flashed pretty good with just about everything. If the load is listed and you're not getting any signs of overpressure, you're probably fine.

[Seahawk]

It is also possible that your barrel coked up a bit and some residual powder ignited. Happens sometimes.

[rjf]

A slower powder in a shorter barrel will cause unburned powder to ignite outside of the barrel causing a flash and wasting powder. Try a faster burning powder next time.

[Sideline Shooter]

Power Pistol is known to have a higher muzzle flash than most powders. Cool to shoot at night with!!!

[Bug Splat]

A slower powder in a shorter barrel will cause unburned powder to ignite outside of the barrel causing a flash and wasting powder. Try a faster burning powder next time.

Agreed. Try something faster and needs less powder to reach the same FPS.

[TestPilot]

That load in a 5" barrel only burns about 81% of the powder in the barrel generating only about 23,380 max psi...You're effectively wasting the other 19%...which what's providing the muzzle flash.