Muzzleflashes unrealistic?

[the Dutchman]

During my time serving in the army i fired a 25mm Oerlikon,a 7,62 machinegun and stood next to it on the firing range while it was firing exploding shells as well as armoured piercing and saw .50 caliber machineguns firing all this at several weather conditions,but as far as i can remember i never saw muzzle flashes.........

[Ravenous]

Originally Posted by the Dutchman

In my time serving in the army i fired a 25mm Oerlikon,a 7,62 machinegun and stood next to it on the firing range while it was firing exploding shells as well as armoured piercing and saw .50 caliber machinegung firing all at several weather conditions,but as far as i can remember i never saw muzzle flashes.........

Even the puny MP5 and not to mention my G3A3 had muzzleflash so long as there was no direct sunlight near me... I distinctly remember one training exercise where my platoon were doing some basic fire-drills in the woods, and when we were in the shade, we saw both our own and eachothers muzzleflashes eventhough we were firing single shots and had flash-hiders on our G3's

[the Dutchman]

I distinctly remember one training exercise where my platoon were doing some basic fire-drills in the woods

As stated in this thread somewhere you were most likely firing blanks.........?


I guess much depends on the weather conditions and time of day..........

[Ravenous]

Originally Posted by the Dutchman

I guess much depends on the weather conditions and time of day..........

weather and time of day is probably a big factor, i just remember that episode because it surprised me how visible the flashes were despite it only being 4-5 in the afternoon

no, this was a live-fire exercise...i think it was our first squad based live-fire drill actually

this picture looks to be quite abit darker than what i remember from the exercise, but it shows what i mean

[GnigruH]

Also much depends on the actual phase of the moon.

[ChrisDNT]

"Kinda hard to avoid that in nightfighters isn't it?"

We were not talking here about muzzleflash by night firing.

[Ravenous]

Originally Posted by ChrisDNT

"Kinda hard to avoid that in nightfighters isn't it?"

We were not talking here about muzzleflash by night firing.

hey, i was just kinda saying that in reply to your "But remember one thing, weapons engineers are not retards, they would not conceive for instance a nose gun with a heavy muzzleflash which would empeach the pilot to see anything when firing, it's simply not logical." because it made me think of the 109's 15, 20 and later 30mm nose gun...

i believe the 30mm would produce some flash when i see stuff like this picture of an AR-15 5.56mm...

Originally Posted by GnigruH

Also much depends on the actual phase of the moon.

LOL

the choice of powder is very important. Nowadays modern armies tend to use smokeless powder and in general using loadings that would avoid flames, which can still occur in cases like long bursts, when partially combusted powder gets pushed out of the barrel and ignites as the next round comes out. Sometimes light conditions, moisture in the air, the moon phase as wisely quoted by our esteemed colleague GnigruH (LOL!) and other amenities can affect the visibility of the flame.. rest assured that there's a flame coming out of there anyway, if you dont believe me put your hand close to a muzzle of a rifle when is firing and get ready to smell burnt chicken