Breaking in Wife's Kahr Report, Muzzle Flash, Ammo

[00Spy]

My wife liked my PM9 so much she had me buy one for her. She hasn't been able to make it to the range and so I kindly offered to break it in for her. I was shocked when she agreed.

I put 165 rounds through it before it got so dark that I could not see the targets. My range is in the woods and it gets much darker there than out in the open. So, all of the shooting was in low light with the last of the shooting being in near no light until I got out the flashlight.

I shot Blazer 115 gr. ball, S&B hollowpoint 115 gr., and 15 rounds of Federal Premium Hydrashok 124 gr. Except for 2 failures to lock back on empty (at least one was probably by user error), the gun ran fine, accuracy was nominal, and there were no surprises. I am quite pleased for my wife.

Okay, so given the lighting, I found the Blazer had the least flash of the three with a yellow/orange flash about the size of a softball or slightly larger. The S&B hollowpoint produced a similar fireball muzzle flash that was slightly larger, but more orange. The Federal Hydrashok produced a yellow/white volleyball-sized flash that was much more impressive than I would have liked.

In checking the forum, I see that Golden Saber 124 and Speer GDHP 124 are reported to have much less impressive muzzle flashes than the Federal. Does anyone here have any additional insight on muzzle flash and defensive ammo? I thought I would pick up a box of each that is supposed to be less impressive and run through some side by side tests.

FYI, I was impressed with the PM9's night sights. Even with the bright Federal fireball flash, the sights still stood out quite visibly. So even under such conditions when I could not see anything else, I could still see the sights.

Suggestions on other defensive ammo would be appreciated.

[BikerRN]

I like Corbon ammo. Some people don't like it, but it works for me. Good luck and enjoy your PM9. Or rather, your wife's PM9.

[john from md]

Ranger 115+P has much less muzzle flash than Federal ammo. Black Hills also has excessive muzzle flash.

[00Spy]

Thanks for the input. I ended up trying 6 different ammos, all 115 or 124 gr. I did short vid clips with my digital camera shooting each in low light and comparing what was on the vid with my own impressions. I then compared that to what information I could find about bullet performance.

In the end, the two best choices were Remington Golden Saber and Golden Saber +P. To be honest, the +P did not have any significantly greater amount of felt recoil than regular GS and muzzle flash was close to the same...and there wasn't very much at all. From what I can find online, GS is a good performer in both bare gelatin and clothed in several layers of denim.

So it looks like we are going with Golden Saber 124 +P out of our Kahr PM9s.

Thanks for the help.

[hayseed_40]

Would not worry about muzzle flash in a self defense round. In a gunfight, you will not notice the noise or flash almost at all. Many do not even know they were hit by a bullet until after the fighting stops. The 357mag has a tremendous flash but that does not hinder people from using it as a self defense round.

Muzzle flash and recoil are the last two things I consider. I am a big guy so recoil is not an issue so much - but with your wife recoil may be of more concern. I would be more picky on which bullet weight works good out off such a short barrel.

Choose the round on how your gun likes it and its effectiveness as a self defense round. Choosing the round should not be too complicated. You buy a box or two of the major brands and test. As long as they give adequate penetration and expansion, and feed 110% reliably then they are ok. Gold Dots, Golden Sabers, Hydrashocks, Corbon, etc. are all good ones. Decide on one quickly and then sleep well with your decision.