Compensators and ports are good ideas they said, trust me they said….

[Wondering Beard]

Do it more and it's less of an issue

If you're talking about using full power .357s in a revolver, I have done it many years ago and it wasn't a problem. I am referring, however, to the compensated pistol in the pics where the "fireworks" don't all come out forward of the muzzle of the gun. With a pectoral index, I can imagine a bit of those "fireworks" flying into the face, which wouldn't be a good thing.

However, I have never done it with a comped/ported pistol, (and you may have been referring to exactly that,showing my limited reading comprehension) and could easily be wrong.

[BWT]

I think Nyeti/DaggaBoy has also expressed the idea, but I may be misremembering.

On the ammo, nothing comes to mind other than "Hollywood blanks".

I think I remember the same.

For flashing 9mm - I think a lot of modern defensive loads have flash suppressants.

For example - second sentence under “see more information” here.

https://www.luckygunner.com/9mm-147-...nse-200-rounds

I don’t know that all loadings do, but I’d imagine it’s a desired trend among bullets designed to go into harm’s way.

[SiriusBlunder]

I think Nyeti/DaggaBoy has also expressed the idea, but I may be misremembering.

Nyeti/DaggaBoy's post:

As doc said no way to do a controlled study. With that said, many years ago when Dr. Fackler was doing his ballistics work in gelatin one round threw a wrench in the equation.....357 Magnum, particularly the 125gr. It was a very good round in gelatin testing, but nothing like the street death ray reputation. Investigators looked at many of the shootings where this round exhibited its legendary performance. A series of similarities was noted. At night or very low light, a distance of 6 feet or less, and a barrel of 4" or less. This was back in the days before a lot of the low flash powders were in use and 125 gr. 357 threw a 20 plus yard ball of flame down range......imagine 6 feet. The consensus was that while the round was very good, the impact of the factors of flash and noise were very likely the mechanism for putting folks on the deck so fast. Humans simply do not like things exploding in their face. In a non scientific study, my best friend did a lot of work with GSG-9 and GIGN back in the old days. He he was also a big fan of the .357 snub which was referred to as a .38 with flash bang. It was part of the factor of liking them for close quarters shooting in tubes (aircraft and trains, etc).

Also from DocGKR in the same thread:

There are multiple reports of individuals collapsing after being shot at with rifles and shotguns from close ranges, despite the projectile NOT hitting the subject. It has been hypothesized that the effects of burning powder granules and muzzle blast influenced the suspect to "feel" like they had been hit, when if fact no projectile touched them...

One more from DocGKR:

Approximately 50% of individuals who are shot with handguns simply choose to stop fighting, in other words they are NOT physiologically incapacitated, but are instead psychologically incapacitated. Psychological incapacitation is an extremely erratic, highly variable, and completely unpredictable human response, independent of any inherent terminal performance characteristics of a particular projectile. As such, loud, concussive loads with a bright flash can be like a mini flash-bang and definitely contribute to psychological incapacitation in susceptible individuals--357 Sig definitely offers more of this effect than 9 mm, as we could always notice when shooting with officers from a large nearby SO who were issued 357 Sig for many years.

[octagon]

If you're talking about using full power .357s in a revolver, I have done it many years ago and it wasn't a problem. I am referring, however, to the compensated pistol in the pics where the "fireworks" don't all come out forward of the muzzle of the gun. With a pectoral index, I can imagine a bit of those "fireworks" flying into the face, which wouldn't be a good thing.

However, I have never done it with a comped/ported pistol, (and you may have been referring to exactly that,showing my limited reading comprehension) and could easily be wrong.

I can't find the video but Craig Douglas has covered retention shooting with comped and ported guns a couple times and in class. It appears to be less of an issue with comped guns than ported barrel guns with debris being ejected upward on the ported barrel guns sometimes enough to cause minor injury. It seems to be enough that without safety glasses and in a real fight, not training the gun may be held more upright and make the situation worse. The benefit doesn't seem worth the risk on ported barrels for me but comped gun is a different enough proposition for consideration. Testing your specific gun and combo with ammo is a must.

[TCinVA]

I can't find the video but Craig Douglas has covered retention shooting with comped and ported guns a couple times and in class. It appears to be less of an issue with comped guns than ported barrel guns with debris being ejected upward on the ported barrel guns sometimes enough to cause minor injury. It seems to be enough that without safety glasses and in a real fight, not training the gun may be held more upright and make the situation worse. The benefit doesn't seem worth the risk on ported barrels for me but comped gun is a different enough proposition for consideration. Testing your specific gun and combo with ammo is a must.

Indeed.

You also need to take a hard look at your physiology. When I get into a #2 position, the muzzle of the pistol is about a foot from my right eye. I don't want a compensator or porting throwing ejecta up into my eye socket.

Also worthy of note, lately I'm seeing a lot of jacket separation from FMJ ammo. As in you shoot at 5 yards, go look at your target, and there are jagged fragments of bullet jacket stuck in the target. I don't want that being directed up into my eyeholes either.

Compensators are cool from a gun nerd point of view, but I don't want one on a carry gun.

[PNWTO]

I definitely think there is some unquantifiable lizard brain reaction to booms and fire. Obviously terminal performance and evidence carry the day but it is an interesting thing.

I also think if you grew up watching spaghetti westerns and 80s action movies where a belly shot is portrayed as a one-stop or the bad guy gets thrown backwards there’s some social conditioning at play. Impossible to document and unreliable as a “factor” but there’s got to be something there.

Back to the thread, I like the idea of comps due to persistent weakness in my ring and pinky fingers from a nerve injury; so a more settled pistol in any chambering is welcome.

[JimLob65]

A little off topic but still somewhat related. I recently bought a Ruger AR-15 SBR. It has an 18" barrel with a compensator instead of a flash hider. It results in a very soft shooting AR, but the concussion is really impressive! It literally hits you when shooting over a bag. When my brother shot it for the first time it shredded a bunch of paper targets lying under the bag.

[farscott]

As someone who shoots Hybra-Ported SP101s in .357 Magnum and a 9x23 2011 with "poppel" holes, I find it interesting to place an 8.5" by 11" sheet of paper a few inches over the comps/ports and see what the paper collects with various ammo used in the pistols. So far, the SP101s have dumped some powder on the page with no tears or burns. The 9x23 is another story; that gun tears the paper.

I have no issues shooting the SP101s from retention; I am not going to try the 9x23 even I did have delusions of carrying a six-inch 2011.

[Lester Polfus]

A little off topic but still somewhat related. I recently bought a Ruger AR-15 SBR. It has an 18" barrel with a compensator instead of a flash hider. It results in a very soft shooting AR, but the concussion is really impressive! It literally hits you when shooting over a bag. When my brother shot it for the first time it shredded a bunch of paper targets lying under the bag.

You can crack a windshield with one of those....

[TicTacticalTimmy]

It seems to me the benefits of .05 or so faster splits can't possibly be worth the cost of greatly increased likelihood of hearing damage and decreased terminal performance from having around 1" less of barrel. Particularly since if you practice a lot and are carrying a G19 or larger sized 9mm, you can probably outshoot your assesment speed by quite a bit without using a comp. And that is to say nothing of muzzle flash or self inflicted powder burns. Am I missing something here?