Around 50 years ago, I fired my first No.5. The owner had removed the flash hider, and it was late afternoon, getting dark. I touched off a round of cordite ammo and the result was a blue, purple, yellow, orange, and red ball a good three feet in diameter and (from later observations) almost five feet long.

That, dear reader, is when I figured out that the flash hider is not intended to keep the enemy from seeing your muzzle flash, but to keep you from being blinded by it. (The doctor says I will probably get my sight and hearing back any time now.)

Jim