In my experience, no, not really. Like all physics, whether or not you see a flash is based on a lot of variables. In daylight, you certainly don't usually see the "star" flashes that you see in this game all the time. When I pistol shoot or skeet shoot, I only see a very small flame, if anything. It's usually smoke. Remember that this isn't a pyrotechnic explosion, it's just small combustion.