Anyone have any experience using ported barrels? Do they reduce recoil and rise? I've read that there can be a fair amount of flash that exits the barrel and can be fairly distracting.
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Anyone have any experience using ported barrels? Do they reduce recoil and rise? I've read that there can be a fair amount of flash that exits the barrel and can be fairly distracting.
(Assuming you are talking about an ordinary handgun not some elephant gun.)
I have a ported .40. I consider that I made a mistake getting it ported.
Flash isn't the issue. Rather, porting didn't do a whole lot for muzzle tilt which was my issue with this particular gun, and the porting rather obviously is disadvantageous for retention. Porting makes the gun easier to use as a range gun, but less useful for SD.
Its funny, I talked to a gun store once about putting it up for sale and the store was willing to pay me extra for it because it was ported. Perhaps if I had gone through with the deal and they tried to sell it, someone would have thought "hey this is cool."
In reality, a wiser move--and the one I should take--is to get a smaller caliber gun, or perhaps a better balanced gun, and be done with the muzzle tilt issue.
I wish DC or similar boards were around when I made my decision to get mine ported. Had it been, I would have saved 150 bucks (or whatever, don't recall).
I much wiser move would have been to sell it, take the loss on the sale, and get something else in 9 mm.
A friend of mine who is an ATF agent once said to me..."if you knew you were going to be in a gun fight this afternoon and you could select any round why would you rather have a 9mm when you could have a 40 or a 45 or 357 sig?" "under an extreme situation, with adreniline pumping, you won't ever notice the slightly heavier kick".Quote:
Originally Posted by Hopyard
To be honest, I don't find the 357 Sig to be that far from a standard 9mm and equal to a 9mm +P that many use for self defense. I don't think I,d ever go back to 9mm now that I'm used to larger calibers.
I thought it was good advise from a very experienced pro.
Each to their own.
It is about control. I have long relatively light arms and a weak wrist. Its hard to control for me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sig35seven
If I could control my particular .40 as well as I can a 9, then perhaps you would be right. But I can't.
It is a matter of different strokes for different folks. I haven't yet tried the 135 gr Federals. If the recoil is reduced enough than they may be right for me.
Anyway, op asked about porting, and IMO I made a mistake doing it. .45 might actually work out better for me in certain loads than the 180 gr .40 in my particular compact gun.
When I had a serious arthritis problem a few years ago, I thought I would have to quit shooting !
I got an externally ported barrel from Lone Wolf for my G-26.
I heard a lot of B.S. about the flash, what would happen if I had to shoot through the passenger side window if my wife was sitting there and more.
Bottom line, it reduce the upward flip substantially.
You get a little more velocity because of the extra length, in spite of the ports.
The flash, lead shavings and others are pure B.S.
You can see what it looks like here
Interesting photo. The Magna Ports on my .40 are designed differently. The discharge is from two ports angled about 35 degrees off center.
I agree no issue with lead shavings. Flash, mostly no issue at all. However, on mine I would not want to be holding it against my hip when firing as one might in a close encounter with a zombie. I'd burn my hide and risk hot gas in the face.
It's just a waste of energy. I want my gunpowder to propel the bullet, not move the barrel around and make loud noises. It's like having the disadvantages of a shorter barrel without the advantage of having a smaller gun. No thanks!
We have a 23C as a rental at the range where I work. I don't notice any more flash, even with cheap range ammo. It seems that the flash ignites well above the sight. It does have more blast on the indoor range and occasionally will knock a spent case loose from the overhead frame that holds the target motors. The recoil reduction is slight, but the reduction is muzzle flip is easy to notice shooting them side by side. Worth it to me? No.
Magnaport would be the only porting process that I would ever have done on a firearm.
Here is the link to Magnaport International
Mag-na-port International--Home Page