porting and length

B

Bezoar

Moderator
Guns are noisy. Porting directs more muzzle blast to the shooter.

Is that the greatest brightest thing to do for a defensive gun?


and when you play with a .357 magnum, is more barrel length going to help offset the side effect of porting it?


i know porting helps with muzzle rise, but ive heard a good set of hogue monogrips will do the same thing.
 
I had a 4" Model 29 S&W ported by Magna Port back in the late 80's. After it was done, I saw no difference in muzzle rise or felt recoil at all. I didnt notice it was any louder, but the ports really werent directed rearwards.

The only difference I did notice, was when shooting in lower light, the large, flaming "V" that came up off the end of the barrel. That was pretty impressive, and annoying, all at the same time.

Personally, I wouldnt want another handgun that was ported. I really dont see the point, at least with anything from .44MAG on down. For a carry gun, I would consider it more a detriment, than a help.
 
I have been shooting for a LONG time and have done a LOT of it having been military for most of my adult life. I can tell the difference in how quickly I can pull of accurate follow up shots with a ported weapon. For the average person that doesn't shoot a lot it won't make much of a difference. Also as a defensive weapon I see no real advantage or disadvantage. During a stressful situation you won't notice recoil either way and I PROMISE that any flame coming from the front of a ported 9mm will not affect "night vision". That is a pure myth. You can google it if you want and see people firing at night with no affect on their ability to hit the target.

Now if you were shooting a big bore revolver(.i.e. .44 mag and up) that will have some significant blast produced. But that begs to question why you would have such a gun for personal defense?

.380, 9mm, .40, .45 , .357 are all suitable self defense rounds. The average shooter cannot control a .44 mag and up with sufficient skill to use it in a self defense situation. Not to mention the severe over penetration.

But yes, I agree that a good set up grips can do just as much
 
I shot the snot out of my Model 29, and never noticed the porting helped with follow up shots. Perhaps some of the newer porting jobs are more effective, and some of the comps are with certain loads, but those arent something Id use for a carry gun, nor would I use any of the ported guns in that capacity.

One thing that would really worry me, would be firing one held in tight or close to the body. You fire that gun, especially one of those ported snubbies, from a retention position, and think about where all that blast is going. Hope you arent wearing polyester and/or facial hair. :)

As far as the "flash" goes, at arms length, its not that the flame was blinding, it wasnt, but it was very distracting, especially if you werent expecting it.

I own/have owned, and shot a number of rifles that had a brake on them, and they are different critters altogether. The recovery of follow up shots and muzzle rise on the rifles with brakes are usually quite noticeable between guns wearing them and not, especially in calibers that have moderate to heavier recoil.

I had a couple of AR's of the ban era that came with them, and quickly cut them off and replaced them with a flash suppressor. They were more annoying blast and noise wise, especially to anyone not in the "cone", than they were of any noticeable help in follow up shots.

Again, as with the pistols, shooting a rifle, especially one with a shorter barrel, in lower light, the flash is usually very impressive and quite annoying and distracting. I have an 7.62x39 AK with a 14" barrel, that wears a 74 type brake, and it looks like a horizontal wave of fire when fired in low light. In the dark, its downright amazing. Still, its nothing like a 16" .308 without a flash suppressor, or something to redirect it. :)
 
I have a S&W model 629-5 "Trail Boss" that I for some reason bought new with a ported, 3" bbl.. The felt recoil is SIGNIFICANTLY less than my 8 & 3/8" model 29-2 or my Ruger 2 & 1/2" Super Redhawk Alaskan. I would HATE to shoot it in low light. I would Hate to shoot it held close in. Blinded & burned is no way to defend myself or my family. In case of threat I will reach for one of my 4" L frames, one of my M-1 rifles, my Marlin carbine...there is a long list of much better defensive pieces available to me that will do more harm to an attacker & less to me, as outlined by posters above.

The first time I shot it, in the back yard, the State Trooper 2 doors down came running over "I knew it was a big one". A good friend pointed out that between the bbl length & porting I "had a Really loud 44 Spl.". Live & learn.
 
Would being able to mount a scope on the revolver compensate for the increased noise and flash of the porting/

im talking .357 here.
 
I have a number of 357's, and really dont see theres a need to port them.

If youre having troubles managing it, good set of grips can make a difference. I have the Hogue mono grips on most of mine.

If you were to add a scope, the additional weight will likely help too, but thats not something Id want on a defensive gun.
 
All of my hunting revolvers are ported or comped. That is in .357, .44 and .460. The porting/comping, significantly decrease felt recoil with heavy magnum hunting loads and make them much more pleasant to shoot at the range. Which for me, increases accuracy. For the most part, IMHO, for civilian SD, if you need to port/comp your carry weapon, you are carrying too much gun.

As for the danger of singing your hair with a ported gun. If the gun in your hand is that close to your body, that the blast from the ports/comp will hit you, the blast from the barrel gap will too.:rolleyes: Besides, a dead BG beats a bit of singed hair, hands down....everytime.
 
Lets look at it this way.

If you take any one particular .357 magnum load, lets make pretend here and use the barnes vortex 140 grain hp.

If you set up sound measuring equipment around the weapon used, is a 6 inch ported barrel going to have more or less sound output towards the user then the 4 inch ported barrel?

ie, does the extra barrel itself reduce the muzzle blast by using up more powder in that split second the bullet is in the barrel?
 
Another consideration about muzzle flash is the ammunition.
There's quite a difference among the various types of ammo.
If low light muzzle flash is a bother, be sure the choice of ammo isn't a contributing factor.
 
We had our own through-barrel porting style that we did on our comp guns, and later on revolvers. It was a V-4 of milled ports.

I've shot .38 Super 125 grain ammo that made major out of them in the dark, but it still flashed way, way less than a .38 or .357 revolver does. Those Supers had a tiny V-4 of flame and really, really reeeally fast follow-up shots.

I hear the arguments against using a comped gun close to yourself...what about shooting a .357 revolver that way? BC gap anyone?

Like Revolvernut mentions- most shooters simply don't drive the gun fast enough to notice the difference. Their "splits" don't improve.

In my experience Magnaports pistol-sized ports were simply too small- we had our earliest comp guns EDM'ed by them, but realized that more gas through the ports = more effective comp. We then milled our own ports and it worked great. We called that line our "Quadraports".

I built an Officer's ACP Quadraport that was a 5" barreled ported mini-comp gun. That thing shot amazingly well- I wouldn't hesitate to use it as a defensive piece.
 
I'd much rather have the barrel threaded for a removable compensator/brake than have one ported.

Just my .$02
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top