I have two revolvers that I am considering having ported. The first is my King Cobra 6", which was my first handgun, and would NOT be easily replaced (more sentimental value than market value). The other is my new 66 3", that was pretty tough to find as well. I could have Magnaport do the work on my 66 for $89 with shipping included, or send it back to the Performance Center for $88 plus round trip shipping (probably at least $40). I'm not sure if Colt offers porting services or what they would cost, but Magnaport would be $89 again, or about $119 for four ports instead of two. My questions are whether or not there is any risk in this (any horror stories) and what will these modifications do to the value of the guns? I am mostly looking at this for "cool factor" and because I like to have my pistols customized. Please feel free to share your opinions and advice. Thanks!!!
Would you?
- Thread starter mattz357
- Start date
The King Cobra would probably suffer the most value wise as the price of Colts rise faster than the S&W. Both revolvers would definately lose value as the porting was not offered as a factory option when made.
Cool factors generally lower the resale value of the firearm and sometimes increase the difficulty of selling it. Someone like me if looking for a 3" M66 or a 6" KC would pass on yours no matter what the price because I don't care for ports. I once searched long and hard for a nice S&W M57 w/4" barrel. I finally found one that looked almost new with presentation case and tools at a smoking deal. I passed on it as someone had ported the barrel. It had that great price tag because it wasn't selling with those ports and had been reduced several times.
Customize the guns to suit you and enjoy them, but don't think you will always get back what you have put into the gun come time to sell it. A lot of the time it equates to an even lower resale price than if the gun was stock.
Cool factors generally lower the resale value of the firearm and sometimes increase the difficulty of selling it. Someone like me if looking for a 3" M66 or a 6" KC would pass on yours no matter what the price because I don't care for ports. I once searched long and hard for a nice S&W M57 w/4" barrel. I finally found one that looked almost new with presentation case and tools at a smoking deal. I passed on it as someone had ported the barrel. It had that great price tag because it wasn't selling with those ports and had been reduced several times.
Customize the guns to suit you and enjoy them, but don't think you will always get back what you have put into the gun come time to sell it. A lot of the time it equates to an even lower resale price than if the gun was stock.
Wouldn't fiddle with the Colt, simply for financial reasons.
The Schmitty is up to you. I have three 3" RB K-frames: a 10, a 65, and a PC13. The quad-ported PC13 is noticeably easier to shoot with rockin-'n'-rollin' 125's than the 65, at the cost of possible ejecta when fired from retention and the scorn of various guru groupies for such nonsense as "night blindness" (the latter objections must come from folk that have never capped off a 3" .357 in the dark, porting or no...
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The Schmitty is up to you. I have three 3" RB K-frames: a 10, a 65, and a PC13. The quad-ported PC13 is noticeably easier to shoot with rockin-'n'-rollin' 125's than the 65, at the cost of possible ejecta when fired from retention and the scorn of various guru groupies for such nonsense as "night blindness" (the latter objections must come from folk that have never capped off a 3" .357 in the dark, porting or no...
)TheeBadOne
Moderator
I concur with the majority, don't port them.
TBO
TBO
Dfariswheel
New member
The 3" Model 66 is rare enough that porting will cause the value to plummet.
These 3" 66's are sought after and usually bring high prices when one is found. Few people want an altered one.
There are very few of these around, and too many of them have been altered in one way or another.
If you must customize the 66, go for options like fancy wood grips that don't permanently alter the gun.
In general, any gun with porting is worth LESS than a unaltered factory gun.
Unless he's specifically looking for a ported gun, or happens to like the idea, most people when offered a box stock gun versus an altered gun, will opt for the unaltered gun.
Bottom line, given the choice, people want a factory-original gun, instead of one with "some kind of holes" in it.
For fancy grips with finger grooves, take a look at Hogue's.
These can be fitted with super-fancy wood grip caps, and come in some of the nicest wood available.
http://www.getgrip.com/
These 3" 66's are sought after and usually bring high prices when one is found. Few people want an altered one.
There are very few of these around, and too many of them have been altered in one way or another.
If you must customize the 66, go for options like fancy wood grips that don't permanently alter the gun.
In general, any gun with porting is worth LESS than a unaltered factory gun.
Unless he's specifically looking for a ported gun, or happens to like the idea, most people when offered a box stock gun versus an altered gun, will opt for the unaltered gun.
Bottom line, given the choice, people want a factory-original gun, instead of one with "some kind of holes" in it.
For fancy grips with finger grooves, take a look at Hogue's.
These can be fitted with super-fancy wood grip caps, and come in some of the nicest wood available.
http://www.getgrip.com/
3 weelin geezer
New member
What is its value to YOU? Do you prize it more for cash or for what it means to you. I have a junker (my opinion of this rifle) marlin .22 semi auto model 60 or 64 I think that jams just putting a possible cause for powder residue near it. I don't shoot it anymore but I just can't part with it.
3 Wheelin geezer,
Not tryin to hijack this thread but my first gun ever was a Marlin 60 tube fed (.22lr) I had horrible problems with it jammin due to residue buildup. It was a pain to have to clean it every 70 or so rounds. However I switched to sentry solutions which are a dry lubricant and can put 500 or more rounds through it without a single jam. Check em out.
http://sentrysolutions.com/welcome.shtml
To get back to the subject, I wouldn’t port either gun especially the 3”
Not tryin to hijack this thread but my first gun ever was a Marlin 60 tube fed (.22lr) I had horrible problems with it jammin due to residue buildup. It was a pain to have to clean it every 70 or so rounds. However I switched to sentry solutions which are a dry lubricant and can put 500 or more rounds through it without a single jam. Check em out.
http://sentrysolutions.com/welcome.shtml
To get back to the subject, I wouldn’t port either gun especially the 3”
OK, I'll be the contrarian on this one. I like Magnaport barrel-porting. (That’s right; I said, ‘barrel’ and NOT slide-porting.) Don’t think that I’d do it to a classic old revolver, though; however, I do have a Smith Model 27 with a 6” ported barrel. It is a pleasure to shoot. As a matter of fact I wouldn’t own this revolver any other way; and, I could give a damn less what someone else is willing to pay for it. (They’ll be dealing with the widow, anyway.) If you plan on keeping the gun for many, many years maybe barrel-porting it isn’t such a bad idea. Besides, who really knows what someone is going to pay for a particular gun 30 years from now? Slide-porting, on the other hand, is something I would never do, nor ever use on a pistol. Barrel-ported pistols don’t emit huge, ‘fireballs’; and they can certainly be fired from retention without problems - I do it everyday of the week, and have yet to go blind, or set my clothes on fire. (Who came up with that one, anyway?) Frankly I like the 30 – 40% reductions in recoil and rapid sight acquisition between shots. As I get older I, also, appreciate not having to fight so much to keep the muzzle down, too.
(Just my 2 cents!)
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I saw somebody set his flannel shirt a'smolderin', but the .357 snubby in question wasn't ported. It did have a pretty scary b/c gap, tho'.
(...and, fwiw, I've never had anything dramatic happen with my magnaported PC13, 57, or 629, either. Not really sure I'd want the 3" 629 without the porting, truth be told.
)Johnny Guest
Moderator in Memoriam
Interesting divergence of opinions here - --
Some like porting, some don't.
I agree that I'd far prefer to buy a revolver WITHOUT porting, even to the point of offering more for a non-ported version than one with ports.
I believe that porting has a much more noticible effect in long barrels than short ones. I believe this has something to do with the length of the lever arm. The muzzle of a 6", 7-1/2", or 8-3/8" barrel is a LOT farther from the wrist joint of the shooter than with a two-to-four inch barrel.
Granted, I'm going mostly by subjective impressions and intuition. I do not have the hardware, nor formal training in physics, to set up any scientific measurements BUT - - I've shot a number of ported revolvers, and a few ported autos, and this has been my observation. The effect of porting has, for me, been most noticible in the Ruger Super Blackhawk 7-1/2", shooting full-house Winchester 240 gr. .44 mag loads. A side-by-side comparison of two of these, identical except for the porting, indicates the ported revolver has a very reduced muzzle flip.
On the other hand, I can't tell any difference between a ported 3" M13 and an unported 2-1/2" M19, using the same ammo. Years back, a friend got an older M13 and we shot it quite a bit with various ammo with the original four-inch barrel. He later had the barrel cut to about 3" and Magna-Ported. He also had the butt rounded and put on custom stocks. While it seemed no more difficult to shoot than it had in four-inch trim, neither did it seem to have any LESS muzzle jump.
I will observe that the many shooters consider that magnum loads, fired from a short barrel, SEEM to "kick" worse than in a longer barrel gun. I believe this is a function of the increased muzzle blast, and not a function of free recoil.
One old shooter's opinion - - -
Best,
Johnny
Some like porting, some don't.
I agree that I'd far prefer to buy a revolver WITHOUT porting, even to the point of offering more for a non-ported version than one with ports.
I believe that porting has a much more noticible effect in long barrels than short ones. I believe this has something to do with the length of the lever arm. The muzzle of a 6", 7-1/2", or 8-3/8" barrel is a LOT farther from the wrist joint of the shooter than with a two-to-four inch barrel.
Granted, I'm going mostly by subjective impressions and intuition. I do not have the hardware, nor formal training in physics, to set up any scientific measurements BUT - - I've shot a number of ported revolvers, and a few ported autos, and this has been my observation. The effect of porting has, for me, been most noticible in the Ruger Super Blackhawk 7-1/2", shooting full-house Winchester 240 gr. .44 mag loads. A side-by-side comparison of two of these, identical except for the porting, indicates the ported revolver has a very reduced muzzle flip.
On the other hand, I can't tell any difference between a ported 3" M13 and an unported 2-1/2" M19, using the same ammo. Years back, a friend got an older M13 and we shot it quite a bit with various ammo with the original four-inch barrel. He later had the barrel cut to about 3" and Magna-Ported. He also had the butt rounded and put on custom stocks. While it seemed no more difficult to shoot than it had in four-inch trim, neither did it seem to have any LESS muzzle jump.
I will observe that the many shooters consider that magnum loads, fired from a short barrel, SEEM to "kick" worse than in a longer barrel gun. I believe this is a function of the increased muzzle blast, and not a function of free recoil.
One old shooter's opinion - - -
Best,
Johnny