Ported Barrels for SD Handguns

[SFC JeffJ]

What are your thoughts on them? A lot of people seem to think they aren't safe for SD, and a lot don't seem to agree. I do have one with a ported barrel, a Taurus CIA .38, but that is primarily a back-up piece. None of my "primary" carry pistols are ported.

Interested in seeing everyones thoughts on this,

Jeff

 

[LawDog]

Are you referring to what is known as magna porting? If you are it is my opinon that they make a firearm safer than the non ported barrels. This type of porting will help cut a firearms vertical jump. This is important because it will give you more control of your handgun or rifle for safer and more accurate follow up shots. Most of my personal handguns have been magna ported.
:mp5:

 

[SFC JeffJ]

Are you referring to what is known as magna porting? If you are it is my opinon that they make a firearm safer than the non ported barrels. This type of porting will help cut a firearms vertical jump. This is important because it will give you more control of your handgun or rifle for safer and more accurate follow up shots. Most of my personal handguns have been magna ported.
:mp5:

From what I've heard, Magna-Port manages to port barrels without much velocity loss, as does Glock. The people who are against it usually are of the mind that the escaping gasses could be a danger in an SD situation. I'm not too worried about that with my CIA as it's primary function is to be shoved against somebody's body if it came to it.

Jeff

 

[LawDog]

Most good magna porting releases the gas at the last 1/2 inch of the barrel. The gas goes either verticle or slightly forward. On expensive porting jobs for semi auto's a custom barrel is fitted to the gun, it will extend forward of the slide. The porting is cut into the external section of the barrel.

 

[SFC JeffJ]

Most good magna porting releases the gas at the last 1/2 inch of the barrel. The gas goes either verticle or slightly forward. On expensive porting jobs for semi auto's a custom barrel is fitted to the gun, it will extend forward of the slide. The porting is cut into the external section of the barrel.

I think the opponents concern is that in a SD situations, the barrel of the weapon might not be all the way out at arms length. It might even be close enough to burn you.

I have to say, I'm kinda on the fence on it. If it allows people to shoot easier I'm all for it, but there is a safety concern to be considered.

Jeff

 

[LawDog]

I have also had the same discussion with many while attending combat type courses. If a flame from the porting is close enough to burn you then the full blast / flame from the muzzle will do it too. A revolver has a flame release point even closer than the magna porting, this is the gap between the cylinder and the forcing cone. I still carry a S&W mod. 60 as my hot weather backup.
There are many things that can hurt a person if a firearm is discharged when it is held very close to you,
* Burns from the muzzle flash,
* Damaged ear drums and eyes from the firarms muzzle blast,
* Cut hands from a semi auto's slide,
* Hot rounds being discharge from a semi auto.
* etc. etc. etc.
Bottom line is a back up or S.D. peice should be one that you are comfortable with.
Take care,
Al C.

 

[tellner]

There is another serious downside to ported barrels. In low light your night vision will magically disappear, even more than with a regular pistol. As the wise men here say, find one you're comfortable with and can shoot. Porting is just icing on the cake.

 

[Callandor]

I don't think porting your carry gun's barrel or buying a gun with factory-ported barrels is such a good idea.

First, there is the muzzle flash. It shows off your location during a gunfight at night. This is disadvantageous to you. While there is still muzzle flash even without the porting (depending on your load), it is much lesser. Also, the direction of the flash in a ported gun is upward which tends to obstruct your view of the sights for the follow-up shot specially under low-light conditions. Finding the sights is already a pain even without being blinded by muzzle flash under low-light.

Second, the loud muzzle blast. If you would ever need to fire your gun inside a car or in an enclosed space like an elevator or in a parking lot (it echoes), you'd better have your earmuffs on because the sound would be intolerable. It might stun you enough to delay your reaction time for your next shot. The loud sound is not only comes from the escaping gas but from the combustion going on in the ports specially when using slow burning gun powders. A short barrel aggravates the situation.

Third, every hole slows down your bullet's velocity by 5 to 10 ft/sec (forgot the exact value) depending on the size of the hole. This is important in self-defense since most expanding bullets depend on velocity for proper expansion and penetration. There is also a school of thought in the knocking power subject which says that the best man stoppers are light rounds traveling at a high velocity (think .357 magnum or the 5.56mm) - JHP or FMJ. Therefore, slowing the bullet down is not a good idea.

Fourth, the mass of the gas escaping the ports would be lost mass for pushing the action back - this affects those designed with a direct blow-back operation more than those designed with browning's breech locking mechanism. The result would be a jam action like a failure to extract, failure to eject, and a stovepipe (a special kind of failure to eject).

Fifth, they introduce gaps where mud and dirt may enter when the gun falls down or when shooting prone and rolling or crawling on the ground. The dirt would get stuck between the slide and the barrel hindering proper operation.

If you want to have better control of your weapon, do the following in the order given:

1. bring your gun to the range and burn some lead;
2. use a heavier gun or one with a low bore line (axis) like the Glock, SW Sigma, etc.;
3. use a lower caliber handgun; and,
4. use a properly designed integrated compensator (different from a port!) like the one found on STI's Trubor.

 

[Grenadier]

Ported barrels in a defensive handgun really aren't going to be that much of a problem, if someone does his homework correctly.

1) Velocity loss is insignificant. I've only noticed about a 20 fps loss when comparing a Glock 17 to a Glock 17C. I suspect that other calibers would behave in a similar manner, and if anything, the 20 fps is easily within the standard deviation. After all, there are fast guns, and slow guns, even amongst the same models.

2) Pick a premium hollowpoint that you've personally tested. Such a load should have very little muzzle flash, so the flames escaping from the porting should be of little consequence. If you are worried about getting burnt by the gasses when firing so close to your body, then you're worrying about the wrong thing, since the more pressing matter is the fact that your assailant is right on top of you!

Premium ammunition should have flash suppressants in the powder itself, so at the very most, you should only see a dull orange glow, if even that.

3) If you're so worried about porting, then simply put, get a factory barrel for your gun that doesn't have the porting. You can safely shoot a non-ported barrel out of a gun with a ported slide. You cannot do the reverse...

 

[Grenadier]

Another thing...

If someone selects a "budget" hollowpoint load, such as Winchester USA (white box) JHP, CCI Blazer Gold Dot, or something similar, then that may very well be a poor choice, no matter how well the bullet performs.

The budget hollowpoint loads generally lack the flash suppressants that are found in the premium loads, and the bright flames would be quite evident coming from the porting. While this isn't too much of a problem with the diagonally cut ports, those that are ported straight up aren't going to be as forgiving.

 

[Carol]

There is another serious downside to ported barrels. In low light your night vision will magically disappear, even more than with a regular pistol.

Not if you keep one eye closed

 

[arnisandyz]

I have a Miculek compensator on my AR which I use for 3 gun competition and have shot comped 1911 "race" guns. They are great for competition, and when done correctly, they really speed up recovery for those follow up shots over the legth of a stage. For SD use I wouldn't use them on either my rifle or handgun. Too much flash which gives away postion (and can blind you in the dark as another poster said). They are also extrememly LOUD. I can only imaging shooting my Comped AR indoors with no hearing protection on! The issue of extreme close range with a ported gun is a valid concern as well. For me its not worth the extra tenth of a second in recoil recovery in a SD situation. If you look at some of the Top shooters competing in IPSC Limited division or even Production Division (No compensators or optics allowed) thier times are not that far off from the Open shooters using optics and compensators.

if you have a comped and non-comped gun the best thing would be to test it for yourself against the clock. Setup a Bill drill at what you think is a typical SD range, run it multiple times with both setups. If you have proper technique you'll be surprised how close it will be. What is more important is learning the timing of YOUR SD gun...after you break a shot and the gun recoils and settles back down it should be right on target. Once you get this Porting can help, but I've seen so many people rely on the toys before learning the skills. I've seen instances where a comp had an adverse effect causing negative recoil (shooter has to pull the gun back on target) or if its adjusted wrong it would shoot the gun off to the side requiring shooter input to get back on target.

 

[LawDog]

Very good Carol.

 

[LawDog]

Any sort of flash can give away your position, most SD situations are usually under the 5 yard mark anyway. At this range during a SD situation you will have very little time to acquire your sights, the first round or two will usually be a point shoot situation.
It is very difficult to acquire your sights in low level light or no light situations. Those lighted nights sights do help but if your opponent is in one of your flank positions or in your rear position he will see these sights as well.
Most of my military rifles have the factory flash suppressors on them. At night the suppressors will light up as well. These suppressors just control the flash and will not eliminate them.
Many SD situations happen during the day time as well. I hope that no one will ever have to find out if their choice was the correct one.
:shock:

 

[arnisandyz]

Also depends on what you are carrying. If you carry big slow moving 45ACP porting won't do too much and any gain in porting will be mimimal...not enough gas pressure to work the ports. If you're shooting 357 SIG/ 40SW or other high pressure, high velocity snappy round you'll have better results as a far as recoil control.

But probably the biggest thing is you have no idea what position you're going to be shooting from in a SD situation or how far or what direction those ports are going to spew hot gasses. If you have to use your off hand to ward off an attacker and draw and fire strong hand from retained position are you going to roast your own hand and body? Shooting from retained position is definately something that can happen in a SD situation, you might not have that luxury of sticking your gun out away from you before shooting. In a SD situation you won't have hearing protection or eye protection, be careful.

 

[LawDog]

Arnisandyz, I agree.
During training exercises I observed a lead instructor shoot his own hand while simulating a push off motion with his weak hand.