Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Ported handgun barrels?

I’ve never fired any kind of gun with a ported barrel, but I’m curious. You guys that have, for handguns, what percentage of recoil would you estimate that porting mitigates? And what’s the difference in noise for the shooter?

I just found Kentucky Ballistics on the YouTube channel. This guy’s pretty entertaining. I can’t find the one I watched the other day when he was doing a comparison between .500 S&W special and .500 mag. ammo. He was firing two 3.5” S&W .500 mags at watermelons, water jugs etc. He was holding both of them one handed and alternating shots between his left and right hands. I couldn’t imagine trying that but he was just having fun. Later he was shooting one of them one handed laying on a bench with his head resting on his off hand.

He’s a pretty stout guy, but dang! Does the porting help that much? And surely he’s either deaf or heading there. He never wears ear muffs, only plugs.

Here’s a video I watched today. He does a penetration test between the .500 S&W and .45-70. The .45-70 won, but he used heavier bullets with it.

Penetration Test

It depends entirely on the cartridge. High pressure cartridges, like a .357 or .44 magnum, will benefit a lot more than a .38 or .44 Special. Pressure makes ports work, more pressure, the better they work, and vice versa. A hot-loaded .38 Super will work better than a .45 auto, etc.

Parker Mountain Machine.......website or YouTube.

I don't know about the noise, since I'm strict about wearing good ears (I live with enough tinnitus already) when I shoot. If I had to 'estimate' (WAG), I'd say the PMM setup I have on one of my 9mm 320s is around 20%. It's noticeable side-by-side with a 'stock' 320.

George

The amt. of recoil generated in foot lbs is the wt. of the bullet plus the wt of the powder charge. The recoil moment has already been transferred thru the frame before the gases leave the barrel. This argument goes on and on about muzzle breaks/brakes. The torque moment can be changed by having the gun in as straight a line with the arm as possible, and using a gas diverting device, either porting, or a break on the end. The biggest advantage is in reciprocating guns, hand guns especially is having the sight and weight separate from the slide, this adds to the forward wt on the gun holding it down, as well as a non-reciprocating front site. These concepts were developed 40 years ago, during the early growth of IPSC. Magna-Porting was the first to use the concept in large revolvers, and has a noticeable effect in reducing muzzle flip, which is mistaken for recoil reduction.

I had to check out the PMM compensator/brake. The most obvious done right thing was attachment to the barrel instead of a comp/bushing set up. I couldn't tell if the device had internal baffles or not. They increase the efficiency. Attached to the barrel puts its weight forward to hold the muzzle down. If you use the formula for recoil you can calculate the percent contribution by the device. It will be more than a 1911, steel frame.


On ported revolver barrels,, and noise/. When they were first introduced the gun magazines talked them up. It became apparent after some thought that a lot of combustion material had already escaped from the cylinder gap, to say nothing about the noise level. Thus they never caught . Shotgun shooters still use them, especially with mag. loads, not for the recoil reduction but to decrease barrel flip.

This made me think. I have a load for my Casull that's 300 grn cast lead bullets with 29.0 grns H110. So the powder is 8.8% of the total charge. Even if the ports direct all of the gas backwards, and you neglect the amount of gas that escapes from the cyliner gas which I suppose would be recoil neutral, the amount of recoil would be decreased by a maximum of about 8%, would that be right?

And as far as muzzle flip, I just always thought of that as the result of recoil in a handgun, whatever you want to call the thing that Newton's Third Law of Motion describes.

There is a difference between porting and a compensator. I've got a Performance Center ported 629 Stealth Hunter. Not sure it reduces any felt recoil but it definitely helps with muzzle rise. One thing you don't want to do is ever shoot it without hearing protection.

The S&W .500 S&W with a compensator is brutally loud, but the compensator does work to reduce felt recoil.

Not the recoil but the muzzle flip/ the torque about the axis.. The recoil impulse is transmitted before the gas reaches the end of the barrel.

Physically yes, and even difference in compensators and muzzle breaks as far as baffles. But he physics and the math is the same.

My FA .454 Casull barrel is MagNaPorted, with 4 ports. The main benefit of porting, at least on the handgun I own, is not so much recoil reduction as it is a reduction in muzzle jump.
The result is much more control of the firearm in recoil, making it quicker to get back on target, and it lessens the chance of getting your forehead whacked due to recoil.

That makes sense, but doesn't the muzzle start to flip before the bullet exits the barrel as well? I always thought that was why heavier bullets tend to impact higher, i.e. longer time in the barrel as it begins to flip upwards.

yes it does and flip is a good word for it. As for longer time in the barrel, the time scale is incidental compared to the torque moment, about the pivot point in the grip angle. Think about it, say 1000 fps, and the time taken to go 4 in. vs. the 1200 fps in the same length. And thats assuming the shooters wrist stay straight and the recoil is taken through the forearms.

The recoil is generally related to the momentum, mass X velocity or power factor. Generally heavier wt. bullets will generate a higher power factor. The velocity of the lighter bullet (all things being equal) must be substantially higher.