Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Porting for O/U’s

I’ve got a partially torn right shoulder rotator cuff so shotgunning can get painful after awhile. I’m thinking of having Magnaport pigeon port my 20 Ga Citori to reduce recoil.

Are their any downsides to having this done?

I had a red label 12ga magnaported years ago, for me it didn’t reduce felt recoil. It did reduce muzzle rise. In the field hunting the it made the gun louder.

Porting on shotguns does not work, period. Shotguns just don't generate the velocity like a rifle, all it does is make them loud and makes everyone not want to shoot with you. I hate porting on anything.

Spend your money on low velocity loads or if you reload just step down the load till you can handle them comfortably.

If porting worked Browning would have them on all the euro guns too, they don't. Its just the Americans that buy into the hype.

I wouldn't muck up my shotgun barrels with aftermarket porting. Add some weight to the gun and use low recoil loads and you'll see better recoil reduction than porting your barrels.

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These guys do a lot of work for trap and skeet shooters.
https://www.softtouchstocks.com/index.php

porting keeps the muzzle from climbing. it does not reduce recoil. lengthening forcing cones does a little bit.
but the first thing id do is put a thick pad on with a shock absorbing recoil device in the stock. like a gracoil unit.

Thanks!

fyi...........
https://graco-corp.com/product-category/graccoil/

wow....10 years, 1400+ posts and someone finally 'likes' me a point! :>

skip the porting and have a gunsmith install a Gracoil system

Ha, I’m tied with you on likes!

and you had to wait 10 more years than me!

Just sold a BT-99 with a Gracoil system.

It works. To me......it was just weird to shoot. But it works.

Regarding the Graco recoil device.
They do work; I have one on a Beretta waterfowler. On this shotgun it actually helps the balance because the barrels are heavy.
I had one installed on a skeet gun and it made the gun very butt heavy. Removed and had spacer installed to compensate for the wood that had been removed.
Before you go that direction see if you can somehow simulate the weight on the rear of the stock to see what the effects are.

i think having a bad shoulder...one would accept (works) over balance!

Little downside for the mounted games….and a good bit for in the field. Especially with a 20, which may be light to begin with.

An ISIS system may be a better choice for balance…..and will look 100 percent better.

+1 on the Gracoil.. I've installed a few over the years the the customers were very happy with the results..

And it's true that porting does bupkis for recoil - only works to reduce muzzle flip and allows a quicker access to the second bird in doubles competition IME...

About 5 years ago I was watching a trap shoot at my club. One shooter was not suffering any recoil, so I spoke with him after the shoot. He was using the Soft Touch system & said that it saved his shooting. If I was a more serious shooter, I would get this.

As most have said porting never seemed to make much felt reduction to me personally. I’ve had more than a few that were factory ported. I’m not sure if it’s more of a marketing selling point. The Graco gracoil does work, I’ve got a 725 unsingle that has it installed. Reduced loads make a huge difference on felt recoil.

The biggest benefit may be to find a good fitter close to you and have them check the fit of the shotgun to you. I’ve been coaching trap for 4H as well as a High School team for close to 15yrs now and gun fit is the #1 factor for not getting beat up and having a bruised shoulder and avoiding cheek slap.

My son has been shooting 7/8 oz loads for skeet and sporting clays at 1100 fps. He can break the pigeon at the same distance we can with 1 1/8 oz loads at 1200 fps. I also have a bad shoulder and as soon as we can I am thinking of going his route.