Magnaporting

[Deleted]

I have had a couple of Magnaported guns over the years. My first was a really cool S&W 65 that was great to shoot, and I was sooo excited to have such a high tech marvel. Of course the first things I heard about the ports was that they don't work, they'll blind you at night, pieces of the bullet or powder will shoot out the ports and blind you. Ummm.. I know there are more.

None of these evils ever did befall me. The ports were effective, and reduced muzzle flip (only), leaving only the linear recoil "push".
I shot the gun at night and took pics, the fireball from the muzzle was much more impressive than the two little spots from the ports. In fact, the barrel/cylinder gap made a bigger fireball than the ports. I must admit that I did not deliberately lean over the gun to see if the ports would get me. I was more concerned about that 3 ft fireball coming from the muzzle. The gun also didn't seem any louder than any other short barrelled .357. In fact, my 2 in. .357 Centennial makes them all look anemic. I currently have a 4 inch 44 mag 629 with ports, and I found them comforting in a way.

What have your experiences been with ported guns? I see a fair number of them in pics here, of different sorts. Is a 4 inch ported gun really more of a potential hazard that a two inch snubby?

Am I being defensive because I have one, and like it? Go ahead, let me have it, I come here because of the practical first-hand experience on these boards.

[kings6]

I have had two Rugers magna-ported and they will be the last. One was a 10" SBH and I wanted it to be like their Predator package and the other was a 4 5/8" OM 41 which I wish I had never had ported. Too loud for me and I just didn't see enough difference to justify the looks nor noise.

[Deleted]

I really haven't noticed much of a difference in the sound signature, but I haven't fired it without muffs. I know it cannot be anything like an X frame S&W. A friend of mine fired one shot at a deer, then involuntarily dropped the gun and put both hands over his ears.

My 44 totally rocks on bowling pins.

[zeus]

Dec 3, 2013 23:14:38 GMT -5 kings6 said:

I have had two Rugers magna-ported and they will be the last. One was a 10" SBH and I wanted it to be like their Predator package and the other was a 4 5/8" OM 41 which I wish I had never had ported. Too loud for me and I just didn't see enough difference to justify the looks nor noise.

You know...I shot that gun next to my others and never found it to be any more objectionable noise wise. I think you get enough bang from the gap that the ports don't really matter on that long barrel I always have plugs or muffs hunting so its pretty much a moot point for me with those long snouted guns. Not one I'm going to pack as a self defense weapon that may have me shooting without plugs I guess. Man would that gun shoot!!!!!!

I have TCs with ports and brakes both. My 309 is ported by MNP and I have a couple 6.5 JDJs that are braked. A carbine and a 14". I can't tell any difference in the noise on them but again, I'm wearing plugs etc. The recoil is almost non existant in the 6.5 and the muzzle never moves, the 309 has a straight back pop in your palm without much muzzle rise. I have owned and still own 375 JDJs that did not have any brake at all and the torque with the heavy loads is very fast and substantial. I will eventually send my barrel to MI and have it ported just to ease up on the twisting that happens as is. The gun will definitely leave the sandbags with the heavy 270 grain loads. I had a 375-06 JDJ and it had JD's arrestor brake. It was actually pleasant to shoot but the blast was pretty substantial. A 225 grain bullet pushed to 2650 or a 270 at 2450 is an awesome payload for a TC........and it definitely needed a brake

[schmidty]

I think I read about MagnaPort in Whitworth's book. It was said that there was no effect on velocity and ME with ported barrels. Is this really true? I'm thinking that there has to be some loss...much like you get with a gas-operated semi-auto. In the examples I saw, the ports were well behind the crown - so you have gases diverted before the bullet exits the muzzle. IMO that should lower pressure and should have an effect on ballistic performance...even if very small. Guess ya can tell I don't know much about it, so that's why I'm asking.

[Deleted]

They're about a half-inch behind the muzzle. The blast from the B/C gap is probably larger than the volume coming out the ports.

[AxeHandle]

I have some TC barrels with brakes that work exceptionally well.. I'll have more. I have revolvers that are magna ported. I did not ask for them to be ported and would not pay extra simply because they were. I will not send a gun I already own to be magna ported.

Gary Reeder had J.D. Jones design the 5 port system that he uses. It shows up on a few of my Reeder Customs. This on my 500 Max


Gary's brake is VERY effective on his 405 Winchester based Wildcats..  The one on the far right is the 378GNR.  It is what the 375JDJ wants to be when it grows up.

[woody]

The only gun I have magnported is a SBH Stalker conversion they did on my gun years ago. The only reason I got it magnaported is it was part of the package. I would not have another one ported. I just don't see the difference in recoil. As far as noise. I'm not sure it is any louder. Let's face it a full power .44 mag is pretty loud. There has to be a point that you ear can't tell the difference in decibel levels.

I had a SSK 375 JDJ barrel years ago with their muzzlebrake on it. It was very effective and recoiled back with not much muzzle flip. SAme as Zeus stated. I can't imagine shooting one without their muzzlebreak.

I forgot I also have a guide gun with factory ports. It was that way when I bought it used. I wish it was not ported and have considered rebarreling it so it was not ported.

[contender]

I have exactly one centerfire gun with a brake. (I don't count the AR with the flash suppressor as a brake.) I own a few High Standard .22's with ported barrels.
But I picked up a second T/C Contender barrel in 7x30 Waters a while back at a fair price with the factory porting. Just a few weeks ago, right before deer season I needed to double check my normal deer gun, a T/C Contender in 7x30 Waters. I had also just gotten another stainless Contender frame, and decided to take out the ported barreled 7x30 alongside the normal one. Both have the 14" bbls.
Well, my normal deer hunting gun performed as usual. Boringly accurate, dead on, and ready to go. Then I picked up the "new to me" ported Contender. Now, I've shot several guns before with ports, but never have I had identical set-ups to fully compare things. Using the exact same ammo, and everything, I pulled the trigger on the ported one. The first thing I noticed was two immediate differences. The normal "wind" you get from re-directed muzzle blast, (not bad at all,) and the reduced felt recoil. Then I realized the muzzle flip was much less as well.
All in all, well designed muzzle brakes do work, and have their place. Some designs seem to have a better effect than others. And I'm sure a lot has to do with the caliber & load. When I have shot Barrett .50 cals, I was mighty glad they had a good brake on those guns.

[Deleted]

I had not considered that I may simply be used to muzzle blast because I favor short barreled revolvers.

[paul105]

I’ve had 2 magna ported (two port version) revolvers – a 5” S&W M29 and a 6” FA .475 LB (still have the .475)

Back in the late 70s, I bought an 8 3/8” M29, sent it to Magna Port Arms where it was cut to 5”, tuned, hard chromed and magnaported. I carried/shot that gun until the mid 90s when, in a moment of weakness, I traded it for the then new .629 Mtn Gun. I never thought that gun was particularly loud or that the muzzle flash was any different than similar .44 mags.

I have two 6” FA83s in .475 LB. One, as mentioned above, is magna ported (standard 2 port version) and the other is not. Shooting one after the other, I can’t detect any difference in blast/noise level. Muzzle flip seems less with the ported gun.

At best, I’m hearing impaired and always wear hearing protection except on rare occasions when I get distracted and forget.

Over the years I’ve managed to fire rounds from both .44 mags and the ported .475 without hearing protection (unintentionally of course). Once with the ported .475 was under an old corrugated roof with flaking paint. Under that roof it sounded like a bomb had gone off. Paint flakes rained down on my head and I was sure I had blown the gun up. After checking body parts, I realized my mistake. This was no more painful than a similar experience with a 4” .44 Mag (neither is recommended).

One day, I asked my daughter to compare muzzle blast from a 4” 329 PD .44 Mag against that of the ported .475 LB – she said that the 4” .44 Mag 329 PD was definitely louder than the ported .475. She was wearing hearing protection at the time.

I forgot, I do have a 7 ½” S&W 629 PC that came with S&Ws porting --again, no difference in blast or flash that I can detect.

FWIW, there is noticeable increase in blast/concussion with “muzzle brakes” on rifles, at least the ones I own or have fired.


Paul

[Snyd]

I like magnaport. I too heard all kinds of stuff such as accuracy would suffer, LOUDER, loss of velocity, blah blah.

4" 454 Redhawk and the MagNaPort really tamed the muzzle flip and torque of the gun. It's much easier to hang on to.



Still accurate and will shoot this boolit faster than I want with a case full of H110. I settled on this load for this pair..




I also have a Kimber MT 325wsm MagNaPorted. 7lb gun all up with scope shoots 200gr 8mm at 2950fps. . Really tamed the muzzle flip and torque/twist of the 23" whippy barrel. No loss of accuracy or velocity with this one.