To Port Or Not?

I’m sure that this has come up before. If such services exist, does porting a revolver barrel or a pistol’s barrel and slide offer a practical feature? I know that it’s supposed to be a recoil reducer, but it can also reduce muzzle velocity by as much as 100 fps. I’m thinking along the lines of the all-steel, 3" Taurus Defender, or a full-size .40 S & W. The slotted, matching ports on Glocks featured slightly longer barrel ports to compensate for the slide’s speed-of-travel. I’m not recoil-sensitive, just musing - or is it a waste of $$?

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Porting does help with muzzle flip, and recoil mitigation. But, it comes at a cost. Noise, and flash. A friend has a V8 ported Taurus in .357 mag. The V8 is an appropriate name, as this gun looks like a top fuel dragster fired in low light. And it is LOUD!

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Just what I expected - I’ll stick with stock barrels on handguns , but I wonder if the same effects are present on Walther’s relatively new Q5 pistol. So much to look at, so little time.

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Does it help? Yes.

Is it worth it? Depends.

If it was for a “fun gun” or competition and I had the funds I would do it. Don’t think I’d use it on a CCW (another entry point for debris). I’d be on the fence about HD usage.

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Funny you ask that @KURT17 because I have the M&P 9mm Performance Center Shield and the slide and barrel are ported. Truthfully there’s not much difference. I’m not recoil sensitive I just bought it because I liked the way it looked. It was only about $75 more than the original Shield so I purchased it. In my honest opinion you should keep the gun the way it is. I have seen revolvers with ported barrels and the look cool. You can always try to see if a gun store has one that you can rent one and try it out. Hope this helps brother.

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By any chance do the performance center models have cut-outs for red dots?

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@Harvey they came out with the PC 4” Shield that you can throw an optic on.

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I owned the P365 SAS ported version for a very brief time. Like others have mentioned debris definitely gets in there and boy is it LOUD. It detracts from the fun of shooting the thing. I traded in for a regular p365 for this reason in addition to the sights not jiving with me.

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A good port is hard to beat. I like it with a bit of stilton cheese and a crusty sour dough bread.

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I have the same gun Johnny is talking about. PC Shield does seem to handle recoil really well compared to the standard shield (wife has the standard and I really like the PC over it) BUT I think that’s more to do with the upgraded triggers. The PC triggers and 2.0 triggers are great. The 1.0s are great self defense triggers, but they’re nothing to write home about.

The ports make my 9mm louder than my 45 shield. I now prefer guns without porting mainly because of retention shooting. Most confrontations are within 3 yards, I want to be able to hold the gun up to my pec and fire rounds without burning myself.

ALL that being said, If I get a good deal on a ported barrel gun I’ll do it. I also am not afraid to carry my ported shield. I’d gladly burn myself with the ports and live. That’s a pretty minor thing.

It does look cool though :sunglasses:… though it’s harder to clean :joy:. Everything is a compromise in one way or another!
Porting isn’t something I’d avoid but it’s also not anything I’d get done on a gun.

I slightly lean to “prefer not to have it”.

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Sitting by a fire with a cigar is my preferred way to enjoy port. :grinning:

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Ports are great if you are shooting from an extended position but if you have to pull the trigger from High Compressed Ready position you’ll get a face full of hot debris.

Not bad on hunting handguns like heavy revolver, but for SD It definitely limits your position options. Had a buddy that set his shirt on fire shooting some non standard position drills. Changed the ported barrel of his Glock 22C to a solid one really quick after that.

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I would like to get the 45 version of that one day just to get a little more velocity out of the 45.

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Performance Center C.O.R.E. is what you’re looking for. Competition Optics Ready.

I have one of these but it’s not ported.

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I like. Although ported firearms have their place, Defensive shooting may not be one of them (unless it is the only thing I have). They do LOOK cool, though.

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I used a .357 mag Ruger Speed-6 ported to save my life in the night and its flash and bang made all 4 of them dash. A flash 23 feet long. The book “Stress Fire” By Mas shows this on the cover a must read.

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There are tests that have been done to measure the effectiveness of porting. If that makes a weapon more desirable for you it might be worth a try. I don’t worry how it works for anyone else only how porting works for me. Got interested in porting back when I think Ruger Blackhawks and super Blackhawks became all the rage with my shooting friends. A different time I know. But things got hotter with wheel guns and we got the Casull 454 and then the 500. Getting the first shot off and hitting the target was not that bad but after that you were on your own. Then I got to shoot a ported 454. I could put most of the rounds on the paper at least. We all started thinking if porting could tame a 454 or 500 what could it do for a 44 or 357?

Time went by and Auto loaders got better and more reasonable and soon that is what we were all shooting. And while we might not “need” porting on a small light weight 9mm or even a 45 some of us wondered if porting might help them just a bit as well. I can say after much research it seems as in a 45 not much bigger than a 9mm can be tamed enough that if that is your preferred round you can get it back on target just about as fast as a 9mm. And the 9mm can be made as mild as a 380. ( all subjective I know) What I have experienced is porting can reduce muzzle rise on a 45 to about what it is for me with a 9mm. As far as flash goes? I don’t notice it much at the range and it can’t be any worse than my 12 gauge.

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This is interesting :thinking:. Would love to get my hands on a PC shield 45

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I have two Ruger .357 mag revolvers ported. One made a difference when I needed it an saved my life.

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